On the reception of Elfriede Jelinek in Turkey

Abstract

Jelinek is an author, whose reception in Turkey has begun recently. This article aims to determine how Elfiriede Jelinek has been perceived in Turkey so far. Die Liebhaberinnen, Lust, Die Kiavierspielerin and Gier are translated into Turkish. These translations cannot convey the origitial use of language and style of Jelinek's texts and they include some very major errors as well. Such misrepresentation of Jelinek's use of language, style and qualities of intertextuality has a negative effect on the reception of Jelinek's texts. Most of the reviews on Jelinek's texts and certain modes of reception do not include the cultural, social and political contexts of these texts and as a result the reception occurs only partially. Possible reasons for this can be the existent cultural and social distance and the lack of literary criticism in Turkey. As a result, it can be concluded that Elfriede Jelinek has a very partial reception in Turkey.