How Istanbul’s Cultural Complexities Have Shaped Eight Contemporary Novelists ( Byalt, Glazebrook, Atasu, Aafak, Tillman, Livaneli, Kristeva, and Pamuk)
| Author: | Bulamur, Ayse Naz | |
| Year: | 2011 | |
| Pages: | 384 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-3950-1 978-0-7734-3950-4 | |
| Price: | $239.95 + shipping | |
| (Click the PayPal button to buy) | ||
I examine representations of Istanbul in the texts of contemporary Turkish and non-Turkish writers such as A. S. Byatt, Philip Glazebrook, Erendiz Atasü, Elif afak, Lynne Tillman, Zülfü Livaneli, Julia Kristeva, and Orhan Pamuk. My project highlights how multiple and even contradictory depictions of Istanbul in contemporary texts engage in cross-genre mergings (of fiction, autobiography and theory) that narrate plural accounts of Istanbul’s imperial past and its present role as Turkey’s largest industrial city. The texts that inform this study underscore the unique location of Istanbul that unites Asia and Europe, and connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. I argue that Istanbul’s liminal position between the two continents becomes the site through which cultural identities are articulated in contemporary fiction on Turkey. I investigate the diverse ways novels of the last three decades produce Istanbul as a Byzantine, Ottoman, Oriental, Islamic, or as a Republican city. The distinctiveness of my project lies in its focus on recent representations of Istanbul which have not been comprehensively studied by literary scholars. This book will contribute to current scholarship on Istanbul by investigating how contemporary texts underline the social and political significances of the city’s geography at the threshold.
Reviews
“Anyone who wishes to obtain a better understanding of this amazingly diverse, multilayered, complex city would do well to read this book.” – Michael McGaha, Pomon College
“…a nuanced and wide-ranging study that not only engages with an important literary corpus but that will also appeal to scholars and students working on theories of nationalism, travel, and the politics of representation.” – Sukanya Banerjee, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
“…a nuanced and wide-ranging study that not only engages with an important literary corpus but that will also appeal to scholars and students working on theories of nationalism, travel, and the politics of representation.” – Sukanya Banerjee, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Table of Contents
Foreword by Michael McGaha
Preface by Nilgün Anadolu-Okur
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Istanbul as a Contested Terrain for Turkish and European Identities
CHAPTER 1: Istanbul Fantasies
Philip Glazebrook- Byzantine Honeymoon:
A Tale of the Bosphorus
Archie’s ferry journey on the Bosphorus and His Rental of an Ottoman Mansion
Archie’s Failed Honeymoon and Rachel as the New Woman Figure
Archie’s Harem Fantasies and Ottoman Slavery
Two British Women in the Harem
A.S. Byatt- “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye”
Gillian’s Flight from England to Ankara and Her Shattered Ideals of Marriage
Istanbul: The City of Nymphs and Djinns
Gillian and the Djinn Share Stories of Beauty, Love, and Marriage in Istanbul
Istanbul: The City that Lies Outside Gillian’s Hotel Bedroom with the Djinn
CHAPTER 2: Istanbulite Women
Erendiz Atasü-The Other Side of the Mountain
From Salonika to Istanbul: Vicdan’s New Home
Love of Country and Lovers in England
Raik’s Istanbul and His Love for Vicdan
Vicdan’s Daughter and Istanbul after World War II
Elif ?afak- The Bastard of Istanbul
Zeliha and Asya Kazanc?: A Sinful Mother and Bastard of Istanbul
Banu Kazanc?: The Murdering Sister in Her Headscarf
Armanoush and Cevriye Kazanc?: The Construction of Turkish National History
CHAPTER 3: Istanbul as Contact Zone
Lynne Tillman- Motion Sickness
Tillman’s narrator: A Single American Woman Traveler in Europe
Istanbul in the 1980s
The Narrator’s Visit to Istanbul’s Old Town
Zülfü Livaneli- Bliss
The Golden City of Istanbul and the Shantytown of Rahmanl?
Predicaments of Migrant Women in Istanbul
Travels from Istanbul to the Aegean Coast: Cemal and Meryem Meet ?rfan
CHAPTER 4:
Istanblues: The City as a Site of Nostalgia
Julia Kristeva- Murder in Byzantium
Byzantium’s Liminal Space and the Questions of Fragmented Identity
Claiming Byzantium as Occidental and Istanbul as Oriental
On Turkish Women, the Headscarf, and the European Union
Orhan Pamuk-Istanbul: Memories and the City
The Black and White City: Pamuk’s Nostalgia for Istanbul’s Multicultural Past
Istanbul’s Changing Landscape with the Rise of Turkification
Afterword
Bibliography
Index
Preface by Nilgün Anadolu-Okur
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Istanbul as a Contested Terrain for Turkish and European Identities
CHAPTER 1: Istanbul Fantasies
Philip Glazebrook- Byzantine Honeymoon:
A Tale of the Bosphorus
Archie’s ferry journey on the Bosphorus and His Rental of an Ottoman Mansion
Archie’s Failed Honeymoon and Rachel as the New Woman Figure
Archie’s Harem Fantasies and Ottoman Slavery
Two British Women in the Harem
A.S. Byatt- “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye”
Gillian’s Flight from England to Ankara and Her Shattered Ideals of Marriage
Istanbul: The City of Nymphs and Djinns
Gillian and the Djinn Share Stories of Beauty, Love, and Marriage in Istanbul
Istanbul: The City that Lies Outside Gillian’s Hotel Bedroom with the Djinn
CHAPTER 2: Istanbulite Women
Erendiz Atasü-The Other Side of the Mountain
From Salonika to Istanbul: Vicdan’s New Home
Love of Country and Lovers in England
Raik’s Istanbul and His Love for Vicdan
Vicdan’s Daughter and Istanbul after World War II
Elif ?afak- The Bastard of Istanbul
Zeliha and Asya Kazanc?: A Sinful Mother and Bastard of Istanbul
Banu Kazanc?: The Murdering Sister in Her Headscarf
Armanoush and Cevriye Kazanc?: The Construction of Turkish National History
CHAPTER 3: Istanbul as Contact Zone
Lynne Tillman- Motion Sickness
Tillman’s narrator: A Single American Woman Traveler in Europe
Istanbul in the 1980s
The Narrator’s Visit to Istanbul’s Old Town
Zülfü Livaneli- Bliss
The Golden City of Istanbul and the Shantytown of Rahmanl?
Predicaments of Migrant Women in Istanbul
Travels from Istanbul to the Aegean Coast: Cemal and Meryem Meet ?rfan
CHAPTER 4:
Istanblues: The City as a Site of Nostalgia
Julia Kristeva- Murder in Byzantium
Byzantium’s Liminal Space and the Questions of Fragmented Identity
Claiming Byzantium as Occidental and Istanbul as Oriental
On Turkish Women, the Headscarf, and the European Union
Orhan Pamuk-Istanbul: Memories and the City
The Black and White City: Pamuk’s Nostalgia for Istanbul’s Multicultural Past
Istanbul’s Changing Landscape with the Rise of Turkification
Afterword
Bibliography
Index