Turkish Literature

[Eric]

Have any of you any idea why Orhan Pamuk is the one Turkish writer chosen to be given prizes and translated internationally? Surely Turkey has at least half a dozen translateable contemporary novelists (poetry can be more difficult to export).

Metin mentions A.H. Tanpınar and Oğuz Atay. I personally had never heard of them before. This surely reflects the selective way that authors are marketed, especially in the English-speaking world. (Often political dabbling on the part of the author attracts publishers.) Also, publishers love living authors (preferably photogenic ones) whom they can drag into long promotional tours and readings.

I've now found the Wikipedia articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmet_Hamdi_Tanpinar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oğuz_Atay

 

[Stewart]

The only other author from Turkey that I've heard of is Yaşar Kemal, although you see very little of his books around today. Mehmed, My Hawk, seems to be the only one readily available, thanks to NYRB Classics. I do have The Sea-Crossed Fisherman, which I bought off eBay on a whim, but it's so yellowed that reading it, since I like pristine copies, isn't high on my list of things to do.

 

[Stewart]

Another Turkish writer I've seen appear in English, thanks to a few edition from Marion Boyars, is Latife Tekin. From what I can gather, she's some sort of Turkish magical realist. Any thoughts?

In other news, I've stumbled acros this site which lists Contemporary Turkish Literature in Translation. I suppose, unless you know who to look for, the genre section (Novel is listed as a genre), is the best to get a list of such translations to English.

 

[Mirabell]

I think I've read "S?zde Kizlar" in German translation once and hated it for its stupendous sexism and its special brand of conservatism. I don't remember much more but all these moralistic dichotomies of nature vs. decadence, with a clear moral preference for nature reminded me too much of certain strands of German lit that we have learbed to be suspicious of.

Damn but I don't remember much more. The German translations (looked it up now) seem all to've been out of print since the 1950s.

 

[metin]

I agree with the above sentiments. Having been accustomed to his way of weltanschauungism, I too felt dissatisfied by the cheap lesson preached in "S?zde Kızlar".

 

[Stewart]

Whilst browsing the Peter Owen site I've just come across one of their new releases, which is a two-in-one deal: My Father's House and Idle Days, both by Orhan Kemal, "one of Turkey's best-loved writers, with a standing equal to Charles Dickens in England."

There's a site dedicated to him too.

 

[saliotthomas]

I heard some very warm praises about Yannis Xanthoulis-Un turc dans le jardin(A Turk in the garden) but i don't think he has been translated in English yet.I try to get a copy here and be curious to know if others heard of him.

 

[kpjayan]

Few months back, I read "The Bastard of Istanbul" by Elif Shafak. Is she not a Turkish writer ?

 

[metin]

Yes she is. I haven't read any of her works though. She seems to like being sensational by her political stand.

 

[Stewart]

Apart from the rather predictable title, the new issue of Words Without Borders deals with Turkish literature, since Turkey is the guest nation at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair.

 

[Mestan]

I guess one of the reasons why there is not much Turkish literature published abroad is that it is really hard to make good translations and that there are not all that many good translators available.
Also, it is a literature that is justing really starting to come into its own. yes, I know there are many 'old' authors that deserve being translated as well, but I think for most of teeh 20thcentury Turkish literature tended to be very 'Turkish', I mean mostly significant for those who are familiair with the Turkish reality. It is only recent that books are published that are more 'world literature'. I myself am very fond of Murathan Mungan and am working on translating some of his short stories (which are not realy shot btw) in Dutch and will try to get them published. Other people I know are trying to get Adalet Agoglu translated and published.
For those of us translating into Dutch, it would be a good thing to have more English, German or French translations, for then at least publishers could read the texts and have an idea what they are about and what there potentioal could be in the Netherlands

 

[My name is red]

I would strongly recommend 'The clock-setting institue' by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar.İf you liked Auto-da-fe by Elias Canetti,i bet you'll like this one too.i don't know why exactly but i felt like they have a very similar spirit deep down.

As for Orhan Pamuk,The Silent House is my favourite book of all time.The best applied stream of consciousness technique i've ever read.It was illuminating for me as a would-be writer.

You ask why Orhan Pamuk is the only Turkish writer you know;
First of all literature is not only a fantasy for him but also a business.Artists usually don't take this reality this way,they wait something magical to happen and forget the fact that it's also a profession.Orhan Pamuk's been a professional from the start.
He is not absorbed and drowned in native culture and local agenda,the books handles and concerns basically common humanity matters.
Not to mention the fact that he has such a gift to divulge the secrets of human nature and analyze a soul that you almost feel embarrassed to violate privacy of mankind.

 

[Revontuli]

It makes me happy to see that Orhan Pamuk is not the only Turkish writer known worlwide.

As to his matter, I see no literary skill in his works, style or the way he promotes himself and his works. I'm not saying this to cause problems here, these are just my personal opinions. Everything happened out of a sudden and he gained fame and got the prize causing controversy about a sensitive political matter. The problem's not that he supports an idea but the words you use are very important. And what he did was really very, very ugly.

And I don't think that he has literary skills. He's just good at advertising. Putting him in the same place with many other valuable Turkish writers is not right. I just wish the translators worked harder to introduce other Turkish writers' book to world literature rather than Pamuk's.

Revontuli

 

[Daniel del Real]

Which young Turkish writers would you recommend Revontuli? Let us know some of them, specially if they are already translated to other languages.

 

[john h]

I read a book of poetry by Nazim Hikmet many years ago and was very impressed. Haven't heard anything about him in a long time but I have fond memories of his poetry.

 

[kpjayan]

Recently, one of the representative of Selcuk Altun, had a correspondence with me. Two of his novels are now translated to English , SONGS MY MOTHER NEVER TAUGHT ME and MANY A MANY. Any opinions on his works ?

 

[My name is red]

Few months back, I read "The Bastard of Istanbul" by Elif Shafak. Is she not a Turkish writer ?

Yes,a higly commercialized and worthless one(for me).But what can you say,she knows her business...

 

[kpjayan]

Agree with you... Popular for non literary reasons. Book wasnt all that great.

 

[Revontuli]

Which young Turkish writers would you recommend Revontuli? Let us know some of them, specially if they are already translated to other languages.

Hi Daniel,

The recent young writers don't appeal to me at all, so I stay away from reading their books as much as possible.

I'm not an expert on literature but I can recommend Sunay Akın and Murathan Mungan. They have also very good poems. Sunay Akın has a vivid and exciting narrative, like a fairytale. Mungan has a surrealist style. But I'm not sure if their works are translated.

 

[Daniel del Real]

Thanks a lot. I'll research more about these authors you tell me.