مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - The Reflection of the Cain and Abel Myth in Works by Victor Hugo and Leconte de Lisle and their Translations into Turkish

Abstract :

Freud argued in his work The Uneasiness in Culture that the death drive that is internalised can never be forgotten, even though man tries to live in the civilized world by establishing a balance between Eros and Thanatos. The fact that wars still continue today may affirm this hypothesis. It is argued that the first fratricide in history was that of Cain and Abel. This myth has been a centre of attention for mankind for centuries and has been interpreted in different ways and it has served as the basis for many literary works. One of the most important reasons why myths are still valid is the fact that they reflect the reality of mankind and the myth of Abel and Cain is one of the best examples for this. The aim of this study was to analyse how the myth of Cain and Abel was employed by some important French poets, such as, Leconte de Lisle in his poem Caïn and by Victor Hugo in his poem La Conscience and to cast some light today through an analysis of the translation strategies pursued in the translation of the cultural and mythological elements of these poems into Turkish. In line with this purpose, firstly, the different interpretations of this myth to the present day are studied; followed by the analysis as to how these two myths were reflected in these poems and an analysis of the process of the transference of these cultural and mythological elements in these poems into Turkish.