Erich Auerbach and the Exile in Turkey: Analysis and translation of Erich Auerbachs lectures taught at the University of Istanbul (1936-1947)

• Grant number: 23/15401-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: March 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Literature Theory
• Principal Investigator: Samuel de Vasconcelos Titan Junior
• Grantee: Munique Peralta Fortunato
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims to propose the analysis and the yet unprecedent translation from Turkish language to Brazilian Portuguese language, i.e., from primary sources, of the amount of scientific papers and lectures first published in Turkish language which were taught by the German philologist and Romance Philology scholar Erich Auerbach, under the political exiled condition at the Republic of Turkey, from 1936 to 1947, as an outcome of his flight from nazi government. The scholar was welcomed by Turkish governmental institutions since his commitment of being in charge of the University of Istanbul's Western Languages and Literatures Department management and teaching. The above mentioned department was founded by Leo Spitzer in 1933, while de University of Istanbul was founded in 1935, aiming to repurpose the earlier Darülfünün, an ottoman institute of superior education. The analysis embraces as its departure point the perusal towards the continuity and ruptures with the European scholarship tradition carried out by his most known works published during the Turkish exile, associated to their linkage with the philologist's experience arisen from that particular concrete reality of the exilic condition, in order to identify the means by which the intelectual production's route walked through by Erich Auerbach between 1936 and 1947 reframes its own relationship towards its audience and rethinks its own role against the particular contingency of that historical period. The translation aims to enable the exposure of this reframing process, settled at the core of the scholar's philological activity, which is deeply entangled to his pedagogical practice, once the majority of the elected items to research display Erich Auerbach performing his assigned academician task. Approaching the elected corpus is trusted to be a key to broaden the comprehension regarding Erich Auerbach's masterpieces, to improve the mainstream knowledge about the social and historical circumstances which the philologist was submerged in and, moreover, to boost the strengthening and growth of further discussion on similar Literary Theory topics. In addition to the lectures' content access enabled by the translation, the analysis targets both the enlargement of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature researching field of Brazil as well of the lusophone community at large and the advance of brazilian participation in the International scientific comunity's discussions on issues related to the above mentioned subject-matters.