THE THRESHOLD OF PARATEXTUALITY IN THE TRANSLATION AND RETRANSLATION OF THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER INTO TURKISH

Abstract

With the idea that a literary work cannot be regarded as independent from the paratextual elements, the need for such a study
has emerged and it is thought that it will open a new window for the future studies to fulfil the remaining gap in the field. For
this study, two different Turkish translations of Mark Twain‟s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which were translated by
Müstakimoğlu (1900?) and O. Doğan (2017), have been analysed through a descriptive analysis method within the
framework of Gerard Genette‟s theoretical views on the subject to bring up the paratextual elements in the books, the
differences among them and the possible reasons lying behind these differences. The results of the study have shown that
although both books have shared more or less the same paratextual elements, sometimes some differences have been seen
among these elements in terms of the places they existed in the books or not being used in both or one of the books. Results
have shown that factors such as the change in printing techniques, the aim of emphasizing the type of the works, quick access
to information, translation policies of publishers, the visibility of the translator… etc. are some of the underlying reasons for
the differences between the books in terms of paratextual features. Regarding the results of the study, it could be said that
depending on certain cultural periods or insights, even the different editions of work in different periods, the ways in which
the paratextual features are given in the works may vary. As Genette mentions in the words of Macksey, (1997) these
elements are above a threshold between the peritext and epitext of a text which will always serve as a threshold between the
work and the reader.