Elucidating or (Un)breaking the Chain? Intralingual Translations and Retranslations of Şeyh Galib’s Hüsn ü Aşk

Abstract

Şeyh Galib (1757–1799), regarded as the last mighty poet of Ottoman Literature, marked, and in a sense closed the classical era of Ottoman poetry with his masterpiece Hüsn ü Aşk [Beauty and Love]. Written in 1783, the work was imitated by many during the Ottoman era, and rewritten, adapted, intralingually translated, and retranslated many times after the proclamation of the Turkish Republic. These intralingual translations and retranslations were sometimes in prose; in that case it could be argued that they served more as elucidatory texts to make the original work comprehensible for modern readers due to the change in language and, more importantly, in the alphabet. Yet, in intralingual translations and retranslations written in verse, the output became more of an artistic creation similar to the process of a particular literary production method called nazîre (parallel poem) during the Ottoman period. In this regard, they turn into literary works in their own right that could replace the original work by way of rewriting and recreating the original; and thus without presenting themselves as nazire (parallel), they maintain the chain of the nazire tradition.