the ideology of lexical choices in the turkish translations of oliver twist

1.3.4. Translation as Manipulation
Analyzed from the perspective of ‘rewriting,’ translation can be regarded as a
discursive ‘manipulation’ imposed upon the source text as well as the minds of the
target text readers. Hence, it is not innocent or unmediated, but blended with
ideology, its circulation and proliferation rely on the support of institutions (such as
publishers), and it is regulated by certain rules and conventions in its production
(Tianmin, 2006, Translation Journal. http://accurapid.com/journal/36context.htm).
As Theo Hermans suggests in The Manipulation of Literature-Studies in
Litarary Translation, “from the point of view of the target literature, all translation
implies a degree of manipulation of the source text for a certain purpose” (1985; 11).
Therefore, the agents of the act of translating engage in some kind of manipulation in
order to achieve a particular aim. However, manipulation is carried out at the
expense of the alteration of the target text in one way or other.
In this study, manipulation will be taken as a subtle process of influencing the
minds of recipients (i.e., children) through the internalization of certain beliefs,
values, attitudes or ideologies (van Dijk, 1998: 260). Van Dijk underscores the
cognitive dimension in manipulation. That is, manipulation usually involves a form
of mind control, that is, the beliefs of the recipients, such as their knowledge,
opinions and ideologies that in turn control their actions. In that respect, propaganda
or indoctrination can be regarded as a form of manipulation since they have “the
function of directly affecting the attitudes and ideologies of social members, even
when ‘examples’ or ‘illustrations’ may be given as persuasive ‘evidence’ for the
validity of general beliefs” (van Dijk, 1998: 87).
In five ‘versions’ of Oliver Twist, manipulation is carried out in order to
successfully accomplish the imposition of religious-conservative ideology, which the
recipients are not aware of, or do not comprehend the ultimate purposes (This shall
be explored in the last chapter).
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