96299 - Turkish Culture and Literature

Learning outcomes

The course introduces students to the modern Turkish literature and culture, specifically to work of some of the most influential Turkish writers of the twentieth century. Throughout the semester, students will be asked to consider the complex relationship between history and culture and learn to contextualize literature within larger historical, political, and cultural contexts. By the end of the course, students will gain better understanding of modern Turkish literature and culture by engaging in respectful dialogue with each other, developing their analytical and critical-thinking skills, and by composing a coherent, evidence-based research paper with a clear thesis statement.

Course contents

This course will introduce Modern Turkish literature, by addressing its origination, formation, and impact on the cultural milieu. It focuses on the making and predicament of modernity, its innate contradictions, and the implications of nostalgia, anxiety of influence and globalism. It studies Turkish authors (particularly novelists) as caught between a past that was read, misread, or misunderstood, and a present that has a large body of challenge, attraction, and difference. They fathom the cultural underpinnings of the Ottoman past and non-western legacies while negotiating a western legacy of many facets. The course reads criticism in line with novelistic production, the role of the novelist as public intellectual (terms and applications are defined and set in ethnic, national, social, and cultural terms and contexts). The course will be taught in English and the required texts will all be available in English translation. 

Readings/Bibliography

Primary Sources

Abasiyanik, Sait Faik. A Useless Man: Selected Stories. Translated by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe, 1st Edition Thus., Archipelago, 2015.

Ali, Sabahattin. Madonna in a Fur Coat. Translated by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe, Translation edition, Other Press, 2017.

Hikmet, Nâzım. Human Landscapes. Translated by Randy Blasing, Persea Books, 1982.

Karasu, Bilge. The Garden of the Departed Cats. Translated by Aron Aji, New Directions, 2004.

Kemal, Yashar. Memed, My Hawk. Translated by Edouard Roditi, NYRB Classics, 2005.

Pamuk, Orhan. The Black Book. Translated by Maureen Freely, Reprint, Translation edition, Vintage, 2006.

Soysal, Sevgi. Noontime in Yenisehir. Translated by Amy Spangler, Milet Publishing, 2016.

Tanpınar, Ahmet Hamdi. A Mind at Peace. Translated by Erdağ M Göknar, Archipelago Books, 2008.

---. The Time Regulation Institute. Translated by Alexander Dawe and Maureen Freely, Penguin Classics, 2014.

Tekin, Latife. Berji Kristin: Tales from the Garbage Hills. Revised edition, Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd, 2000.

All primary sources should be purchased from the University Bookstore or other sellers (online or other)

Criticism*

Dolcerocca, Özen Nergis. “Beyond World Literature: Reading Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar Today.” Middle Eastern Literatures, vol. 20, no. 2, May 2017. (Selections)

Ertürk, Nergis. Grammatology and Literary Modernity in Turkey. 1 edition, Oxford University Press, 2011. (Selections)

Güzeldere, Güven, and Sibel Irzık. Relocating the Fault Lines: Turkey Beyond the East-West Divide. Vol 102 No 2/3 Spring/Summer 2003 edition, Duke University Press Books, 2003. (Selections)

Sibel Irzik, “Istanbul: The Black Book.” In The Novel, Volume 2: Forms and Themes. Ed. Franco Moretti. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006, 728-38

Oğuzertem, Süha. “Unset Saats, Upset Sihhats: A Fatherless Approach to The Clock-Setting Institute.” Turkish Studies Association Bulletin, vol. 19, no. 2, 1995, pp. 3–18.

Seyhan, Azade. Tales of Crossed Destinies: The Modern Turkish Novel in a Comparative Context. Modern Language Association of America, 2008. (Selections)

All secondary sources will be available online on the course site on Virtuale

Teaching methods

The course consists of lectures. Attendance at lectures and participation in class discussion are required. Students are expected to come to class having finished all assigned reading carefully and thoughtfully.

Assessment methods

Attendance and Participation: Attendance is mandatory. You may miss FOUR classes during the semester. Any more than four will reflect on your final grade. Students should come to class prepared with something you’d like to discuss. They should both make meaningful and insightful comments and actively listen to classmates in order to bring others into the conversation.

Discussion Posts: You will have EIGHT online assignments, out of which you are supposed to complete SIX. These involve writing blog posts that are a minimum of 250 words each. These blog posts should function as mini-essays, with correct grammar, spelling, and a central argument supported by specific evidence. These are NOT summaries of the readings (posts that simply summarize readings will receive a low grade), but the presentation of a topic or an argument based on the readings. The information on the Virtuale site will provide due dates and full instructions for each assignment.

Exams: There will be two written exams, one midterm and one final.

The grading rubric is as follows:

Attendance and Participation 15%

Blog Entries (6) 24+1%

Midterm Exam 30%

Final Exam 30%

Teaching tools

PowerPoint slides, online tools and open access digital resources.

Office hours

See the website of Ozen Nergis Seckin Dolcerocca