A critical assessment of translations of Albert Camus' novel the stranger

This thesis study covers the analysing the famous novel The Stranger written by Albert Camus within the context of comparative translation. In the first stage of the translation criticism, both the source and the translation texts were read in detail. In the second stage, the concepts of equivalence and competence were taken as the basis to determine how much the source text was reflected in the target text. Factors such as requirements of translation, characteristics of literary text, translation problems and translator decisions were also included in this thesis study. In the third stage, similar or different aspects between source and target texts were assessed within the framework of certain translation theory as well as translation methods and strategies. Thus, translation criticism was placed on an objective ground. Translation processes affecting translation texts were also mentioned. Lastly, the findings of all theoretical and applied processes were compiled within the framework of objective results. In addition, the absurd philosophy of Camus, interpreted by Mersault character alienated from the society and itself, was traced in the translation text, and the answer to the question of how much which the indications and references in the source text were transmitted in the text, and to what extent they were transferred, were tried to be found. Considering the importance of cultural and linguistic factors, the aim is to criticize for comparative translation in light of the social consensus of the translation, the realization of communication and the transfer of meaning. This thesis study aims at sheding light on many questions such as equivalence, preservation of meaning dimensions, interpreters' decisions, how much the translators know about the author's style, opinion and language, and the functionality of the text.