Carving out a niche in the Anglosphere
The arduous translation journey of Sabahattin Ali’s Madonna in a Fur Coat into English
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21726564 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Deniz Malaymar Buts (0000-0002-1432-1548, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Türkiye, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-21 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Middle Eastern Literatures (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1475-262X • E-ISSN: 1475-2638 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/1475262x.2026.2618730 |
| OpenAlex | W7127071944 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
This article presents the case of Madonna in a Fur Coat (2016), the English translation of Sabahattin Ali’s novel Kürk Mantolu Madonna (1943). It first examines the factors that contributed to the book’s revival in Türkiye. Then, the focus shifts to how the translation of the book was presented to the public by the English publisher, Penguin, in the Penguin Classics series. Taken together, these two perspectives show how the resurgence of the novel in both the source and the target cultures formed part of an integrated process that enabled the novel to enter the “world republic of letters.” The article also presents a comparative textual analysis of the English and Turkish versions of Madonna, offering insights into the strategies employed by the translators to adapt a work to the expectations of an Anglophone audience whose encounter with this now classic work of Turkish literature had long been delayed
Carving · Craft · Niche · Asian Studies and History · Translation Studies and Practices · Travel Writing and Literature
| Highly cited | No |
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