Nedim Gürsel (! April "#!"

Home , Haldun Taner, Mario Levi, Murathan Mungan, Nazim Hikmet, Tomris Uyar, Yasar Kemal

Nedim Gürsel (! April "#!" – )

Burcu Alkan Bahçeşehir University

BOOKS: Uzun Sürmüş Bir Yaz (Istanbul: Cem, !"#$); Şeyh Bedrettin Destanı Üzerine (Istanbul: Cem, !"#%); Çağdaş Yazın ve Kültür (Istanbul: Çağdaş, !"#%); Kadınlar Kitabı (Istanbul: Cem, !"%(); excerpted as İlk Kadın (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )**+); Yerel Kültürden Evrensele (Istanbul: Cem, !"%$); Sevgilim İstanbul (Istanbul: Can, !"%,); Sorguda (Istanbul: Can, !"%%); Seyir Defteri (Istanbul: Can, !""*); Son Tramvay (Istanbul: Can, !""!); translated by Ruth Whitehouse as Last Tram (Manchester: Comma, )*!)); Pasiﬁk Kıyısında (Istanbul: Can, !""!); Nâzım Hikmet ve Geleneksel Türk Yazını (Istanbul: Adam, !"")); revised as Dünya Şairi Nâzım Hikmet—Dogˇumunun Yüzüncü Yılında (Istanbul: Can, )**!); Bozkırdaki Yabancı (Istanbul: YKY, !""(); Boğazkesen, Fatih’in Romanı (Istanbul: Can, !""$); translated by Yavuz Demir and John Ottenho- as The Conquerer: A Novel (Jersey City, N.J.: Talis- man House, )*!*); Balkanlara Dönüş (Istanbul: Can, !""$); Paris Yazıları: Edebiyat, Sanat, Kültür Üzerine (Istanbul: YKY, !""$; enlarged edition, ) volumes, Istan- bul: Türkiye İş Bankası, )***; enlarged again, Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )**+); Uzun Bir Ayrılık İçin Kırk Kısa Şiir (Istanbul: Sel, !"",); Başkaldıran Edebiyat (Istanbul: YKY, !""#); Nedim Gürsel (courtesy of the author) Paris Kitabı (Istanbul: Khalkedon, !""%); Gemiler de Gitti (Istanbul: Can, !""%); Yüzyıl Biterken (Istanbul: Kavram, !"""); Güneşte Ölüm, İspanya İzlenimleri (Istanbul: Doğan Yaşar Kemal: Bir Geçiş Dönemi Romancısı (Istanbul: Kitap, )**(); Everest, )***); Aragon: Başkaldırıdan Gerçeğe (Istanbul: Can, )***); Bir Avuç Dünya, Toplu Gezi Yazıları "#))–"##) (Istan- Resimli Dünya (Istanbul: Can, )***); bul: Doğan Kitap, )**(); Cicipapa, Toplu Öyküler "#()–"##* (Istanbul: Doğan Sağ Salim Kavuşsak, Çocukluk Yılları (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )**)); Kitap, )**+); Öğleden Sonra Aşk (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )**)); İzler ve Gölgeler (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )**$);

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 1 8/20/2013 3:29:36 PM Nedim Gürsel DLB !"!

