Semih Poroy
Cartoonist's comment

Hande Ögüt
Being male: the great impossibility
Hande Ögüt says "Manhood is an identity that destroys the woman from the outside, and the man from the inside," and comments on texts by Berberova, Solonas, Beauvoir, R.W. Connel, Fowles, Nabakov, Bourdieu, Zizek, McMahon, Serpil Sancar and others, investigating the historical approaches to the concept of "manhood". According to Ögüt, men, directed towards competition, bodily maturity and power since childhood, mask their own egos; "manhood" as an ideal requiring constant striving crushes men the most.

Melike Aydin
Interview with Serpil Sancar
Serpil Sancar, the author of the book Erkeklik: Imkansiz Iktidar (Manhood: the impossible power), answers Melike Aydin's questions. Sancar says, "Male domination is a global regime and cohabits and is nurtured by various other systems of power," and analyses the relationship among different states of manhood.

Nil Mutluer
Starting to understand the limits of manhood from ourselves
Mutluer says, "Manhood is not a concept that is referred to in conjunction with the dominating power. It is a concept that takes shape according to place, time and social, economic and political changes, and is diversified in the context of power relations among different men and women." Mutluer mentions the concepts of gender and sexuality, and discusses the still-misplaced concepts of female-male, woman-man and femininity-masculinity. She also relates the discussions in the Spring 2009 workshop of GEXcel ("Men/masculinities, Transnational, Spatial, Virtual: Hegemony, Power and Deconstruction"), of which she is a participant.

Gülce Baser
Interview with Pinar Selek
Pinar Selek, the author of the book Sürüne Sürüne Erkek Olmak (Being a man through much ordeal) answers Baser's questions. Selek says, "Men have their egos inflated all the time while being associated with myths of dominance, and are applauded as they draw closer to these; yet, they are also perpetually castrated between the grinders of dominance. Their capacity for violence may be nurtured continuously, but they run straight into real life. Their truths are shattered. Manhood as a concept learned through much ordeal becomes a process where one experiences the promise of power and powerlessness at the same time."

kücük Iskender
Power blow
kücük Iskender says, "The power of man arises from the probability, the risk of being impotent/powerless," and continues: "The female talent to power is given at birth. It is instinctive. While the physiological power of the woman is blocked in the individual, the political power of man has begun a process of pathological evolution, becoming social and transforming into, as it were, a pandemic at the same time.

Hasan Bülent Kahraman
In Cuba
Kahraman relates his impressions of Cuba, and speaks of the lesser known facets of the relationship between Che Guevara and Fidel Castro.

Zeynep Uzunbay
Kemal Özer and "A wounded Semah for July"
An analysis of the Altin Portakal laureate poet Kemal Özer's poetry collection Temmuz Icin Yarali Semah (A wounded Semah for July)

Ali Galip Yener
A few words on Turgut Uyar's poetry in the context of left melancholy
The personality of poet Turgut Uyar, who once wrote "Unhappiness is everything" in his diary, is analyzed with respect to the concept of "left melancholy".

Mustafa Serif Onaran
From taunting poets to clashing poets
An essay on the arguments among poets in literary history

Rahmi G. Ögdül
The crooked body of the camel of virtue
An analysis of Mustafa Erdem Özler's Erdem Devesi (The camel of virtue)

Haydar Ergülen
The end of the friendly days
An article of the state of poetry in contemporary Turkey

Metin Demirtas
Captioning the poem "Enver Gökce ve Neruda"
Metin Demirtas tells the story of how the poem "Enver Gökce ve Pablo Neruda" (Enver Gökce and Pablo Neruda) was written, and comments on the personality of the poet Enver Gökce.

Azad Ziya Eren
Kemal Burkay: A man in the depths of the night, a bitter smile on his face
An essay on the political stance and poetic license of the Kurdish poet Kemal Burkay, whose poems are finally collected in a book.

Mehmet Rifat
Manganelli: "A book is a map"
Parts from Giorgio Magnanelli's forthcoming book Pinocchio: un libro parallel

Feridun Andac
Within the time that calls
An essay on language, power and literature

Osman Deniztekin
Cultural relations in the "Visa Territory"
The story of why Varlik chose to withdraw from the 22nd Eurozine meeting at the European Culture Capital of 2009, Vilnius (Lithuania), and a translation of the speech delivered by the editor in chief of Eurozine, Carl Henrik Fredrikson, at this meeting.

Nelly Bekus-Goncharova
Living in Visa Territory
An analysis of the "border philosophy" behind visa policies and the struggle with the officials on both sides of the border that is attempted crossed

Hüseyin Yurttas
The notepad
An essay on recent books and developments in literature

kücük Iskender
Rimbaud's logbook
An assessment of works from aspiring poets and writers

Kemal Sahingözlü
Literary detective
The author lists the common properties of novels that are adapted to cinema, and makes a satire of certain other novels that are written with the expectation of being adapted, thus making compromises on the values of the novel as an art form.

Published 2009-06-08