Varlik
Eurozine
Varlik
2010-01-18
Summary for Varlik 1/2010
Tahir Abaci
Poetry and folklore: Who should lead the dance?
Abaci comments on the approaches of Gramsci and Jacobson to folklore, analyses how folklore was treated in literature during the westernization process of Turkey, and argues that modern Turkish poetry is anti-folkloric.
Altay Ömer Erdogan
"Poetry is the enemy of folklore!"
Erdogan argues that "poetry that is fit to be the subject of aesthetics must detach itself from anonymity". He criticizes the poet Cemal Süreya's 1956 article titled "Folklore is the enemy of poetry", and traces the development of modern Turkish poetry in order to assert a correction: "Poetry is the enemy of folklore."
Halim Safak
Folklore is a constant form
"Folklore, inasmuch as being the sum total of traditions and inventions transferred from the past to the present, is also a form that is of imposing nature wherever it may be manifest." Halim Safak addresses the archaism inherent in folklore.
Özgün E. Bulut
Just whose enemy is folklore?
Bulut argues that at the root of the "folklore" or "tradition" debate lies the "art for art's sake" or "art for people's sake" assertions, and emphasizes that modern Turkish literature was born at a time when writers and poets were moving from the rural into the urban.
Mehmet Akif Ertas
Transcending friend and foe in the relationship of folklore and poetry
Ertas emphasizes that folklore finds a place in certain modern works of literature under a nationalistic discourse and claims that as long as folklore is viewed in a formal light it will be impossible to create truly local/domestic works of literature.
Nalan Barbarosoglu
Interview with Murat Gülsoy
An interview with novelist and storywriter Gülsoy, who recently published a collection of essays titled The 602nd Night -- The Story That Became Aware of Itself
Raif Özben
The life and works of Kemal Demirel within the confines of pure humanism
An essay on the works of screenwriter, storywriter, essayist and publisher Kemal Demirel, who passed away recently
Hasan Bülent Kahraman
America is always an adventure
Kahraman compares Picasso and Matisse and examines the works of Regina Jose Galindo.
Sebnem Senyener
A late summer's adventure with an Atlantic legend: The Shadow of the Wind
A satirical essay on the four volumes and 2300 pages of the book Barack Obama brought to Martha's Vineyard during his holiday there
Cultural agenda: children and justice
Our cultural agenda is children aggrieved by the Law on Prevention of Terrorism. This issue began in 1991, when the said law was publicized. Although the adoption of the Law on Protection of Children in 2005 considered children's rights and offered partial protection pursuant to the Law on Trial of Children and the Law on Protection of Children during the trial of children, an amendment to the Law on Prevention of Terrorism in 2006 resumed the status quo. Children have been suffering since 1991 -- not only because they are subject to incarceration, investigation, trial and enforcement provisions designed for adults, but also because they have been subjected to the same conditions as adults convicted of terrorism. Today, approximately 3500 children between the ages of thirteen and seventeen are imprisoned in accordance with the Law on Prevention of Terrorism. Tevfik Tas comments on this issue in an essay, followed by comments by Sennur Sezer, Migirdiç Margosyan, Necmiye Alpay, Feyza Hepçilingirler and Müge Iplikçi.
Ahmet Önel
My classics / 5
Mini-essays inspired by classics
Nurullah Can
Let your hair down, Phrygia
An essay on the colorful life of the poet Cemal Süreya
Mehmet Rifat
"Pouring new elements into the novel"
Rifat analyses the literary character of the narrator in Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu, and tells of their journey with his wife to the house of Aunt Leonie (currently the Proust Museum) in Swann's Way.
Mustafa Serif Onaran
The meaninglessness of meaning in poetry
An essay on the issue of meaning in poetry
Erendiz Atasü
Novel, depth and structure
An essay on the issue of ideology in novels
Yüksel Pazarkaya
From Ehram Hill to Feuerbach
An essay on the military government period of 1980 and the personality of Demirtas Ceyhun as an intellectual
Tozan Alkan
Scalding translations
An investigation into the relations of Borges with languages and his translators
Sema Aslan
Interview with Pinar Selek
An interview with Pinar Selek who recently published a children's book titled Siyah Pelerinli Kiz (The Girl with the Black Hood)