Simpsons Çizgiromanı’nda Karakterizasyon Aracı Olarak Kullanılan Edebi ve Dini Göndermelerin Türkçe Çevirisi Üzerine Bir İnceleme

Abstract

In translating a text, a translator will have to take several elements into account among which allusions play a significant role. Allusion is a literary device that many authors employ in their writing for various purposes. Usually defined as a brief, indirect reference in text to something that is typically well-known, an allusion can refer to anything from a literary work to a famous person, a significant event in history, famous products, or catchphrases. The interweaving of the allusive meanings and the intended effects with the source culture render the translation of allusions a challenging process as those special effects and implied meanings are not necessarily the same in other cultures or languages. Considering this fact, the present study aims to investigate the literary and religious allusions in five books selected from Simpsons Comics series to find out the most common strategies used in their translations into Turkish language. In accordance with this purpose, the study also aims to contribute to the less widely examined aspect of allusion studies in Turkey by addressing the way the above-mentioned allusions are used as a device for characterization. To this end, first the literary and religious allusions in the source text are identified and categorized into PN (Proper-name) and KP (Key-phrase) allusions according to Leppihalme’s (1997) classification for translating allusions, and analyzed to see what specific strategies are used in their Turkish translations. Finally, the allusions used to establish characters through implicit means are examined with selected examples from the data. The analyses reveal that the distribution of the strategies preferred in the translation of PN and KP allusions differ. While there is a more or less balanced distribution among the strategies preferred in translating PN allusions, KP allusions are predominantly rendered through literal translation. The result of the research shows that 41 % of the allusions in the study serve a function in indirect characterization. Thus, it can be suggested that allusion is an important tool employed by the author for building characters implicitly.