Giacomo Leopardi in the Turkish Cultural and Literary System: His Poems Titled All'Italia and A Se Stesso in Ottoman Turkish

This study examines the translation of selected passages from two poems by Giacomo Leopardi, one of the prominent figures in Italian literary history, into Ottoman Turkish. To our knowledge, the central issue of the analysis is that these translations have not been evaluated within the framework of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Deniz Dilşad Karail Nazlıcan, Eshabil Bozkurt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Istanbul University Press 2024-12-01
Series:İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Dergisi
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Online Access:https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/5D290C96408C4BCEA1BF5F9E4850C929
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Summary:This study examines the translation of selected passages from two poems by Giacomo Leopardi, one of the prominent figures in Italian literary history, into Ottoman Turkish. To our knowledge, the central issue of the analysis is that these translations have not been evaluated within the framework of Ayfer Altay’s “untranslatable aspects of poetry” in the literature. This study examines Leopardi’s poems All’Italia and A se stesso. These poems first appeared in the Turkish cultural and literary system in Mehmet Rauf’s work titled İtalyan Tarih-i Edebiyatı. In 1913 [1329 AH], Mehmet Rauf translated selected passages from these two poems into Ottoman Turkish. This work is also particularly significant as it represents the first work on the history of Italian literature within Turkish culture. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the six untranslatable aspects of poetry outlined by Ayfer Altay: deviations, repetitions, puns, the use of proper nouns, concise and elliptical expressions, rhythm, and meter. First, the issue of translatability versus untranslatability in poetry will be addressed, focusing on the foundational arguments supporting both perspectives. This problem in poetry translation is a concern in Translation Studies and Linguistics and Literary Studies. Those who argue for the untranslatability of poetry assert that the poet’s style, rhetorical devices, imagery, and culture-specific elements cannot be conveyed with the same aesthetic and emotional impact in another language and culture. However, in addition to those who consider poetry translation impossible for these reasons, some proponents believe that duality can be overcome through the “Skopos Theory.”
ISSN:2602-2648