Çıplak Berlin (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )**,); “Thomas Münzer, Şeyh Bedrettin ve Nazım Hikmet,” Yedi Dervişler (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )**#); in Tarih—Ütopya—İsyan Şeyh Bedreddin (Istan- Allah’ın Kızları (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )**%); bul: Su, )**#), pp. $$–,#. La Turquie: une idée neuve en Europe (Paris: Empreinte temps présent, )**"); TRANSLATION: Jorge Semprun, Ölüme Yolculuk: Hatırla Barbara (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )**"); La Grande Voyage (Istanbul: Milliyet, !"##); repub- Derin Anadolu (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )*!*); lished as Büyük Yolculuk (Istanbul: Can, !"%$). Şeytan, Melek ve Komünist (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )*!!); Nedim Gürsel is a novelist and a short-story Yine Bana Döneceksin (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )*!)); writer as well as an academic working in the field of Aşk Kırgınları (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap, )*!(). literature. He is a prolific writer who has produced Editions: Paris Yazıları, ) volumes (Istanbul: Tür- poetry, essays, and travel writing in addition to his fic- kiye İş Bankası, )***)—includes Görünüm ve tion. While his academic research focuses on Turkish Görüşler and Durumlar ve Duruşlar; literature from a comparative perspective, in his literary work he explores journeys, solitude and loneli- Editions in English: “Words of Exile,” in Literature in ness, and the search for belonging; cities and women Exile, edited by John Glad (Durham, N.C. & Lon- figure prominently in his writing. Although he has don: Duke University Press, !""*), pp. $"–,); lived in Paris for most of his life and publishes most “Some Jewish Characters in Modern Turkish Litera- of his scholarship in French, he writes his fiction in ture,” in The Jews of the Ottoman Empire, edited Turkish. For Gürsel the great legacy of his home- by Avigdor Levy (Princeton, N.J.: Darwin Press, land, which he only returns to for visits, is his native !""+), pp. ,+#–,$); tongue. “Mario Levi: A Young Jewish Author from Istanbul,” Gürsel was born in Gaziantep, in southeast Tur- translated by Franck Salameh, in Jews, Turks, key, on $ April !"$!, the second child of Orhan and Ottomans: A Shared History, Fifteenth through the Leyla Gürsel. His parents were both teachers—his Twentieth Century, edited by Avigdor Levy (Syr- father taught French and his mother mathematics— acuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, )**)), who met in Istanbul when they were students at pp. )#)–)#%; Istanbul University. They married in Gaziantep, the “The Award,” translated by Aron R. Aji, in Medinah: city they were appointed to as teachers, in !"+%. Both City Stories from the Middle East, edited by Jou- of them also wrote and translated for literary maga- mana Haddad (Manchester: Comma, )**%), zines. His older brother, Seyfettin, who became an pp. !–!*; academic and an economist, was born in !"+". “Crocus, or Drowsy Blossom,” translated by Aji, in The family moved to Balıkesir in western Tur- The Book of Istanbul: A City in Short Fiction, edited key as a result of the parents’ appointment. Gürsel by Jim Hinks and Gul Turner (Manchester: went to , Eylül Primary School in this city. A great Comma, )*!*), pp. !–!!. part of his childhood was spent in Balıkesir and Akh- isar, a province of Manisa, where his grandfather PRODUCED SCRIPT: Sevgilim İstanbul, motion pic- lived. His grandfather, Ahmet Nedim Tüzün, was an ture, !""", Amenis Film. impressive man who could speak French and Arabic. He had fought in World War I and was taken pris- OTHER: “Çocukluk: Yaşar Kemal’de Özyaşamöyküsel oner. A lawyer and a devout Muslim, he acted as a Uzam,” in Yaşar Kemal’i Okumak (Istanbul: religious mentor to the district’s people and pro- Adam, !""%), pp. ,"–%+; vided legal services. He was a major influence on “Quelques mots sur le Roman du conquérant,” in the upbringing of young Gürsel and taught him the Conscious Voices: Concepts of Writing in the Middle Koran. During his time in Manisa, Gürsel was close East (Proceedings of the Berne Symposium, July to nature as there were fields to explore, in con- !""#), edited by Stephan Guth, Priska Furrer, trast to his life in Balıkesir, which was, as he puts it and Johann Christoph Bürgel (Beirut: Orient- in Sağ Salim Kavuşsak, Çocukluk Yılları ()**+, May We Institut der Deutschen Morgenländischen Reunite Safe and Sound, Childhood Years), a time Gesellschaft / Stuttgart: F. Steiner, !"""); of streets. The train journeys between the two places “Sevgilim İstanbul,” in Öykülerde İstanbul, edited by became a pattern not only of his life but also of his Semih Gümüş (Istanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası, writing, for he often travels across the world and jour- )**!), pp. (%(–(%,; neys are prevalent in his texts.

)

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 2 8/20/2013 3:29:36 PM DLB !"! Nedim Gürsel

