Reverse Orientalism in the Turkish Translations of Turkish Embassy Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Abstract

Edward Said’s concept of “orientalism” is mainly grounded on the argument that the Orient is falsely represented by the Occident. Coined by Sadiq Jalal al-Azm, reverse orientalism, on the other hand, reveals a discourse used to reapropriate the authentic identity of the Orient. Like orientalism, reverse orientalism is also based on the East versus the West dichotomy; however, it stresses the otherness of the Orient and tries to recapture its identity. The aim of this thesis is to analyze and look into the impacts of reverse orientalism in translation with specific focus on the Turkish translations of Turkish Embassy Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, a renowned English traveller and writer.Turkish Embassy Letters is a prominent work of travel literature, which gives account of the Ottoman customs and manners. Although the book deconstructs the false accounts of the previous male travellers and has a counter-orientalist stance, it also includes orientalist features. In order to hav