Can’t Other Fair(y) Tales Be Possible? The Eşit Masallar Series as Feminist Retranslation

Authors : Ayşe Saki Demirel

Pages : 174-196

Doi:10.37599/ceviri.1767241

View : 134 | Download : 116

Publication Date : 2025-12-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This study examines the Eşit Masallar (Fair Tales) series, which reinterprets five canonical fairy tales through an egalitarian lens, as feminist retranslations within the evolving landscape of Feminist Translation Studies and Retranslation Theories. To this end, it develops an expanded conception of feminist retranslation that extends beyond the retranslation of women’s works or explicitly feminist texts. It frames feminist retranslation as a selective, interventionist, and ideological practice that actively challenges patriarchal and intersecting forms of oppression, while extending its scope beyond interlingual and verbal retranslations to encompass intralingual, intermedial, and multimodal practices. Drawing on paratextual and textual analyses, the study investigates why, how, and to what extent the Eşit Masallar series can be understood as feminist retranslations. The paratextual analysis demonstrates that Eşit Masallar operates at the macro level as a form of selective feminist retranslation, in which canonical fairy tales are deliberately chosen for their pedagogical authority and recontextualised by ideologically driven agents through an accessibility-oriented dissemination strategy. The comparative narrative analysis further shows that, at the micro level, the series systematically deconstructs patriarchal norms, gender stereotypes, and “happily-ever-after”conventions embedded in canonical Western fairy tales through narrative omissions, additions, modulations, and manipulations. Protagonists, whether female or male, are reimagined as active, resourceful, and socially engaged agents, while resolutions prioritize solidarity, collective problem-solving, and social responsibility rather than romance or passive transformation. Furthermore, the series’ multimodal and intermedial dimensions, including digital editions, audiobooks, accessible versions with audio description and sign language interpreting, theatrical adaptation, and its subsequent English translations, reinforce its feminist retranslation status as conceptualized in this study and collectively construct a potentially infinite feminist retranslation chain.
Keywords : feminist yeniden çeviri, masal, Eşit Masallar, yeniden çeviri, çok modluluk

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