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Abstract

This text, written by the translator of Louis Ferdinand Céline’s Voyage au bout de la nuit, is an essay on Céline’s poetics in its Turkish version [Gecenin Sonuna Yolculuk, Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2002]. While apparently synthesizing Prof. Henri Godard’s phenomenal analysis of Céline’s poetics [Gallimard, 1985], the translator indirectly presents the method he followed in order to translate Céline’s work and, in particular, to reproduce Céline’s style in Turkish. Aiming at illustrating Céline’s style and language, the translator quotes several passages from the Turkish version (more often than not the very same passages chosen by Prof. Godard). By doing so, the translator wishes to illustrate why simply understanding the meaning of the original text may not be enough to translate an author like Céline, in that discovering the style and the author’s contribution to language is essential in order to attempt to successfully reproduce the same stylistic work and effects.