Marjinalliğin Çeviri Yoluyla Yeniden İnşası: Camus'nün L'étranger ve Obioma'nın The Fishermen Romanlarının Türkçe Çevirilerinde Karşılaştırmalı Bir Çözümleme
in: Çağdaş Romanda Marjinalliği Keşfetmek: Toplumdaki Dışlanmışlar, TULGAR ALPER, Editor, Atatürk Üniversitesi Yayınevi, Erzurum, pp.9-22, 2026
- Publication Type: Book Chapter / Chapter Vocational Book
- Publication Date: 2026
- Publisher: Atatürk Üniversitesi Yayınevi
- City: Erzurum
- Page Numbers: pp.9-22
- Editors: TULGAR ALPER, Editor
- Istanbul University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
Reconstructing Marginality through Translation: A Comparative Analysis of the Turkish Translations of Camus’s L’Étranger and Obioma’s The Fishermen
This chapter investigates the reconstruction of marginality in the Turkish translations of Albert Camus’s L’Étranger and Chigozie Obioma’s The Fishermen. Marginality is approached as a condition shaped by recognition, exclusion, belonging, and unequal relations of power. From this perspective, translation becomes an active site where the position of marginal subjects may be preserved, softened, intensified, or reframed within the target culture.
The theoretical framework draws on Toury’s target-oriented approach, Berman’s analysis of deforming tendencies, and Venuti’s discussion of domestication and foreignization. These perspectives are combined with Butler’s concept of recognizability, Bhabha’s notion of liminality, and Berlant’s reflections on normative attachment. The study follows a qualitative, comparative textual method. Its analysis concentrates on selected passages where marginality becomes especially visible through lexical choices, modality, syntax, imagery, bodily representation, and institutional discourse.
The findings reveal distinct forms of marginality in the two novels. In L’Étranger, Meursault’s marginal position is largely shaped by emotional detachment, ethical silence, and his exclusion from dominant social and legal norms. In The Fishermen, marginality emerges more strongly through bodily intensity, prophecy, collective memory, and cultural rupture. Small linguistic choices in translation can therefore influence how these experiences are perceived and interpreted by Turkish readers.
One of the chapter’s main contributions concerns Berman’s deforming tendencies. The analysis shows that expansion, rationalization, or stylistic intensification may sometimes increase the visibility of a marginalized voice in the target text. Translation, in this sense, plays a formative role in determining how marginal subjects are heard, recognized, and positioned within a new cultural context.