Balıkesir in particular has been a significant place that years later he revisited personally and in his books. He fondly remembers his teacher, İ-et, who taught him how to read and write. Gürsel’s childhood reading began to open the world to him and became an activity of immense pleasure. Even as a child, he wrote poetry and his poems were published in the children’s sections of magazines. They were poems written in rhyme with the national pride of a nine-year-old. In Sağ Salim Kavuşsak, he recalls these years and his poetry as being a somewhat natu- ral reaction of a young mind to the o0cial ideology. Yet, he is also highly critical of these years as being too serious for a child of his age. He sold newspa- pers to save up pocket money. Like many children of his time, he read Tommiks (Captain Miki) and Teksas (Il Grande Blek), popular heroic Western comics that were iconic in Turkey for many generations of young- sters, and watched Western movies at the scarcely available theaters. His first engagement with literature was through the melodramatic and conservative novels of Kemalettin Tuğcu. Gürsel’s father died in a tra0c accident in !",! at the age of thirty-eight, a trauma that marked Gürsel’s life and writing. His mother was in Paris at the time and had to rush back to Turkey. The family moved to Istanbul after his father’s death, and he succeeded in the examinations to enroll at the prominent Galatasaray High School, famous for its literary and intellectual alumnae. In !",) he began his junior-school education as a boarding student Cover for Gürsel’s "##! novel (Collection of Burcu Alkan) and visited home over the weekends to spend time with his mother and aunts. His brother was study- ing and his mother was teaching at the same school. Yet, he said to Hâle Seval in Yer yüzünde Bir Yolcu nourished his aesthetic sensitivities. In the !",*s ()**,, A Traveler in the World) that he felt lonely as he was introduced to Marxism and the leftist move- a boarding student, mainly because of his relatively ment, and in his final years at high school he got early awakening of sexuality. A shy boy, he became involved within the movement as a sympathizer. In a melancholic adolescent. His life at a boarding !",# his first proper short story, “Yolculuk” (Jour- school in the city center, with its enticements and ney), was published by Vedat Günyol in Yeni Ufuk- restrictions, was formative in his character and writ- lar (New Horizons), in which his translations from ing. At school he was nicknamed “Jean Valjean- French were also being published. He later pub- the Wretched,” after the hero of Victor Hugo’s Les lished other stories in Yeni Dergi (New Journal), Misérables (!%,)), and his poems and other pieces directed by Memet Fuat. The experience he gained were published in the school newspaper, “Tambur” writing for this journal was invaluable. Günyol and (Tambour). Fuat, along with Tahir Alangu, his teacher, had Gürsel learned French and got to know great influence on him becoming a writer. Still, he French literature during his years at Galatasaray High School. He was a good student; he read avidly stated in his interview with Seval that from early on and was a-ected by poets such as Charles Baude- his mother was his main support in his aspiration laire, Arthur Rimbaud, and Gérard de Nerval. This to write and that she was the first person to show interaction with a di-erent language and literature his work to her poet friends. In !"#* his mother, opened up a new world to him. It o-ered him ways who was in her forties, had a serious brain opera- of seeing, thinking, and expressing himself that tion in Zürich. This incident, combined with the

(

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 3 8/20/2013 3:29:37 PM Nedim Gürsel DLB !"!

a long story in five sections. Both focus on the lives of young activists traumatized by the oppressive Turk- ish regime, including their encounters with counter- guerilla units and torture. The activists are haunted by the deaths of comrades and bear the guilt of their own survival. The repetitive imagery of the long summer parallels their trauma through a prevalent feeling of su-ocation and heat. Depicting the political condition of the country in the early !"#*s as it overshadows the lives of government opponents, the collection was deemed a necessary and bold literary representation of the times. In !"#, the author received the Türk Dil Kurumu Hikâye Ödülü (Short- Story Award of the Turkish Language Association). This book was also Gürsel’s first work to be translated into French in !"%*. Some of the stories in this collection were adapted to the stage by a Swiss theater company and were performed internationally. Despite such reception of the work, the politics of the country were still tense, and the author was prosecuted once again. His trial went on for years, drawn out by bureaucratic wrangling. In !"#% Gürsel published two separate literary studies, Şeyh Bedreddin Destanı Üzerine (On the Epic of Sheikh Bedreddin) and Çağdaş Yazın ve Kül- tür (Contemporary Literature and Culture). The former is a study on Nazım Hikmet’s Şeyh Bedred- din Destanı, a poem published in !"(, (translated as The Epic of Sheikh Bedreddin, !"#"), discussing both its socio-political content and its poetic world. The Cover for Gürsel’s +*** novel (Collection of Burcu Alkan) latter is a collection of essays on literature, culture, and the act of writing, examining the relationship among them. Gürsel received his Ph.D. from the Comparative Literature program of the Sorbonne earlier death of his father, a-ected Gürsel’s emo- with his thesis on Nazım Hikmet and Louis Aragon tional world. His mother died in !""). in !"#", under the supervision of René Etiemble. Upon graduation from high school in !"#*, Although he returned to Turkey briefly in !"#", Gürsel was o-ered a scholarship to study in France, he went back to Paris following the !"%* coup. He which he initially rejected. He changed his mind, considers his life in Paris both as an experience however, following the !) March !"#! military inter- of exile and as a gift that o-ered him what he had vention, when he was put on trial for an article he been dreaming of since childhood. Both his mother had written on Vladimir Lenin and Maxim Gorky. and father had spent time, however brief, in Paris, He left for Poitiers after this incident. In !"#) he and this unknown, distant land appreciated by his moved to Paris and studied Modern French Litera- parents manifested itself in his psyche as a magical, ture at the Sorbonne, graduating in !"#$. He met the mysterious world. The dream invoked by the post- woman who became his first wife, Angeliki Ploutis, card picturing Palace de la Sorbonne, which he had in Greece in !"#+, to whom he later dedicated the received from his father, became his reality. Accord- short-story collection Kadınlar Kitabı (!"%(, Book of ingly, the experience of having a sense of home and Women). While he was in France, his works contin- belonging—or lacking that fundamental feeling—is ued to be published in literary magazines such as a dominant theme in his works. Its power is coupled Yeni Ufuklar, Yeni Edebiyat (New Literature) and Biri- with his restless soul that seeks journeys. As is clear kim (Erudition). in the commentary by Camille Lamotte, the condi- Gürsel’s first book, Uzun Sürmüş Bir Yaz (!"#$, tion of not-being-at-home urges him to know more A Long Lasted Summer), comprises a short story and about the home that he left behind. Similar to many

