The construction of meaning in Turkish and English translations of erostrate, the short story by Jean-Paul Sartre

This study examines the construction of meaning in Turkish and English translations of Erostrate, a short story by Jean-Paul Sartre. It consists of an introduction in which the meaning in literary work is defined, followed by the analysis of four Turkish and two English translations of the work based on text-deforming systems, and a conlusion in which the translations are evaluated and compared. In the analysis, each system is first shortly defined, then demonstrated by giving examples from the translated texts in order to better understand these systems and how they affect the meaning in the original work. The translations are first analyzed by using style-deforming systems which include rationalization, clarification, volume augmentation, adornment and vulgarization, quantitative and qualitative diminution, homogenization, destruction of ryhthms, destruction of signifying hyper-textual networks, destruction of systematization, destruction of vernacular networks, loss of superpositions of language developed by Antoine Berman. Then, the translated works are analyzed using meaning-deforming systems which include destruction of meaning, ambiguity, contradiction and misinterpretation developed and defined by Suzduz Ozturk Kasar. In the conclusion, each translation is evaluated separately and in comparison to other translations with regard to their level of exposure to text-deforming systems and ability of constructing the meaning of the original work.