| September 2009: This
first decade of the new millennium has
been good for Turkish publishing's international
status. Until Orhan Pamuk first appeared in translation
in the 1990s, pretty much the only Turkish novel
any non-Turk had heard of was Yashar Kemal's Memed,
My Hawk (first published in 1955). Pamuk,
of course, is not only the author of novels now
read throughout the world, but in 2006 also became
Turkey's first and only Nobel Laureate. Last year,
Turkey again found itself center stage as the
featured country at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Traditionally, Turks have not
been big readers-editions still tend to run about
1000-2000 copies in this country of 70 million,
though a bestseller may run well into six digits.
There has always been a small number of dedicated
literary intellectuals, mostly in Istanbul, but
Pamuk's success has been a factor in a major shift.
Younger Turks are both reading and writing more,
and several of the national daily newspapers now
have weekly book supplements. A few other Turkish
novelists are making their names outside Turkey
(notably Elif Shafak, who, like Pamuk, fell afoul
of a controversial Turkish statute against "insulting
Turkishness"). But relatively little of the Turkish
output is making it into translation. Why not
more? For one thing, Turkish is not an easy language
to translate. It is a Ural-Altaic language whose
structure could not be more unlike English. For
a little more insight into this problem, I recommend
a wonderful essay by Maureen Freely, Pamuk's translator.
It can be found at the end of her translation
of his Black Book (there are two translations,
so be sure you have hers). She works closely with
Pamuk, line by line, and her translations are
masterly. She is a successful novelist in her
own right and grew up in Turkey (and-incidentally-is
the daughter of John Freely, doyen of Istanbul
travel writers).
Along with an increase in Turkish writers and readers has come a sudden boom of bookstores. As is true in most of the world, numerous small, independent bookstores struggle to survive in the shadow of large conglomerates that can offer better discounts and wider selection. One of the two most successful Turkish bookstore chains, Remzi, is also a highly respected publisher and, therefore, looms large on the Turkish publishing scene. There is no exclusively English-language bookstore in Istanbul, but for the Anglophone reader, there are plenty of options. Along with the large chains such as Remzi and D&R, there are smaller, independent stores offering an excellent range of books in English. Along Istiklal Avenue-the beating heart of the city-these include Pandora, Homer, Robinson Crusoe and the relatively new Insan Kitap, which has started a series of author events in both Turkish and English. In Kadikoy, on the Asian side of the city, Greenhouse is the best source for English-language books. And in Sultanahmet, near the monuments of the old city, there's Kayseri Bookstore. Perhaps it is worth mentioning that there are also local online sources.
Although it is hard to find
many Turkish writers in translation in the United
States, more Anglophone writers are producing
books about Turkey. Beyond the usual guidebooks
and histories, a wealth of fiction has popped
up in recent years, including at least four new
mystery writers (Jenny White, Jason Goodwin, Lawrence
Goodman, Barbara Nadel). Two U.S. online sources
focus exclusively on books about Turkey: nettleberry.com
and cornucopia.net. The latter is the site for
Cornucopia, a beautifully produced magazine
highlighting the best of Turkish culture, art
and history and providing reviews of recent books.
Some titles on these two websites are from standard
U.S. and U.K. publishers, but many are the product
of small, Istanbul-based publishers. Çitlembik,
which has been publishing since 2000, is owned
and managed by an American married to a Turk.
Her backlist now numbers some 150 titles, about
one-third of them in English. Greenhouse bookstore
also publishes a few titles, though usually not
fiction. And-full disclosure-my own publisher,
Islander Editions, offers a few titles focusing
on Istanbul's Princes' Islands.
Back
to Index of Despatches | Back to the Table of Contents for Number 2
About our Correspondent
M.A. Whitten is the author of An Island in
Istanbul: At Home on Heybeliada, a National
Geographic Traveler "Ultimate Travel Library"
selection. She is now working on a play about
Leon Trotsky's exile on Istanbul's Princes' Islands
in the 1930s.
|
