A descriptive study of of Mice and Men; a change in text type through translation

The aim of this thesis is to illustrate and account for the differences between the two translations of Of Mice and Men –the translated prose text and the translated play script version. Since the source text is originally written in prose from, its translation into a play script brings many changes and throughout the present study, the aim and the results of this text type change are investigated along with a descriptive study of a target oriented translation of Of Mice and Men. Each chapter deals with the analytical steps taken towards the comparison of two different translations of Mice and Men. Even-Zohar's Polysystem Theory, Vermeer's Skopos Theory and Functional Approach are some of these theories that the present thesis is grounded with a view to showing that the text is translated according to a target oriented perspective to function on a communicative ground. The very concept of drama, its language and its relation with Translation Studies are illustrated with the reasons for changing the text type and how it contributes to culture repertoire. The conclusion reveals the detailed reasons for changing the text type with a descriptive study of translated versions of Of Mice and Men. In the descriptive study, it is argued that converting a prose text into a play script in translation makes it possible for it to reach a wider public who may prefer to watch the play on the stage rather than read the novel and it shows how translation contributes to culture repertoire through spreading foreign works in Turkey.