The Bastard of Istanbul
Osservatore Profano's latest post was centered on the question of reliable partners for Europe in the near future. The saturday, October 28, 2006 issue of Neue Zürcher Zeitung has an interesting answer to part of that question. It reports on Elif Shafak's novel "The Bastard of Istanbul" and the fact that the author has explicitly addressed some of the most controversial subjects in Turkey's political orientation, i.e. language policy and the historical workup of the Armenian question.
Elif Shafak, who lives in Istanbul and Tucson, Arizona, where she teaches gender studies an interculturality, was asked about the reactions to her new novel in an outside Turkey. According to the report in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the reactions throughout Turkey have been positive in general, most "hate mails" to the authors are from Turks living abroad. Thus, the reaction to Shafak's book reflect both the apparent capacity for introspection within Turkey and the identity problems of migrants.
Instead of a question, Osservatore Profano should like to extend an invitation to fellow bloggers today to read Elif Shafak's "Bastard of Istanbul"
1 comment:
An other rather interesting reaction to Ms. Shafak’s novel “Bastard of Istanbul” are the charges against her: Ms. Shafak was taken to court by the overzealous Turkish lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, the self-styled guardian of Turkishness. The charges against Shafak open up new ground: She was not accused of “insulting Turkishness” (Article 301 in Turkey’s penal code prosecutes writers, journalists, publishers, and human right defenders for insulting the Turkish identity or Turkish institutions) because of her campaigning journalism or her academic work, but for remarks made by a fictional character in the novel “The Bastard of Istanbul” commenting genocide against the Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire in World War I.
Shafak’s trial ended, a few weeks ago, in her liberation to the satisfaction of the EU who viewed the trial as a test of Turkey’s freedom of expression. Nevertheless, Article 301 in Turkey’s penal code remains a key obstacle for Turkey’s membership in the European Union.
Thank you, Osservatore Profano, for having referred to Ms. Shafak’s novel.
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