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 4 8/20/2013 3:29:37 PM DLB !"! Nedim Gürsel

other authors in exile, he turns the disadvantages of his situation into a richness that feeds his work through its lacks as well as provisions, enabling a hypersensitivity to the soul of the place. In !"%) Gürsel completed his compulsory military service in Burdur and retuned to Paris to join Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, The National Center for Scientific Research), where he currently continues his research as a director. The following year he published Kadınlar Kitabı, his collection of stories on an adolescent male boarding- school student’s early experiences with sexuality and the ensuing emotional and psychological traumas. Gürsel also treated the transformation of the boy’s interests into a man’s intense sensuality. Although his book was initially confiscated and banned and he was prosecuted on grounds of obscenity, Gür- sel was soon cleared of the charges and the book was republished. In !"%$ he compiled his pieces on art, culture, and literature in France and Turkey in Yerel Kültürden Evrensele (From Local Culture to the Universal). He published Sevgilim İstanbul (Istanbul, My Beloved), a set of stories that revolve around the subjects of journeys, home, and longing in !"%,. In the later editions of the work, Gürsel also included his script for a short film, which was produced in !""". Also in !"%, Gürsel received the Abdi İpekçi Dostluk ve Barış Ödülü (Abdi İpekçi Friendship Cover for Gürsel’s +**, novel (Collection of Burcu Alkan) and Peace Prize) for his contribution to Greek- Turkish relations and the Prix de la Liberté by the French PEN Club. The same year he married Ange- liki Ploutis and traveled through the Mediterranean the settings impress themselves upon him, bringing and the Greek islands. Sevgilim İstanbul earned the to the fore texts he had written or read, their writers Haldun Taner Öykü Ödülü (Haldun Taner Short- and characters, and connections with the souls of the Story Award), which he shared with Tomris Uyar and cities. Another story collection, Son Tramvay (!""!; Murathan Mungan, in !"%#. Another short-story col- translated as Last Tram, )*!)), included “Mendil” lection, Sorguda (Under Interrogation), came out (Handkerchief), which was awarded the best short- in !"%%. The three parts—“Bozkır” (The Steppe), story prize by Radio France Internationale. As inter- “Kentler” (Cities), and “Bir Yazarın Dört Portresi” viewer Seval notes, quoting Feridun Andaç, the (Four Portraits of a Writer)—consist of stories that dominant feeling in these stories is the author’s depict various kinds of physical and psychological attempt at finding a home in the very homeless- oppression, cities and people, and loneliness, love, ness itself. Also in !""! Gürsel brought out Pasifik and memory. Kıyısında (On the Shore of the Pacific), a collection In !""* Gürsel published Seyir Defteri (The Log- of his pieces on his travels in the United States. book), the earliest example of his travel writing that In !"") Gürsel’s published his second study combines literary forays with his impressions of cit- on Hikmet’s poetry, Nâzım Hikmet ve Geleneksel Türk ies. This collection covers his travels to such cities as Yazını (Nâzım Hikmet and Traditional Turkish Liter- Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Boston, and Paris. Published ature). The same year he received the Macedonian from his travel diaries, in these pieces he gives infor- Struga Golden Plaque Award for his essays in criti- mation on the societies and cultures of the places, cism. In his personal life, his mother passed away on along with literary figures and works that he remem- )! May !""); the following year he married Zühal bers as he travels through them. These references Türkkan. His collection of his essays on Turkish lit- are often psychologically and emotionally charged as erature, Bozkırdaki Yabancı (!""(, The Stranger in

