Different Roles Played by Translators While Recontextualizing Turkish Literature: Navigating Contextual Voices

National literature can only gain recognition in other languages through translation, which places an important responsibility on the translator, especially in the process of recontextualization. This study examines the multiple roles translators play in the internationalization of Turkish literature. Focusing on The Turkish Theatre, Tales Alive in Turkey, and Yunus Emre: Selected Poems, different roles assumed by translators are explored within the framework of textual and contextual voices in translation. The works analyzed in this study are characterized by a large number of contextual materials such as prefaces, introductions, notes, and introductory chapters most of which are written by the translators themselves. Therefore, the concept of textual and contextual voices is used as a framework to analyze the different roles of translators in the re-contextualization of Turkish literature. By examining all these contextual voices, it is assumed that the role of translators as agents with different responsibilities in the recontextualization of Turkish literary products for English-speaking audiences can be better understood. The analysis has shown that by writing introductory parts, selecting specific plays, tales, and poems, and framing them for foreign audiences, the translators contribute to the recontextualization, transmission, and reception of Turkish literature in ways that go beyond mere linguistic translation and shape its reception in the English-speaking world. In doing so, they assumed roles not only as translators but also as authors, cultural mediators, informants, facilitators of cross-cultural understanding, and even editors, which may reveal the multifaceted responsibilities of translators in the recontextualization of national literature for a foreign audience.