Pinar Kür as a Bold Female Translator: Translating Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class for a Turkish Audience

Authors

  • Purnur Ozbirinci Independent Scholar & Writer

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.16.2.2017.3620

Keywords:

Female voice, Eastern voice, Literature, Culture

Abstract

Simone de Beauvoir declares that “one is not born, but rather becomes a woman” and this process incorporates an acculturation where the woman acquires a specific perspective that separates her way of thinking from that of the men in her culture. This specific perspective that is attained by the woman will manifest itself even when that woman translates a text written by a male author. Pınar Kür’s translation of Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class (Shepard, 1977/2000) attacks, conquers, and recreates Shepard’s text to assert her voice as a Turkish woman in the translation process. Not only has her voice as a woman, but her Turkish background come into existence especially in her rendition of Ella, the mother in the play, for the Turkish audience. This study will reveal the subtle ways that Pınar Kür’s female, eastern voice sometimes overrides the male, western perspective offered through Shepard’s text. 

Author Biography

Purnur Ozbirinci, Independent Scholar & Writer

Dr Purnur Ozbirinci completed her PhD in the Doctorate Program in English Literature at Middle East Technical University in 2007. Her dissertation was published under the title Plays by Women About Women Play Writers: How Women Create Myths About Themselves (2009) and Dunya Kadina Karsi [The World Against Women] (2012) was published in Turkey. Her recent research and publications have aspired to answer the questions underlying rewriting, adaptation, and gender. She was a lecturer in the Department of American Culture and Literature at Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey between 2002 and 2012. Since August 2013, she has been teaching developmental and transfer level English courses and assisting students in the writing labs as an adjunct instructor at Solano Community College, Fairfield,CA. and Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA.

Downloads

Published

2017-12-15

How to Cite

Ozbirinci, P. (2017). Pinar Kür as a Bold Female Translator: Translating Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class for a Turkish Audience. ETropic: Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.16.2.2017.3620