Pseudotranslations of pseudo-scientific sex manuals in Turkey
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Müge Işıklar Koçak
Abstract
This article explores how pseudotranslations helped generate a free space for pseudotranslators to speak about women’s sexuality in early 20th-century Turkey. After providing a historical overview of the texts on sexuality, it first discusses the links between the Ottoman and Turkish productions of texts on sexuality. Then two cases chosen from the first half of the 20th century are analyzed in order to show the pseudotranslators’ purpose of using translation as a site to write on women’s sexuality and to introduce vocabulary on sex into the Turkish culture repertoire. For the purposes of this paper, two pseudotranslated advice manuals, which include sexual advice to women, are analyzed.
Abstract
This article explores how pseudotranslations helped generate a free space for pseudotranslators to speak about women’s sexuality in early 20th-century Turkey. After providing a historical overview of the texts on sexuality, it first discusses the links between the Ottoman and Turkish productions of texts on sexuality. Then two cases chosen from the first half of the 20th century are analyzed in order to show the pseudotranslators’ purpose of using translation as a site to write on women’s sexuality and to introduce vocabulary on sex into the Turkish culture repertoire. For the purposes of this paper, two pseudotranslated advice manuals, which include sexual advice to women, are analyzed.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- In memoriam Elif Daldeniz Baysan xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
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Ottoman conceptions and practices of translation
- On the poetic practices of a “singularly uninventive people” and the anxiety of imitation 27
- Exploring Tercüman as a culture-bound concept in Islamic mysticism 53
- Ahmet Midhat’s Hulâsa-i Hümâyunnâme 73
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Transition and transformation
- On the evolution of the interpreting profession in Turkey 89
- Saved by translation 107
- The “official” view on translation in Turkey 125
- Translation, imported western legal frameworks and insights from the Turkish world of patents 145
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The republican revolutionary turn
- The Turkish language reform and intralingual translation 165
- John Dewey’s 1924 report on Turkish education 181
- Pseudotranslations of pseudo-scientific sex manuals in Turkey 199
- Censorship of “obscene” literary translations 219
- Ideological encounters 233
- An overview of Kurdish literature in Turkish 253
- The identity metonymics of translated Turkish fiction in English 273
- Notes on contributors 297
- Index 303
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- In memoriam Elif Daldeniz Baysan xi
- Acknowledgements xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Ottoman conceptions and practices of translation
- On the poetic practices of a “singularly uninventive people” and the anxiety of imitation 27
- Exploring Tercüman as a culture-bound concept in Islamic mysticism 53
- Ahmet Midhat’s Hulâsa-i Hümâyunnâme 73
-
Transition and transformation
- On the evolution of the interpreting profession in Turkey 89
- Saved by translation 107
- The “official” view on translation in Turkey 125
- Translation, imported western legal frameworks and insights from the Turkish world of patents 145
-
The republican revolutionary turn
- The Turkish language reform and intralingual translation 165
- John Dewey’s 1924 report on Turkish education 181
- Pseudotranslations of pseudo-scientific sex manuals in Turkey 199
- Censorship of “obscene” literary translations 219
- Ideological encounters 233
- An overview of Kurdish literature in Turkish 253
- The identity metonymics of translated Turkish fiction in English 273
- Notes on contributors 297
- Index 303
