Habitus and Translators: Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate the habitusesof translators of the book My Name is Redby Orhan Pamuk, Nobel laureate, in English, French and Italian languages concerningthe potential relationship between the author and translator, dispositions and world views of translators as well as their educational and familial background.The main basis used as a ground in the paper is the famous term habitus by Bourdieu which lays the way open for research on Translation Studies concerningthe Sociology of Translation. The translators of all versions were interviewed via email and asked four questions related to the translation process of the book to have an insight into whether they were guided by their habituses or not. In the light of in-depth analysis ofthe habituses of the translators, it is claimed that a translation process is a socialdeedand that in the process of translatingtranslators are not independent of their habitus, which is an umbrella term used for entire past of the individual. It is suggested that relationships between the author and the translator emerge as a crucial factor that paves the way for success in the output at the end. Furthermore, it is observed that translators tend to rely on their intellectual and familial background as well as ethos when making choices related to which works and authors should be translated overtime.