A source text analysis and translator decisions through three different Turkish translations of Jane Austen`s Pride and Prejudice

Translation which has been the meeting point of different culturesand civilizations for centuries, is recently on its way to become anautonomous discipline under the name of science of translation. In theseefforts, Gideon Toury?s target-oriented translation theory is noteworthy.Toury?s theory has changed the point of view particularly to literarytranslation and has played an important role in putting aside the formerprescriptive attitudes to criticism of literary translation. According to targetoriented theory every translation carries some kind of equivalence with itsoriginal since they are examined in a broader social and culturalframework. In a descriptive analysis of a literary translation the startingpoint of the study is the translated text themselves which are likely to revealthe translational norms of the translator.The main goal of this study is to conduct a descriptive translationcriticism based on the target-oriented theory. This study is made up of threeparts.The first part of the study opens with some detailed information on thebasic theoretical framework, Gideon Toury?s target-oriented theory. In thesecond part some useful information about the source text, Pride and Prejudiceand the source text writer, Jane Austen, will be given so as to determine theprobable problem areas for the translators. The third part is devoted topresent an example for criticism of literary translation by means of acomparative analysis of three different translations of the novel Pride andPrejudice with its original in the framework of the target-oriented theory.Key Words: 1) Target-oriented theory, 2) Target culture,3) Translational norms, 4) Comparative Analysis, 5) Translation Criticism