A Gender-based study of Nihal Yeğinobalı's pseudo-translation Genç Kızlar

Abstract

In the first part of this study, the social and cultural reasons behind Nihal Yeğinobalı's novel Genç Kızlar being published as a pseudo-translation are explored based on the concept of gender. The ideas of the translation studies scholars who conduct research and theorize within the area where Translation Studies and Gender interact are employed and the major concepts on which these theories have been built are reconsidered on the basis of Yeğinobalı's pseudo-translation case. It is claimed that pseudotranslation is a translation studies concept capable of providing valuable clues concerning the social and cultural conjuncture of its time as well as a methodological tool. In this respect, it is further asserted that Yeğinobalı has gained a reputation through this very case of pseudo-translation in the Turkish literary system and later, with the aid of this reputation, she has been accepted as an author who produces work on gender-related issues. In the second part of this study, Yeginoball's novels are studied in the light of the repeated motifs she uses in all her works and it is discussed whether or not Yeğinobalı does have a 'feminist approach' as perceived by some Turkish literary authorities. Finally, in the conclusion chapter, the results of this gender-based case study are pointed out and it is emphasized that the concepts produced within the scope of Translation Studies as well as the methodologies developed in this field should not be confined within the limits of binary oppositions. It is concluded that a multi-dimensional approach would have a notable contribution to the international and interdisciplinary credibility of Translation Studies.