EVOLVING IMAGERY IN THE TRANSLATION OF ORHAN PAMUK'S KARA KITAP

Abstract

The article attempts to use examples of „hybrid text” from the English trans-lation of Orhan Pamuk's novel Kara Kitap (1990) in order to show that in literary transla-tion the notion of the „hybrid text” is indispensable if the translator wants to disseminate a less known source culture through the language of a better known target culture. The novel was translated from the original by Guneli Gun as The Black Book (1994) and three key images of the novel offer promising opportunities for study: the apartment airshaft, the Bosphorus, and the statues of Ataturk. The pun in the phrase „the apartment airshaft” cannot be captured in the target language so the English phrase becomes burdened with associations that are unacceptable to the target reader. The images of the driedup Bosphorus lose their moorings in historical time and become phantasmagoric landscapes. The coming to life of the statues of Ataturk gain Apocalyptic proportions not conveyed to the source reader. However, the „hybrid text” is bound by time and space constraints. Having entered into the mind of the target reader via Gun's text, these images can serve to develop a kind of understanding that may lead to new ways of relating to other cultures.