TRANSLATION, RESEARCH AND RECEPTION ANALYSIS OF MO YAN’S WORKS IN TURKEY
Lale Aydın TunçThe main purpose of this article is to make a chronological analysis of Mo Yan’s works published in Turkey. In this aspect, this article emphasizes mostly on Mo Yan’s five works: “Red Sorghum”, “Big Breasts and Wide Hips”, “Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out”, “Change” and “The Transparent Carrot” which are translated and published in Turkey and the studies made on these works. Besides, Turkish readers’ reception analysis in Mo Yan and his works is also examined through questionnaires that has been done to the students of Ankara University, Erciyes University, Istanbul University and Middle East Technical University Confucius Institute.
MO YAN ESERLERİNİN TÜRKİYE’ DEKİ ÇEVİRİ, ARAŞTIRMA VE ALIMLAMA ANALİZİ
Lale Aydın TunçBu çalışmamızın genel çerçevesi Türkiye’deki Mo Yan eserlerini ve çalışmalarını kronolojik bir sıra ile incelemek olacaktır. Bu bağlamda Mo Yan’in Türkçeye çevrilmiş olan beş eseri; “Kızıl Darı Tarlaları”, “İri Memeler Geniş Kalçalar”, “Yaşam ve Ölüm Yorgunu”, “Değişim” ve “Saydam Turp” ile bu eserler hakkında yapılan çalışmalar üzerinde durulacaktır. Aynı zamanda Türk okurların Mo Yan ve eserleri alımlama analizi Ankara Üniversitesi, Erciyes Üniversitesi, İstanbul Üniversitesi ve Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Konfüçyüs Enstitüsü öğrencilerine yapmış olduğumuz anket çalışması üzerinden incelenecektir.
After the Nobel Prize was granted to the Chinese author Mo Yan in 2012, questions such as “Who is Mo Yan?”, “What kind of work does he produce?” occurred people’s minds. We realize that Mo Yan is well-known and frequently read in Europe by the fact that his work has been translated to languages such as German, French, Swedish, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Polish and etc. However, we regret to say that by the time Mo Yan received a Nobel Prize, there had been neither a single Turkish translation of his work nor an academic study conducted about him. Actually, the fact that Nobel Prize was granted to a Chinese author for the first time in 2012 conduced to the satisfaction of curiosity towards the oriental literature in Turkey and became the first step for studies on Modern Chinese Literature. Thus, the author’s five pieces of work have been translated to Turkish. Today, Mo Yan’s books such as “Red Sorghum” (2013), “Big Breasts and Wide Hips” (2014), “Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out” (2015), “Change” (2016), and “The Transparent Carrot” (2017) have been brought together with readers. We conducted a questionnaire on the analysis of Turkish readers’ reception of Mo Yan’s books translated to Turkish. 407 students participated in our questionnaire. 65 students were from Ankara University, 75 from Erciyes University, 230 from Istanbul University and 37 students were from Middle East Technical University. The reason of the selection of these universities is that there is the department of Chinese Language and Literature in each one. While asking questions to the participants, we grounded on the aim to survey the familiarity of Mo Yan and his work, as well as the means of this familiarity. Surely it was the Nobel Prize that made Mo Yan become known and read in Turkey. As we concluded in our study, we realize that the biggest effect on Mo Yan’s recognition was the Nobel Prize by the following answer of 110 participants: “I learned Mo Yan and his works thanks to the Nobel tes: “I learned Mo Yan through the internet and social media” shows that through publishers and critics‟ maintenance of advertising activities, more readers can be reached.
