Poetry Talks to Our Emotions

Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Mesnevi fully translated into Turkish centuries on
One of the most important works of 13th century Sufi saint and poet Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, "Mesnevi" is now available in Turkish in its entirety, around eight centuries after it was first written in its original Persian.

The six-volume book, in which Mevlana recounts his views of Sufism in the form of stories connected to each other over 25,618 stanzas, was written in the prosodic style of "aruz" -- an Ottoman poetic meter taken from Persian.

The voluminous book took 10 years for Ahmet Metin Şahin to translate into Turkish, reported the Anatolia news agency. Şahin, who began the project in 1996, told Anatolia that although there were numerous attempts to translate Mevlana's verses into Turkish, none of them were ever completed.

"Many poets attempted to translate 'Mesnevi' into Turkish in aruz style but some of them translated only half of one volume, some translated one volume, and some only translated 1,000 verses. But I persisted, didn't give up, and translated the entire Mesnevi into Turkish in aruz style," he said.

"The first such attempt was made in 1730 by Süleyman Nahifi during the Tulip Era [of the Ottoman Empire]. Some 276 years later I have become the one to complete the translation."

Şahin, underlining the difficulties in translating the epic tome, said he had to go over his translation numerous times to make the necessary corrections. "While I was working on my translations I reviewed the previous translations as well.

One verse can be translated to give varied meanings by various translators. So whoever goes over all versions has the opportunity to grasp the meaning of that verse better. I made use of that opportunity," he added.

Explaining that since "Mesnevi" is actually a poetic work, Şahin said translations in prose style cannot always be given the same meaning and sense. "One aspect of poetry is that it ... attracts the attention of people and talks to their emotions... I wanted people to enjoy 'Mesnevi'," he said.

The Turkish translation of "Mesnevi" was published this year by Kaynak Kültür Publishing House in three volumes; its second edition will be launched next week.

[Link to the translation http://ailem.zaman.com.tr/?bl=39&hn=5408]