Studia Filologiczne UJK

Summary

In Turkey, several studies have been conducted on feminist writing and gender roles in the field of linguistics, literary studies and translation studies; however, women’s sexuality is among subjects that have only recently begun to attract academic attention. Interestingly, many novels, short stories, drama texts and non-literary texts on sexuality have been written, translated and presented as “options” in the Turkish “culture repertoire” (Even-Zohar 2002, 2010), some of which have been prosecuted, and subsequently banned and removed from circulation. In view of the strong reactions to the home repertoire, researchers point out that translations have been the major force in disseminating feminist texts, including the area of women’s sexuality (Işıklar-Koçak 2007; Bozkurt 2014; Ergün 2013, 2015). In a similar vein, this study aims at a comparative analysis of a feminist text, The Vagina Monologues and its Turkish translation. The Vagina Monologues was first performed in 1996 and published in 1998 in the United States; and was first performed in 2003 in Turkey by Almula Merter under the title of Vajina Monologları. Due to its écrite féminine characteristics (Cixous, 1976), the original play caused controversy among the critics, feminists and scholars in the American media, while the translation was met with harsh reactions in the Turkish media. Taking the translated play Vajina Monologları as its case, this study argues that female translator and director of this text has taken the role of an agent of resistance towards the dominant poetics in the Turkish culture repertoire.