Representation of Feminist Translation Strategies in the Turkish Translation of Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber”

Abstract

The relationship between gender studies and translation studies creates a new scope, which is called Feminist Translation Studies (FTS). In the late 1970s in Quebec, the movement emerged, followed by women writers whose aims were not only to reinscribe femininity in language but also deconstruct hegemonic male-centric dominance in the language by contributing to the cultural turn as a discipline. Since then, FTS has started to be a new field or an inspiration from the perspectives of women writers and theorists. This area of study has shown extraordinary growth in recent years. Although there is an increasing presence of women in translation studies, there is still a profound desire for the rediscovery of female writings and images. As an interdisciplinary framework, FTS mainly deals with the intersectional relationship between feminist theories and practices. This intersectional relationship makes translation the heart of feminist politics. If we consider translation from a feminist angle, it is important to bear in mind that translation is seen as one of the crucial components of feminist politics and ideology. In order to spread both the politics and ideologies of feminism, we need to consider translation as a cross-cultural tool that generates inseparable connections between gender and language. In this respect, the transnational journey between the authors and the translators emerges during the translation process. In this regard, the aim of this study is to evaluate feminist translation strategies in the Turkish rendering of Angela Carter’s short story, “The Bloody Chamber”translated by Özden Arıkan within the framework of Feminist Translation Theory. This study also attempts to investigate in what respect the Turkish translation of Angela Carter’s short story illustrates the paratextual strategies of feminist translation studies by demonstrating in/visibility of the translator