The Image of Africa and Black Africans through the Translations of Heart of Darkness

Abstract The effects of translators’ personal lexical preferences on the perception of source texts are widely discussed descriptively, yet less researched experimentally. This article explores Joseph Conrad’s lexical choices and racist implications in presenting Africa and the fictional representation of black Africans. The study also questions whether Turkish translators manipulated the perception of Turkish expert readers through their lexical choices while presenting a fictional representation of black Africans to Turkish readers. To this end, 23 excerpts with racial overtones from the novella, Heart of Darkness , were examined and compared with corresponding excerpts from two translated Turkish versions of Heart of Darkness . Text-specific excerpts related to the representation of Africa and that of the African natives were selected. To avoid researcher bias, the judgements of seven experts in English Literature and/or Translation Studies were gained in the selection and analysis of the excerpts. The findings were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results showed that the different translation strategies used by each of translators significantly affected the perception of the target readership. Also, it was found that translators are not passive receptors of source texts but rather serve as game-changers in manipulating the effect of the source text on the target readership in the case of racial overtones.