Translating eroticism: English and Turkish translations of Cavafy's poetry

Abstract

The recurrent dichotomy between word for word and sense for sense translation finds its last expression in Lawrence Venuti's translation strategies: foreignization and domestication. In this thesis dissertation, the erotic poems of the well-known Alexandrian poet C. P. Cavafy and four of their English and Turkish translations have been analyzed and compared from a linguistic perspective. The basis for the linguistic analysis is provided by Katharina Reiss's translation criticism model, which stresses three elements: the comparison with the original, the identification of the text type and after, the analysis of the linguistic elements. Cavafy divided his poems in three thematic categories: historical, philosophical and sensual. A number of three sensual or erotic poems has been selected since their translation may be challenging due to their homoerotic aspect. Cavafy was a homosexual poet, but he did not write poems that are clearly homoerotic, with few exceptions; the majority of his poems leave room for interpretations. The English translations have been investigated before, but not from the scope presented here. In addition to the fact that erotic poetry has not received enough attention from the academia, another significant aspect of this study is the inclusion of the Turkish translations. Cavafy's canon has been translated twice in Turkish and both translations are investigated here. The analysis showed that the Turkish translators have adopted the strategy of domestication to a greater extent.