Novels by local authors are one of the best ways to get a feel of another culture—reading the right novel beats taking an anthropology course hands down! National novelists can humanize their worlds in ways no anthropologist, social scientist or missionary can.
To date two Middle Easterners, the late Najuib Mahfouz and the Turk Orhan Pamuk have won the Nobel prize for literature. Mahfouz’s Children of the Gabalawy, or his Sugar Street trilogy give real insight into the passion that is Egypt. Pamuk’s Snow is a great introduction to the conundrum that is modern Turkey. Yaşar Kemal’s İnce Mehmet celebrates its 50th birthday this week. If you haven’t read the first of the İnce Mehmet series (“Mehmet my Hawk”, in English) don’t presume to talk about Turkish literature with anyone.
For those of you who know sufficient Turkish and are interested in deepening your understand of modern Turkey, there are a number of other “must read” contemporary authors you should be aware of:
Ahmet Altan started writing in the 1980s. His first book, Sudaki İz, got him in trouble with the censors. His fourth novel, Tehlikeli Masallar, broke sales records. His latest book, İçimizde bir Yer, was a publishing phenomena in Turkey, selling over a million copies. He writes rather introspective, soul-searching stuff.
Tuna Kiremitçi is a young writer who also focuses on such peoples’ inner worlds.
Elif Şafak’s latest book, Baba ve Piç (“The Bastard of Istanbul”) landed her in court. The infamous “Rule 301” of the Turkish Penal Code makes “insulting Turkishness” a criminal offence; her treatment of the Armenian massacres of 1915, even when presented as fiction, is an ultra-senstive subject in Turkey. In short, she doesn’t shrink from sensitives subjects, creates a good plot, and has some nice descriptive passages which are, unfortunately, tarnished by English cliches translated into Turkish. Her overall writing style is reminiscent of Maive Binchy.
Ahmet Ümit is probably Turkey’s premier contemporary writer of detective novels. Try Sis ve Gece, Şeytan Ayrıntıda Gizlidir, or Beyoğlu Rapsodisi.
Ayşe Kulin writes historical biographies about famous Turks. Her book Adı: Aylin, the story of a Turkish society woman who eventually becomes a Colonel in the American army was a great success. She has since written Sevdalinka, Köprü, Nefes Nefese, Gece Sesleri and Bir Gün.
Soner Yalçın investigates little know facts about Turkish society and turns them into page-turners. His book Bay Pipo, for intance, investiges the murder of former secred service agent Hiram Abas. The book has been reprinted 50 times since 1999. His latest work, Efendi: Beyaz Türklerin Büyük Sırrı has been reprinted 64 times since 2004!
Kürşat Başar has published successful novels since the 1980s. His most recent works, İğreti Yaşamlar and Başucumda Müzik are love stories.
Burak Turna and Orkun Açar are two young writers whose book Metal Fırtına describes an American invasion of Turkey. Lousy literature, but the book sold over 400,000 copies. The two writers have since gone their separate ways and are published more political fiction.
Vedat Türkalı is an modern anachronism: he still believes in Communism. His 2001 novel Komünist was a success. His 2004 book Kayıp Romanlar was on the Turkish bestseller list for 10 weeks.
Posted by pikkert 
Posted by pikkert 