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Since the middle of the twentieth century, Turkish playwriting has been notable for its verve and versatility. This two-volume anthology is the first major collection of modern Turkish plays in English—a selection dealing with ancient Anatolian mythology, Ottoman history, contemporary social issues, family dramas, and ribald comedy from Turkey’s cities and rural areas. It also includes several plays set outside Turkey. The second volume, "I, Anatolia” and Other Plays, includes eight major plays from the 1970s through the end of the millennium. Together, both volumes grant to English readers the pleasure of riveting drama in translations that are colloquial as well as faithful. For producers, directors, and actors they provide a wealth of fresh, new material, with characters ranging from Ottoman sultans to a Soviet cosmonaut, from the Byzantine Empress Theodora to a fisherman’s wife, from residents of an Istanbul neighborhood to King Midas, from Montezuma to a Turkish cabinet minister.
This is the only volume dedicated to the Alevis available in English and based on sustained fieldwork in Turkey. The Alevis now have an increasingly high profile for those interested in the diverse cultures of contemporary Turkey, and in the role of Islam in the modern world. As a heterodox Islamic group, the Alevis have no established doctrine. This book reveals that as the Alevi move from rural to urban sites, they grow increasingly secular, and their religious life becomes more a guiding moral culture than a religious message to be followed literally. But the study shows that there is nothing inherently secular-proof within Islam, and that belief depends upon a range of contexts.
PREFACE Neither our old nest, our shanty house, nor the piece of the picture I drew in the cellar is left. Years take everything away from a person. This is me, who engraved a memory inside me. It is something that neither years nor anything else can remove. As you grow, your memories grow with you, take shape, become more valuable as you grow, and in the end you cannot hold it in your hand. While you think it is just a simple scribble, it becomes the center of your life, in the middle of your chest, everything valuable is deep inside you. Love is a deep pain that no one can name. There are those that are lost in silence as much as those that are written and drawn. The socks I always pull up...
Late one night, our glamour-puss nightclub manager receives a visit from Buse. For many years, Buse has kept letters and photos of a compromising nature, from a former relationship with a powerful lover. But her apartment has been ransacked and Buse worries about the consequences. Being an obliging sort, our detective agrees to help out, but what initially appears to be a personal favour turns out to have repercussions that run much deeper. When the web of intrigue reveals that an arch-conservative politician and maybe even the Mafia are involved, it's time for our private eye to send out an urgent SOS via the underground Istanbul grapevine.
In the many dimensions of his lifetime of achievement as well as in his personality and character, Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960) was and, through his continuing influence, still is an important thinker and writer in the Muslim world. At a time when science and philosophy were tools of an aggressive ideology of secularism, Nursi strove for the revival of an Islamic consciousness. Even though his nonviolent stance was clear, he was seen as a potential danger and exiled to different corners of Anatolia. During the exile, he started writing his magnum opus “Risale-i Nur” (Epistles of Light), by which he aimed to guide people to the truths of faith and make them understand the Qur’an correctly. This book provides a summary of this hard but fruitful life, spent in the way of faith.
The characters in Sema Kaygusuz’s stories often burn with a conviction only they possess: an old man wakes from a dream one morning with a vision of where water can be found after years of drought; a grandmother claims she regularly entertains a snake in her yard, who tells her stories in a language only she understands; a woman responds to the death of her auntie by insisting she hasn’t really died… Elsewhere, it is a darker secret these characters’ carry, one that can only be revealed through a process of profound metamorphosis – either literally, like the reclusive old man who begins to acquire injuries he claims he’s always had, or in terms of their revealed histories, as their past is peeled away, layer after layer. Blending mysticism and modernity, Kaygusuz’s stories demonstrate why she is regarded as one of the most promising writers in Turkey today.
Devastated by the end of her relationship, our heroine swaps her catsuit for pyjamas and hides away from the world. But her friends from the nightclub refuse to let her waste away in self-pity and drag her out to make up the numbers for a party. Only full make-up will suffice, and there's serious grooming to be done before our girl's up to the challenge - her state of misery has left her so thin that even her favourite Audrey Hepburn number doesn't cling the way it should. At the soirée, she becomes entranced with a powerful married man, but it's unlikely their paths will cross again. Until a body is found in the street, stabbed to death - the victim, a gigolo, has connections to the object of her affection. And it seems that the gigolo lifestyle can leave one, ahem, exposed to hidden dangers. Our girl valiantly agrees to take on the case - any meetings with her beloved are an incidental added bonus.
.... and on the 17th day of the 7th month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The Holy Bible. Süper Masis nullus debet ascendere quia mater mundus est.Johannes Rusboerek. This is Armenian faith. An ancestor of Kurdish people. ...Und wir standen auf dem Gipfel des Ararat um ein Viertel nach 3 Uhr des 27. Septembers 1829! Prof. Parrot. There is a divine punishment for mortals climbing up Noah’s Mountain and breaking the divine law. Echmiadzin Monastery. Noah’s Mountain, our mountain, is not to be climbed. A Kurd from Doğubeyazıt. Actually this mountain hasn’t been climbed. An Azerbaijani from Aralık. We took these lands from Byzantine, not the Armenians. General Kenan Evren. Look for the Ark, in the east of Turkey. A mysterious voice, Astronaut James Irwin. Visit the Holy Mountain as a tourist… The dignity of Ararat is the dignity of humanity.
The first days of October. The sun rising over the brown-tiled houses that looked like they had been stacked on top of each other and then toppled over, was like a lethargic servant waking people up reluctantly for a new day. as if. The sunlight touching the roofs of the houses now reveals all the flaws. The day is afraid of the night, and the night is afraid of the day; because it does not last long and they constantly reveal each other's secrets... These days, Çinçin is almost non-existent. Not as a piece of land, of course; but with the people who lived there leaving it, leaving it abandoned. What a huge pile of rubble is left now. The remaining large area is almost skyscraper-style housing estates as far as the eye can see… Despite such a large construction site, there is no sign of life. My heart truly aches. Would you like to hear from me about this neighborhood where thousands of people live but there is no sound? 'Çinçin' and 'silence' are words from two different worlds that cannot come together! So let's start from the beginning…