The New Cultural Climate in Turkey Living in a Shop Window

by Gurbilek, Nurdan

• ISBN13: 9781848134867
• ISBN10: 184813486X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-01-15
• Publisher: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

Summary

The Return of Turkeyis a beautifully written collection of essays by a leading Turkish literary intellectual, which presents a compelling analysis of the cultural climate in Turkey, making the argument that the dominant external cliched dualities of East/West and Secular/Sacred and Arabic/European should be replaced by a narrative of silence, repression and return. Comprising a sophisticated review of the history, culture and politics of Turkey since the 1980 military coup, this is the only book in English that analyzes the culltural aspects of modern Turkey in order to explore its place within global politics, a groundbreaking work for anyone with an interest in Turkey.

Author Biography

One of the foremost cultural critics in Turkey, Nurdan Gürbilek is the author of Vitrinde Ya'amak (Life in the Shopwindow, 1992), an analysis of the cultural dynamics of the 1980s in Turkey. Her other publications include Yer Deoiptiren Gölge (Shifting Shadow, 1995) and Ev Ödevi (Homework, 1999), collection of essays on modern Turkish writers. She is also the author of Kötü Çocuk Türk (Bad Boy Turk, 2001), an analysis of some of the significant images and tropes in modern Turkish literature and popular culture. In her last book Kör Ayna, Kayyp Park (Orient Lost, 2004) Gürbilek explores the sexual anxieties accompanying the Ottoman-Turkish literary modernization. Nurdan Gürbilek also edited, translated and introduced Son Bakypta Apk (Love at Last Sight, 1993), a collection of essays in Turkish by Walter Benjamin. She is currently working on a book on Dostoyevsky's "underground tragedy" and its counterparts in modern Turkish literature.