Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of Translation and Interpreting Translation and Interpreting in English Programme TRANSLATING FOOD ITEMS IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: A CASE STUDY ON DAV PILKEY’S CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS SERIES Merve DEMİR Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2019 TRANSLATING FOOD ITEMS IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE: A CASE STUDY ON DAV PILKEY’S CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS SERIES Merve DEMİR Hacettepe University Graduate School of Social Sciences Department of Translation and Interpreting Translation and Interpreting in English Programme Master’s Thesis Ankara, 2019 iv In loving memory of my amazing father, my eternal witness Zekai Demir. Your spirit will forever dwell in my heart. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I owe my deepest gratitude to my thesis advisor Prof. Dr. Asalet Erten who helped me find my way whenever I felt lost and provided me with her immense knowledge throughout the process of this study. If not for her invaluable support and patient guidance, this thesis would not have been possible. I thank her for being very caring and understanding. I also would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Asst. Prof. Hilal Erkazancı Durmuş and Asst. Prof. Elif Ersözlü and all other instructors at the Department of Translation and Interpreting who were always willing to answer my questions and provided me with their wise counsel. I also owe a deep gratitude to my amazing circle of friends and colleagues at Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University. My special thanks are extended to Lec. Dr. Soner Sözler for his useful critiques and suggestions, to Lec. Emrah Baki Başoğlu for his insightful comments and for taking my stress away during the coffee breaks in our tiny office, to Lec. Hazal İnce Tugaytimur and Lec. Pelin Çoban who were always willing to help me, to Ali Yılmaz and Gökhan Kaan Aydemir for making my days in Ankara brighter, to Abdullah Karaakın who never hesitated to give me a hand and to Dilara Oğuzhan for standing by me despite all my whining during the writing process of this thesis. Most importantly, I would like to thank my mother Gülcan Demir who taught me the true meaning of strength. She is my greatest motivation and I am eternally grateful for her patience and unconditional love. vi ÖZET DEMİR, Merve. Çocuk Edebiyatında Yiyecek Ögelerin Çevirisi: Dav Pilkey’in Kaptan Düşükdon Serisi Üzerine Bir Çalışma. Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Ankara, 2019. Çocuk edebiyatında en sık karşılaşılan unsurlardan biri yiyecek ögeleridir. Bu ögeler, çocuklara yönelik edebi eserlerde genellikle simgeseldir ve bu eserlerde çeşitli rollere bürünebilmekte ve farklı amaçlar doğrultusunda kullanılabilmektedir. Dolayısıyla, çocuk edebiyatının kırılgan yapısı göz önünde bulundurulduğunda, çocuk kitaplarında yer alan yiyecek ögelerinin çevirisi çevirmenler için oldukça büyük zorluklar oluşturmaktadır. Bu noktadan hareketle bu çalışma, Türkçe’ye İpek Demir ve Pınar Gönen tarafından aktarılan Dav Pilkey’e ait Kaptan Düşükdon serisindeki yiyecek ögelerinin çevirilerine odaklanmaktadır. Çalışmanın öncelikli amacı, çevirmenlerin Kaptan Düşükdon serisinde yer alan yiyecek ögelerinin aktarımında yararlandıkları çeviri stratejilerini incelemek ve çevirmenlerin aldıkları kararlarının arkasında yatan olası nedenler ile çeviri davranışlarındaki sıklıkları ortaya koymaktır. Çalışmanın bir diğer amacı ise, söz konusu kitap serisindeki yiyecek ögelerinin kaynak metinlerdeki işlev ve amaçlarının erek metinlerde korunup korunmadığını irdelemektir. Bu doğrultuda, çeviri analizi öncesinde öncelikle söz konusu kitap serisinde yiyecek ögelerinin hangi özelliklere, işlevlere ve rollere sahip olduğu incelenmiştir. Daha sonra, toplam 57 yiyecek ögesinin çevirileri Davies’in (2003) ileri sürdüğü çeviri stratejileri ışığında sınıflandırılmıştır. Çevirmenlerin aldıkları kararların incelemesinde Toury’nin (1995) erek odaklı yaklaşımı ve kabul edilebilirlik ile yeterlilik normları kuramsal çerçeveyi oluşturmuştur. Sonuç itibariyle, yiyecek ögelerinin çevirisinde her iki çevirmenin de erek odaklı bir yaklaşım sergilediği ve böylelikle çevirilerin kabul edilebilirlik kutbuna daha yakın oldukları gözlemlenmiştir. Ancak, çalışmada yiyecek ögelerinin kaynak metinlerde sahip olduğu bazı işlev ve amaçlarının çeviri metinlerde kayba uğradığı görülmüştür. Anahtar Sözcükler Çocuk edebiyatı, çocuk edebiyatı çevirisi, erek odaklı yaklaşım, Toury’nin normları, çeviri stratejileri, yiyecek ögeleri, Dav Pilkey, Kaptan Düşükdon serisi. vii ABSTRACT DEMİR, Merve. Translating Food Items in Children’s Literature: A Case Study On Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants Series. Master’s Thesis, Ankara, 2019. Being one of the most prevalent components of children’s literature, food items are often symbolic and they can play various roles and can be used for different purposes in literary works for children. Therefore, translating food items in children’s literature holds great challenges for translators when the fragile nature of children’s literature is taken into account. In this regard, this study primarily focuses on the Turkish translations of food items in Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series translated by İpek Demir and Pınar Gönen. It aims to investigate the translation strategies employed by the translators while dealing with the food items in Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series along with the possible reasons behind their decisions, and to reveal the regularities in the translational decisions by the translators. Secondarily, it aims to find out whether the intended functions and purposes of the food items in the original texts are maintained in the target texts. To this end, the study first explores the general characteristics, functions and roles that food items possess throughout the series before conducting the translation analysis. Then, the translations of a total of 57 food items are analyzed in the light of Davies’ (2003) categorization of translation strategies. The translational decisions by the translators are criticized within the theoretical framework of Toury’s (1995) target- oriented approach and norms of acceptability and adequacy. As a result, the study reveals that both translators have adopted a target-oriented approach when transferring food items. Thus, it is possible to state that their translations are nearer to the pole of acceptability. However, the study also finds that some of the intended functions and purposes of the food items in the source texts have been lost in the translated texts. Keywords Children’s literature, translation of children’s literature, target-oriented approach, Toury’s norms, translation strategies, food items, Dav Pilkey, The Captain Underpants series. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS KABUL VE ONAY ......................................................................................................... i YAYIMLAMA VE FİKRİ MÜLKİYET HAKLARI BEYANI ................................. ii ETİK BEYAN ................................................................................................................ iii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..............................................................................................v ÖZET ............................................................................................................................. vi ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................... xi LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... xiv INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: CHILDREN’S LITERATURE ............................................................ 6 1.1. DEFINITION OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE .................................... 6 1.2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN THE WESTERN WORLD .......................................................................................... 10 1.3. THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN TURKEY ............................................................................................................................... 17 1.4. FOOD IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE................................................. 20 CHAPTER 2: TRANSLATION OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE ..................... 26 2.1. SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE TRANSLATION OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE .................................................................................................... 26 2.2. THEORETICAL APPROACHES IN THE TRANSLATION OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE .......................................................................... 29 2.3. TRANSLATION OF FOOD ITEMS IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE ............................................................................................................................... 40 ix CHAPTER 3: CASE STUDY – TRANSLATING FOOD ITEMS IN DAV PILKEY’S CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS SERIES ....................................................... 44 3.1. ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND THE TURKISH TRANSLATORS ..............................................................................................................................