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 5 8/20/2013 3:29:38 PM Nedim Gürsel DLB !"!

Also in !""$ Gürsel published his first novel, Boğazkesen, Fatih’in Romanı (!""$; translated as The Conquerer: A Novel, )*!*). It tells the story of a writer, Fatih Haznedar, who is working on a novel on the conquest of Constantinople, and how his life changes with the arrival of a young woman, Deniz, while he is writing it. In a sense, it is a historical novel with the conquest in the focus. How- ever, unlike conventional historical novels, it is not an adventure story of the Romantic kind. Instead, the story is told from the perspectives of a variety of characters, including Sultan Mehmed II, his grand vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha, and an enslaved Italian sailor, Nicolo, through third-person narration, flashbacks, and diary entries. Furthermore, the narrative structure is mul- tilayered. It opens with the daily life of the writer- narrator, with a tense political atmosphere in the background, which complicates the work’s storyline. As the narratives of the writer-narrator and the historical story intermingle, so do the respective ten- sions in them. The ambition of Mehmed II in his wish to conquer Constantinople, the oppressive atmosphere of the military taking over Turkey’s gov- ernance on !) September !"%*, and the a-ect of Deniz’s presence as a fugitive at the writer-narrator’s home culminate in the latter’s murder of the former to be able to finish writing his novel. The title, Cover for Gürsel’s +*"" novel (Bahçesehir Boğazkesen, which literally means “the one that cuts University Library) throat,” consequently becomes all the more significant. “Boğazkesen” is both the general name given to fortresses that control straits and the name of the particular one that was ordered to be constructed the Steppe), is mainly made up of articles previously by Mehmed II for the conquest of Constantinople. published in French. He was among the six writers This technicality, combined with the figurative “cut- who visited Sarajevo during the Bosnian War, and throat” reign of the Sultan and the writer-narrator’s his experiences were published in the Hürriyet (Free- literal cutting Deniz’s throat enhance the complex dom) newspaper at the time. He revisited the city nature of the text. after the Dayton Accords. The framed narrative of an author in the pro- The year !""$, which included the birth of cess of writing the story that makes up the novel his daughter Leyla Gün, was productive for Gürsel. points to the fictive nature of the work, a narrative He published Balkanlara Dönüş (Return to the Bal- technique often employed in postmodern novels. kans), a collection of his impressions of his trips to That history is being depicted within such a frame Sarajevo, Macedonia, and Thessalonica, and Paris emphasizes its own narrative nature. As a multivo- cal historical fiction, the novel challenges the taken- Yazıları: Edebiyat, Sanat, Kültür Üzerine (Paris Writ- for-granted objectivity and stability of history writing. ings: On Literature, Art and Culture). The latter is Semih Gümüş considers the novel an exemplary text a collection of essays on literature and culture in of historical fiction because of the way history, reality, France and Turkey, as well as his views on writing and and fiction are fused. In contrast to Gümüş, Orhan art. In addition, a section of Kadınlar Kitabı, titled İlk Duru admits to being puzzled by the way Gürsel Kadın (First Woman), was adapted to the stage by the chose to present his historical narrative and his use Istanbul State Theater. (This section was published of violence and sexuality. Boğazkesen, Fatih’in Romanı separately as a novella in )**+.) was also criticized by conservatives who objected

