Reimagining the World Classics in Turkish Theatrical Tradition and Back in World Canons: Agency of the translator in Ferhan Şensoy’s Reworking and Translational Recanonization Practices

Ferhan Şensoy’s translational recanonization and staged reworkings of the world classics involved use of a variety of components of Turkish theatrical tradition, particularly of Ortaoyunu and Tuluat. These reworkings are mainly characterized by political satire, explicit language, repetitions and repartees as well as humor. Some of these reworkings functioned also as relay translations and were further translated and recanonized either through publication, or staging, or both to be introduced back to various world canons. By scrutinizing Şensoy’s reworking and recanonization practices, this study illustrates the extensive definition of the agency of the translator as a recanonizer and reworker as revealed in the case of Şensoy’s fifteen reworkings of recanonized works of world literature some of which are Fişne Pahçesu, based on The Cherry Orchard, a play by Anton Chekhov; Güle Güle Godot, based on Waiting for Godot, a play by Samuel Beckett; Üç Kurşunluk Opera, based on The Threepenny Opera, a play by Bertolt Brecht; Eşek Arıları, based on The Wasps, a play by Aristophanes; En Büyük Romülüs Başka Büyük Yok, based on Romulus the Great, a play by Friedrich Dürrenmatt; Anna’nın 7 Ana Günahı , based on The Seven Deadly Sins, a libretto by Bertolt Brecht; Şu Gogol Delisi, based on The Diary of a Madman, a collection of short stories by Nikolai Gogol; Uzun Donlu Kişot, based on Don Quixote, a novel by Miguel de Cervantes.