A list of 20th-century Aşık Based in Turkey

Below is a list of 20th-century Aşık cited by Ilhan Basgöz in his seminal work, Hikâye: Turkish Folk Romance as Performance Art.   Aşık Aziz Aydın Ilhami Demir (1932-87)                 Adem Efkari (1898-1980) Ishak Kemali (1913-77)                   Behçet Mahir Sabit Müdami (1918-68) Ali Izzet Özkan Üzeyir Pünhani (1917-98) Yaşar Reyhani (1930-) Mevlüt Ihsani Şafak (1928-) Davut Sutlari Aşık Sümmani Şerif Taşlıova … Continue reading A list of 20th-century Aşık Based in Turkey

《Seher》:来自土耳其牢房畅销书的消息

来自土耳其牢房畅销短篇的物语: 在野党政客施展笔杆子的魅力 如今,Selahattin Demirtas (萨拉丁• 德米尔塔什) 已被囚禁在牢房约一年时间,在此等待与恐怖主义有关联的审判。监禁期间,他创作的短篇故事集在土耳其大为畅销,书中有两篇还是以监狱为背景。自 2017 年九月份开售至该年底,此书已在土耳其卖出十四万本。 据伊斯坦布尔的文学代理 AnatoliaLit Agency,英国、德国、意大利和希腊四国的出版社已购买了这本书的外文版权。 这本名为《Seher》的集子由十二个短篇构成,作者将其献给 “所有被杀害的女性与暴力受害者”。定居伊斯坦布尔的 William Armstrong 在《Hürriyet Daily News》报纸的书评中写,这些故事多“围绕奋斗中女性的苦难”。例如:《纳赞,女清洁工》,讲述了一位兼职女佣偶遇一次街头游行却因误被捕,最终由于含冤蒙受牢狱之灾而产生了政治觉醒;《小美人鱼》是关于一名五岁叙利亚难民儿童,在逃离自己因战争而满目疮痍的国家时溺海而亡的悲伤故事;《致监狱信件阅读委员会的一封信》则是稍带讽刺幽默的一篇。 被土耳其政府以帮助恐怖组织搞宣传等诸多罪名起诉的德米尔塔什,并未获准参加近日展开的对自己的审判。海外分析家普遍认为,他的主要罪行是其人民民主党 (HDP) 领导人的身份。该党在土耳其 2014 年的国会选举中,赢得了 550 个席位中的 80 个。面对这支亲库尔德民族在野党的优异表现,埃尔多安总统与他所领导的正义与发展党 (AKP) 迫切想要挫伤对手形象,尤其是在库尔德和年轻选民 中。但这并非易事。德米尔塔什曾怡然自得地在电视节目中弹奏7弦巴拉玛琴和演唱土耳其民谣,是位充满魅力、广受欢迎的政客。 毫无疑问,这本书中最感人的故事是《Seher》。 到最后,遵照在场父亲与叔父的要求,弟弟处死了他的姐姐。在与同事的第一次约会中,年少天真的 Seher 被那工友的朋友们压在地上,然后约她出来的同事就强奸了她。如果此事被公之于众,她的整个家族都会因此蒙羞。据传统,近亲会认为有义务对被玷污的女方实施 “名誉杀人”。如今,这一行为虽法律上被视为谋杀,但在土耳其仍时有发生,尤其在乡下。中国读者可能读过李凡纳的《伊斯坦布尔的幸福》。在小说中,一位男青年被命令处决村子里被奸污的女性,但最终他奋起反抗,取而代之对强奸犯进行报复。遗憾的是,Seher 没有如此幸运。德米尔塔什用两句诗来结束这个故事: 林中一夜,三个男人偷走了Seher 的梦想, 旷野一夜,三个男人夺走了Seher 的生命。 (*** To leave a comment or read earlier comments, pls scroll to bottom of this … Continue reading 《Seher》:来自土耳其牢房畅销书的消息

Mini-database: Modern Turkish Literature in Translation (当代土耳其文学译著迷你数据库)

Updated: Mar 22, 2017 当代土耳其作家、原作品与其翻译版本书名 20th-21st Century Turkish Authors  + Turkish Titles + Translations into West European Languages & Chinese A Sait Faik Abasıyanık Hikayeler / Geschichten aus Istanbul  / Le Samovar / Le Café du coin / Un homme inutile  / Un serpent à Alemdag / Une histoire pour deux Pir Sultan Abdal / Le … Continue reading Mini-database: Modern Turkish Literature in Translation (当代土耳其文学译著迷你数据库)

July-August 2016: Altaic Storytelling Newsbriefs

Coup d’état Fiction: A Curiously Turkish Genre offers suggested reading for books that capture the Zeitgeist during the years that followed modern Turkey’s not infrequent periods of dictatorship. The winners of the Junma Literary Awards for Ethnic Minority Writers (骏马奖) — handed out every three years since 1981 — were announced in early August. The competition … Continue reading July-August 2016: Altaic Storytelling Newsbriefs

Writing by Controversial Turkish Writer Coming Soon to China

Like any journalist worth her salt in today’s Turkey, Ece Temelkuran (伊切•泰玛尔库兰) was once fired for writing copy that the government of the day deemed politically incorrect. Her novels are edgy too, touching on sensitive social and political issues, and as a columnist and a novelist she has built up quite a following at home and … Continue reading Writing by Controversial Turkish Writer Coming Soon to China

Coup d’état Fiction: A Curiously Turkish Genre

In the wake of the military’s badly botched putsch, as of July 21st Turkey finds itself once again living under a formal State of Emergency (SOE). This should not come as a big surprise to many citizens, because according to Dr. Zafer Üskül, a law professor and founding member of the Turkish Human Rights Organization, … Continue reading Coup d’état Fiction: A Curiously Turkish Genre

Elif Şafak on Writing in Today’s Turkey

[Hürriyet Daily News] Would it have been difficult for you to write this book if you were living permanently in Turkey? [Elif Şafak] Words are heavy in Turkey. Every journalist, every writer, every poet, every academic knows this. Because of words we can be sued overnight, put on trial, demonized in newspapers, attacked on social … Continue reading Elif Şafak on Writing in Today’s Turkey

Soft Power Strategy: Where Does China Figure in Turkey’s Literary Translation Program?

Over the last 11 years, Turkey has spent US$4.4m to fund translation and publication of fiction by Turkish authors via its TEDA grant program, according to Turkish Books, an article that appeared in the Hürriyet Daily on February 24, 2016. TEDA's own chart shows that just 24 titles appeared in Chinese as a result, compared … Continue reading Soft Power Strategy: Where Does China Figure in Turkey’s Literary Translation Program?

Kurdish Dengbêjî and the ‘Nostalgia Industry’

Building the dengbêj ‘tradition’ . . . must also be considered in a wider context. Interest in memory is rapidly spreading in contemporary Turkey and is helping people explore personal and collective histories. These memories are also — within certain limits — fostered by official narratives that ‘rediscover,’ for instance, an Ottoman and multicultural past. … Continue reading Kurdish Dengbêjî and the ‘Nostalgia Industry’

Kurdish Storytellers Congregate in Southeastern Turkey’s Diyarbakır

In Few Dengbejs Remain to Sing Kurdish Stories, Mat Nashed reports from Turkey’s Diyarbakır on the “House of Dengbej,” established to provide a venue for performances by traditional Kurdish storytellers: “We sing stories of love and war,” [Mehmet] Ince told Al-Monitor while lighting a cigarette in the house of the dengbej. “We express our history through … Continue reading Kurdish Storytellers Congregate in Southeastern Turkey’s Diyarbakır