İlk Türk polisiye serilerini çeviribilim bağlamında yeniden düşünmek

In the studies of translation history, the concept of “tercume” (“translation”) emerges as “an amalgamation of many forms of transfer practices bound to the Ottoman culture” (Paker, 2014: 67). Within this context, the concept of “tercume” brought forward conceptual discussions on terms such as “nakl” (“appropriated transfer”), “taklid” (“imitation”) and “te’lif” (“creative mediation”). The studies highlight that, in contrast to the contemporary conception of “original” used as synonymous with “te’lif” today, the Ottoman understanding of “te’lif” covers “works that are produced based on a source or sources that can be considered foreign and that could partially be a translation and partially be shaped by the author’s contribution” (2014: 38). In this respect, “tercume” in Ottoman culture is considered as “a concept that encompasses many forms of rewriting practices” (2014: 42), and “te’lif” practice is “an act of appropriation through translation” (2014: 56). This way, the strict distinction between original works and translated works gets blurred, and we encounter works that are produced via translation. Considering “te’lif” within the framework of the concept of “tercume” necessitates the re-examination of works that were presented as “original” or “translated”. The aim of this study is to analyse the first local examples of Ottoman crime fiction within this perspective. “Amanvermez” series (1913-1934), written by different “authors” and presented as the “Sherlock Holmes of the Turks”, are among the aforementioned crime fiction works. Despite their similarities to the Western crime fiction works in terms of both narrative and character creation, the first crime fiction literary works, also reflecting the specific features of their era, open up  the debate of whether they are “original” or “imitation” (See Ozturk, 2012; Şahin, 2011). Our study aims to reconsider these works in light of the concept of “te’lif”, a strategy of “writing through translation” (Paker, 2014: 46) to understand their functions in the era they were written in.