Abstract:

The aim of this study is to trace back the translator of Reinhold Lubenau Seyahatnamesi [Osmanlı Ülkesinde, 1587-1589] and focus on her translation approach through paratexts. The traveller portrays the Muslim ‘other’ whom he met in the Ottoman Empire where he spent his time between the years 1587-1589, when the Ottoman Empire had the power and Islam was being perceived as a threat to them versus his own culture which he belonged to as a Prussian Protestant. The translation of this itinerary is available to Turkish readers after approximately 400 years in 2012. What makes this translation interesting is the translation of a source text, in which the target culture was being portrayed from the perspective of the ‘other’, into a target language. How was this ‘foreign’ perspective constructed by the traveler translated and reflected in the paratext? What was the approach of the translator against the challenges he encountered during the translation process? Answers to these questions among many others were being searched through an examination of paratexts. In addition, it was also discussed whether the author moved to the reader or the reader moved to the author. Paratexts encourage reading and direct the reception (Genette 2016). In this study, book covers, names, titles, genre, graphics illustration and footnotes were examined. Translator footnotes, which were provided by the translator in order to make the text clear, were classified in order to underline the functions of these footnotes. Translator footnotes are the tools, which make translators visible and help them to raise their voices in the texts. In peritexts, translator can provide extra information to the readers, explain and justify his/her translation decisions.

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