The Concept of the Grotesque in Literature: Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Play The Physicists and Its Turkish Translation
Meltem Kılıç, Arsun UrasThe grotesque is a form of humor in which contradictory concepts are intertwined and first emerged in the West. Although initially a genre used in the fine arts, it later played an important role in world literature and influenced non-Western literature. The main purposes of this study are to examine the Turkish translation of Die Physiker (The Physicists), a two-act play with grotesque elements written by the Swiss author and painter Friedrich Dürrenmatt, one of the most important representatives of this genre to be introduced to Türkiye through translation who glorified this concept in both his paintings and plays and successfully displayed all its features, and to discuss the reflection of the grotesque in the target language and culture. To this end, the study analyzes the translation decisions of translator Mustafa Tüzel in his 2005 translation and questions the function of this translation in the Turkish literary system. The concept of the grotesque and its characteristics are discussed alongside its place and importance in Dürrenmatt’s life through the play Die Physiker and its translation. The aims here are to show how the author’s character is as prone to the grotesque as his view of the world and to draw attention to the fact that his close relationship with this genre can be a great help in creating grotesque works. The study does not evaluate the work through the concept of performability due to the present edition of the examined work being intended for literary readers.
Edebiyatta Grotesk Kavramı: Friedrich Dürrenmatt’ın Die Physiker Adlı Tiyatro Oyunu ve Çevirisi
Meltem Kılıç, Arsun UrasÇelişkili kavramların iç içe geçtiği bir güldürü biçimi olan grotesk, ilk olarak Batı’da ortaya çıkar. Başta güzel sanatlar alanında kullanılan bir tür olsa da sonraları dünya yazın dizgesinde önemli bir role sahip olur ve Batı dışında yazın dizgelerini de etkiler. Ülkemize çeviri yoluyla tanıtılmış bu türün en önemli temsilcilerinden biri olan, bu kavramı hem resimlerinde hem de tiyatro oyunlarında adeta yücelten ve tüm özelliklerini başarıyla sergileyen İsviçreli yazar ve ressam Friedrich Dürrenmatt’ın grotesk öğelerle bezeli iki perdelik oyunu Die Physiker’ın Türkçe çevirisini ele almak ve grotesk’in erek dil ve kültüre yansımasını tartışmak bu çalışmanın başlıca hedefidir. Bu doğrultuda, çevirmen Mustafa Tüzel’in 2005 yılında Türkçeye aktardığı çeviri eserdeki kararları Gideon Toury’nin Erek Odaklı Çeviri Kuramına göre incelenmiş, normlar sayesinde çeviri sürecinde alınan kararlar anlaşılır kılınmaya çalışılmış ve söz konusu çevirinin Türk edebiyat dizgesinde üstlendiği işlev sorgulanmıştır. Bununla birlikte, çalışmanın konusu olan grotesk kavramı ve özellikleri, Dürrenmatt’ın hayatındaki yeri ve önemiyle birlikte ele alınmış, Die Physiker adlı tiyatro oyunu ve çevirisi üzerinden tartışılmıştır. İzlenen bu yolla hedeflenen amaç, yazarın dünyaya bakış açısının olduğu kadar karakterinin de grotesk’e eğilimli olduğunu göstermek, bu türle olan yakın ilişkisinin grotesk eserler yaratmada en büyük yardımcılardan biri olabileceği üzerine dikkat çekmektir. Burada ayrıca belirtilmelidir ki, çalışma ‘sahnelenebilirlik’ kavramı üzerinden değerlendirilmemiştir, zira incelenecek eserin eldeki baskısı edebiyat okurları için düzenlenmiş bir baskıdır.
Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921-1990) was a Swiss playwright and one of the most important names in German theater. The theatre text Die Physiker (The Physicists) by Dürrenmatt constitutes the corpus of the study. By interpreting the grotesque elements in this play, one can see how the author wanted to reveal the threat technology creates in daily human life. He shared the worries of individuals who’d been alienated from the world due to World War I and who’d experienced many emotions together, thus creating a tragedy aimed at revealing the painful realities of that period under the comedy genre. The grotesque, which had been brought to literature through the fine arts, had emerged in Italy and soon spread all over the world to become a genre famous writers included in their works. Dürrenmatt elevated this concept both in his paintings and in his plays, successfully revealing all its features, which is why he remains a prominent representative of the genre. The study evaluates the author’s life from the perspective of the grotesque, which shows that his character and world view leaned toward this genre. His close relationship with this concept had undoubtedly been his greatest help in creating and implementing this style in all his works. To say that Dürrenmatt, the second most famous Swiss author after Max Frisch, is one of the first names that come to mind when addressing the grotesque and his unique personality is why he is still widely recognized today would not be wrong. As a play rich in grotesque elements, Dürrenmatt’s (1962) Die Phyisker is a two-act play in which the grotesque is at the forefront. Die Phyisker became an instant great success upon being staged in Zürich in February 1962 and was performed for the first time in Munich in September 1962. It was produced 1,598 times on 50 different stages in 1962- 1963 and became the most frequently staged play in German-speaking countries. Almost all of Dürrenmatt’s works have gained worldwide fame and been translated into 50 languages, with his plays Der Besuch der alten Dame (The Visit) (1956) and Die Phyisker (The Physicists) in particular still being included on international theater calendars. Die Phyisker is a tragedy in two acts and one of the most popular, well-known plays in Türkiye, still current both on state and university theater stages as well as on radio theater. This study analyzes Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play Die Phyisker by focusing on the grotesque genre through the Turkish translation of the work and evaluating it according to Gideon Toury’s (1995) a priori norm approach. This theory is based on target orientation, in which Toury argues translations to be the products of the target culture rather than the source culture and to have a different function in the target culture. Translated texts can cause changes in the target culture and create values that the target culture can take as an example. In this way, new literary genres emerge in the target culture, and their functions differ depending on their position in the target system. Based on this, the study aims to identify the grotesque in Türkiye, provide resources on this subject, and support future studies. The first part of the study analyzes the grotesque features in Dürrenmatt’s life and personality through his play Die Phyisker. The second part of the study presents the approach that includes Gideon Toury’s (1995) norms, as the theoretical basis. The evaluation section interprets by Mustafa Tüzel’s (2005) Turkish translation of the play in terms of the characteristics of the grotesque genre. The sections of the play that are thought to reflect the characteristics of the grotesque genre and the translator’s decision to remain faithful to the source text points to the phenomenon of an adequate translation as suggested by Toury (1995), despite having no one-to-one equivalence. The study discusses the features by categorizing them as contrast; incongruity; fright; excess, mockery, and satire; and ridicule. However, at this point, these features feed each other and should be seen as a whole, and evaluating the sections in which they are presented on their own can be said to be quite challenging. The study is based on emphasizing the existence of works in the field of literature and art in Türkiye that aim to introduce the grotesque phenomenon to readers and audiences through translation. Although an increase in the number of grotesque works is observed to have occurred over the years, this genre can be said to have settled within Turkish literature quite slowly. Because the translations aiming to fill this space in the field cannot be denied as having a role, the increase in the number of authentic and translated texts is noteworthy, thus suggesting a method in which readers and spectators can question themselves through humor.
