Introductıon Of A New Sub-Genre Into The Turkısh Lıterary Polysystem Through Translatıon: Webcomıcs In Prınt

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the transfer of webcomics in print as a new sub-genre into the Turkish literary polysystem through translation. To this end, Itamar Even-Zohar’s Polysystem Theory (1978) is adopted in order to define and describe the position of webcomics both in the source and target cultures. Furthermore, Klaus Kaindl’s (1999) typology for translation procedures, Javier Franco Aixelá’s translation strategies for culture-specific items (1996) and Lawrence Venuti’s concepts of foreignization and domestication (1995) are adopted so as to examine which translation strategies are employed in the Turkish translations of webcomics in print. For the purposes of this study, two books composed by Sarah Andersen titled Adulthood is a Myth (2016) and Big Mushy Happy Lump (2017) and two books by Nick Seluk titled Heart and Brain (2015) and Heart and Brain Gut Instincts (2016) will be analysed in comparison to their Turkish translations titled Büyümek Diye Bir Şey Yok (2017), Musmutlu Yumuş Yumak (2018), Kalp ve Beyin (2017) and Kalp ve Beyin İç İşleri (2018), respectively. Findings will be presented in order to explore which strategies have been most frequently adopted in the Turkish translations. The study concludes that orthographic adaptation and repetition are the most frequently used micro-translation strategies in the Turkish translations. The study also highlights that the macro-translation strategy of foreignization prevails in the translations owing to the Turkish translator’s diligent endeavour to use various conservation strategies to retain the source-texts’ humorous style during the transfer of humorous elements to the Turkish language.