A Carnivalesque Reading of The Turkish Translation of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Authors : Ayşenur İPLİKÇİ ÖZDEN

Pages : 332-343

Doi:10.29110/soylemdergi.1187036

View : 44 | Download : 8

Publication Date : 2023-02-25

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Mikhail Bakhtin, a prominent Russian philosopher of the 20th century, contributed to the field of philology and literary studies by propounding conceptions in several domains one of which is the foremost term ‘carnivalesque’. As it is a locution related to the ‘carnival’, it is of utmost significance to define this term. The ‘carnival’, deriving from the Lantern period at the time of the Romans, is a phenomenon in which all the rules in our daily lives, restrictions, regulations, and hierarchical forms are put aside; everyone is free and there are no restrictions in this sphere. The aim of this study is to read and analyse the Turkish translation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – with its full name –in the light of Bakhtin’s carnivalesque approach, and the Turkish translation of the work is evaluated particularly by taking Bakhtin’s main categories of the term ‘carnivalesque’, which are free and familiar interaction between people, eccentric behaviour by which the human nature in the work is revealed, and carnivalistic misalliances, all of which are considered to be abstract notions of freedom and equality. While taking the carnivalesque way of thinking into consideration, specifically the diverse characteristics of the protagonist in the novel are brought forth such as being respectable and well-liked but also hideous and depraved in conformity with the free and unrestricted world of the carnival.
Keywords : karnavalesk, insan doğası, olağandışı davranış, kısıtlanmamış

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