Özet:

The aim of this study is to examine the transfer of urban space in Ayşe Kulin’s novel Nefes Nefese into English within the scope of urban semiotics and semiotics of translation. Kulin's novel, which was published in 2002, as the source text, and the English translation of this novel, titled Last Train to Istanbul, by John W. Baker in 2006 (Everest Yayınları) and the revised edition of this translation in 2013 (Amazon Crossing) as the target texts constitute the main object of analysis of the study. Literary texts are among the most challenging texts in terms of translation. The technique of semiotic analysis can guide translators to understand and interpret this challenging type of text. The implicit signs and/or the complex literary universe created by the author in the source text are handled by the translator by a methodical reading using the translation semiotics method. Thus, the translator translates it into the target language with as little loss of meaning as possible. Urban semiotics as a research area within semiotics handles and analyzes city signs, which have a multi-layered meaning pattern and can therefore be interpreted in different ways, within their semantic plurality and richness of interpretation. In this study, the signs that represent cities in Ayşe Kulin's novel Nefes Nefese and its English translations are analyzed within the syncretic context of translation semiotics and urban semiotics. The framework of the analysis was designed using the criteria in the urban semiotic analysis classification and the Systematics of Designification in Translation in the context of translation semiotics suggested by Ozturk Kasar. With this study, it was attempted to reveal the contribution of urban semiotics and translation semiotics in the translation of the city signs, which constitute a multi-layered system of signs, into the target text with minimum meaning loss in literary translation.