Retransmission of Culture through Literary Translation: Turkish–Ukrainian Interliterary Contact

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is devoted to the dialogue of Ukrainian and Turkish literatures, which has more than a century of history. The article explores the history of the origin and development of literary contact between Ukraine and Turkey and the current state and prospects of development of Ukrainian–Turkish relations are considered in detail. Particular attention is paid to the influence of translations on the formation of images of each other in the minds of Turks and Ukrainians; the transformation of images in the minds of both peoples through the presentation of different genres of literature, from the twentieth century to the present day, is emphasized. The article also emphasizes the inequality of the functioning of Turkish and Ukrainian translations (translations of Turkish literature in Ukrainian predominate). The reasons for this inequality are the pressure on Ukrainian culture from the Russian, the unfamiliarity of the Ukrainian language and culture among Turkish scholars, and the problem of identifying Ukraine as an independent state in Turkey in the twentieth century.