Rewriting the ‘Other’ and ‘Self’ Through the Eyes of ‘Another’: Mika Waltari's Johannes Angelos Translated into Turkish

The Finnish author Mika Waltari’s Johannes Angelos was published in 1952 and was translated into Turkish three times between 1957 and 1964. The source text in question is not a canonised work as such to generate so many retranslations in less than a decade. It is rather a popularised historical novel, which proved to be particularly relevant to the Turkish readers. The plot is set in 1453 Constantinople, during the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans. The recurrent images are those of Christianity vs. Islam, West vs. East, and Byzantines vs. Ottomans. The book provides an opportunity to look at a significant moment in the Turkish history from the point of view of ‘the other’, the Byzantines, and yet through the eyes of a Nordic writer. The present article examines how and why these images and relevant details were rewritten for the Turkish readers in these three different versions.