linguoboy wrote:Tanpinar is pretty dense and slow-moving. I tried reading Huzur in the English translation (A Mind at Peace) and didn't get through it all.
The Turkish author I've most enjoyed reading (again, in translation) is Orhan Pamuk, and him I find somewhat uneven. He's at his most interesting when he reminiscing about Istanbul. That's why my favourite works from him are the autobiographical Istanbul—hatıralar ve şehir and the semiautobiographical Benim adım kırmızı. (I haven't read Kafamda bir tuhaflık yet, but it looks to be in much the same vein.) These are all rather long works (each more than 400 pages), so if you wanted something shorter, you could read his short novel Beyaz kale. I didn't find it very rewarding, but the language seems pretty simple and it's not a difficult plot to follow, so it might be a good starting point if you haven't read much Turkish before.
Other authors I've read include Elif Şafak, Buket Uzuner, Perihan Mağden, Mehmet Murat Somer, and Ahmet Altan. Unfortunately, I can't really recommend any of them, as much reactions ranged from boredom (Altan) to annoyance (Mağden, Şafak).
Thank you!
I found some new books which made me happy cause its already a small collection:
- Gece Sesleri - Ayse Kulin
- Baba Ve Piç Roman - Elif Şafak
- Mahrem Roman - Elif Şafak
- Puslu Kitalar Atlasi - Ihsan Oktay Anar
- Beyaz Kale - Orhan Pamuk
- Cevdet Bey Ve Ogullari - Orhan Pamuk
- Beyoğlu Kısa Geçmişi, Argosu - Özdemir Kaptan
- Yedinci Gun - Ihsan Oktay Anar
- An Anthology of Modern Turkish Short Stories - Fahir Iz (Edit.)
This anthology I hope it to be bilingual though Im not sure. I also found many translations of books into turkish, but once my original turkish literature collection has already a good number of pages I'll not get translations I guess.
So I found the beyaz kale you mentioned.
I didnt find any Sabahattin Ali book though, so Im thinking on importing it, cause I read some quotes of him and I found very interesting, besides his picture resembles another writer I like so its a good guess.
Talvez, pela circunstancial razão de ser humano, eu goste de palavras.
"A ausência destes sons que dão teu nome me faz tão solitário nesta terra..." - Pseudo-Eça de Queiroz