Fatih kutlu: A translator and advocate of tatar literature in turkey
Flera Sagitovna Sayfulina,
Kazan Federal University,
18 Kremlevskaya Str., Kazan, 420008, Russian Federation.
fsaifulina@mail.ru.
Albina Zinfirovna Valieva,
National Research University Higher School of Economics,
20 Myasnitskaya Str., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation.
fsaifulina@mail.ru.
The paper briefly touches upon the history of Tatar-Turkish literary studies and the Tatar books translated into Turkish in the early 21st century. This work gives an insight into the translation work of Fatih Kutlu, a member of the Tatarstan Writers Society, a translator and philologist, who greatly contributed to the revival of interest in Tatar literature which was in a decline after 1985. As a translator, F. Kutlu addresses literary works of various genres written in various periods. He introduced Turkish readers to Tatar classical works of G. Tukay, F. Amirkhan, G. Ibragimov, Sh. Kamal, and A. Yeniki, as well as to the works of contemporary writers, such as R. Valiev, M. Galiev, G. Gyilmanov, R. Zadulla and many others.
A special place among his other translations is given to the works by the prominent prose writer and playwright A. Gilyazov. Being an important representative of the 20th century Tatar literature, the writer is of interest to the translator for his depiction of a country man with his original Tatar national character and world outlook. A. Gilyazov’s works ‘Öch arshïn jir’ (‘Bir avuç toprak’ – ‘Three Arshins of Land’) and ‘Jomgha kön, kich belän…’ (‘Cuma günü, akşam...’ – ‘Friday Night…’) translated by Fatih Kutlu were chosen as research material for this paper. Based on them, the paper focuses on some aspects of translation and evaluates F. Kutlu’s translation skills, specifics, and methods.
Key words: Tatar literature, Turkish-Tatar literary connections, literary legacy, culture, Tatar authors, Ayaz Gilyazov, literary translation, Fatih Kutlu, linguistic devices.
