Editorial Politics and Choices: The Translation of Yakup Kadri’s novel Yaban (The Stranger) in Nazi-Fascist Europe
My research focuses on the translation and editorial process of the Turkish novel Yaban (The Stranger) by Yakup Kadri (Karaosmanoğlu) in Nazi-Fascist Europe. The novel, generally acknowledged as a masterpiece of 20th-century Turkish Literature, was published in Turkey in 1932 and translated first into German in 1939. After the German translation was published, the author had to respond to harsh criticism in his home country, despite having been generally acclaimed in Europe’s literary and academic circles. At that time, Yakup Kadri, who also was the founder and leading figure of the leftist Kadro movement, due to internal political differences within the Kemalist front was appointed as Turkish ambassador, first to Albania (1934), then Czechoslovakia (1935), the Netherlands (1939-1940) and Switzerland (1942). Yaban was translated from German into Italian in 1942 by a prestigious publishing house that at the time was fighting for translating foreign literature in spite of fascist constraints. The novel became the very first Turkish novel of the 20th century to be published in Italy. My research on the editorial choices and politics of translation of Yaban addresses still overlooked intellectual correspondences, entanglements and perspectives on cultural exchange between Turkey, Germany and Italy during WWII, and refers to broader political issues of the period, and to the political engagement of the author. It also reveals new aspects in the reception of Turkish literature in Europe and the connections between Turkology as a branch of Oriental Studies and fascism.