Genç Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nde çocuk edebiyatı çevirisinde kurumsal himaye (1939-1945)

This study explores the translation and publishing activities of the Society for the Protection of Children in the period following the second half of the 1930s, particularly between 1939 and 1945. It examines two sets of primary source material specifically aimed at children, namely the series titled Çocuk Esirgeme Kurumu Okul ve Öğrenci Kitapları (School and Student Books of the Society for the Protection of Children) (1943-1945), and ten selected issues of the magazine Çocuk (The Child) (1936-1948). Given the Society's ideological stance on effecting positive change in the lives of Turkish children, this thesis addresses the Society as a planner, and examines its initiatives in the spheres of culture, education and children's literature as acts of "culture planning" (Even-Zohar, 1997, 2002). In view of the state's involvement in the affairs of the Society, the planning project is conceptualized as an act of patronage (Lefevere, 1992), and the Society is conceived as an institution of control over the system of children's literature during the period under study. Adopting an agent-oriented approach, this thesis explores the manner in which key figures and translators associated with the Society exercised their symbolic power over the production of the translated texts analysed within the study. Lastly, it provides an in-depth analysis of two selected case studies, with a view to illustrating the position of children's literature within the literary polysystem in Türkiye during the given period. The analysis further discusses the norms that govern the field of translated children's literature, and identifies the values (re)produced by the translators and the Society for the ideal Turkish child.