Ecocriticism and Translation: A Descriptive Study on Elif Shafak’s Bit Palas

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the English translation of Elif Shafak’s Bit Palas from the perspective of ecocriticism. As ecocriticism has emerged as a subdiscipline of cultural studies which has affected translation studies to a large extent, one can readily establish a relationship between ecology, culture, literature, and translation. In a translation carried out with ecocritical awareness, what matters is the extent to which the ecological orientations in the source text are transferred to the target text, rather than the fact that a translation is faithful or correct. In this way, translation can foster the construction or restoration of ecological thought. Bit Palas, which is examined in this study, deals with human life in tandem with the phenomenon of garbage. In this respect, it is obvious that the novel contributes to the ecological awareness of society. The novel which reflects the history, culture, and chaos of Istanbul through different characters centers upon the pollution that prevails the city in the second half of the twentieth century. Pollution which could turn into one of the most devastating ecological disasters manifests itself in different aspects throughout the novel. The garbage piles as the sole reason in the novel that triggers pollution is a phenomenon that integrates human beings with history, nature, and the city they live in. The main endeavor in this study will be to discuss how an ecocritical text is recreated in a new cultural and ecological environment. The ecological dimension of the study will be examined through the concepts of çöp [garbage], koku [smell], böcek [insect], and bit [louse]. Based on this, it will be determined how the translator tackles these ecological elements while transferring them to the target text.