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 6 8/20/2013 3:29:38 PM DLB !"! Nedim Gürsel

to the portrayal of Mehmed II keeping Nicolo as a evocative personal quest, culminating in a surprise member of his harem. ending. In the next few years Gürsel published a vari- As he did in his first novel, Gürsel creates a mul- ety of works. Uzun Bir Ayrılık İçin Kırk Kısa Şiir (!"",, tilayered narrative structure in Resimli Dünya. Kâmil Forty Short Poems for a Long Separation) is his Uzman’s story, given in numbered chapters, is broken first and only poetry collection. Başkaldıran Edebiyat by titled chapters, each telling the story of a member (!""#, Literature that Rebels) is a collection of his of the Bellini family. Such a multileveled structure essays on literature written between !",, and !""$. fuses the personal with the historical. Parallels are He began writing for the travel magazine Atlas in established between various histories, whether it is !""#. Gemiler de Gitti (!""%, The Ships Also Left), a that of the Bellini family or the Ottoman Empire, as cross between short-story and travel writing, o-ers a the narrative focuses on the western perception of journey in time and space that explores the shores of the Ottomans through their portrayal in the paint- Normandy, Saint Nazaire, Tbilisi, Konya, and more, ings. The main link is Gentile Bellini’s portrait of with the same diligence it does the slave trade over Mehmed II, known as the Conqueror. The novel thus the transatlantic and Sarajevo after the war. Paris revisits a significant period in Ottoman history, one Kitabı (!""%, The Book of Paris) is another collection that Gürsel previously portrayed through the con- of his impressions of Paris. Yüzyıl Biterken (!""", As quest in Boğazkesen, Fatih’in Romanı. The painting of the Millennium Comes to an End) is a collection of the sultan is a momentous first, for by allowing it the his interviews with various writers both from Turkey sultan breaks a major Islamic law that bans the real- and abroad. His Sevgilim İstanbul was adapted into a istic painting of the faces of important personages. movie of the same name in !""", though because of Gürsel’s narrative approach in depicting history problems with the production company, it was not through its relation to art is a manifestation of his emphasis on the interdisciplinary and intertextual screened until )**#. He published two more liter- nature of the human condition. ary studies in )***: Yaşar Kemal: Bir Geçiş Dönemi Two other short-story books, Öğleden Sonra Aşk Romancısı (Yaşar Kemal: A Novelist of a Transition (Love in the Afternoon) and Cicipapa, Toplu Öyküler Period) and Aragon: Başkaldırıdan Gerçeğe (Aragon: "#()–"##* (Pain Perdu, Collected Stories), came out From Rebellion to the Real). in )**). The former consists of stories of romance, Gürsel visited and spent time in Venice for love, sensuality, and sexuality, and the latter gath- his second novel, Resimli Dünya ()***, Illustrated ers some of his previously published stories, several World). The work opens with the arrival in the city of unpublished ones, and a couple of essays. In )**( the protagonist, Kâmil Uzman, an art historian and he collected some of his earlier travel pieces under a painter. Uzman is on a research trip to study the the title Bir Avuç Dünya Toplu Gezi Yazıları "#))–"##) paintings and the lives of the Bellini family at their (A Handful of the World, Collected Travel Writing) home, a lifelong wish being fulfilled. Having been a and another travel-writing collection, Güneşte Ölüm— successful academic throughout his life, he is now İspanya İzlenimleri (Death in the Sun—Impressions on old and embittered, trying to come to terms with Spain). In )**+ Gürsel received the Fernand Rouil- aging and the consequent changes in his social sta- lon Literary Prize and the France-Turkey Prize. He tus. His name, meaning mature (Kâmil) and expert was also given the title Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (Uzman), is symbolic in this context. Once a motto, by the French Ministry of Culture. the phrase “Kâmil Uzman uzman olmadığı konuda In )**(–)**+ Gürsel spent a year in Berlin upon konuşmaz!” (Kâmil Uzman would not talk about a invitation from the German Academic Exchange topic that he is not an expert on) has turned into Service. He completed his Sağ Salim Kavuşsak and one that people joke and mock him about. Thus, began writing Şeytan, Melek ve Komünist ()*!!, The his research trip is paralleled with a journey of self- Devil, The Angel and The Communist) during his discovery, as he remembers his past and associates stay in the city. Sağ Salim Kavuşsak is a retrospective it with the present through internal questionings, gaze of the adult Gürsel to the little boy Nedim, and a somewhat resentful self-assessment. His falling in it is historically contextualized, paralleling the social love with an Italian woman, Lucia, further trans- changes in the country. He returned to Balıkesir to forms his trip into a mysterious journey among the make a documentary based on this autobiography. It canals of the enigmatic city. As the narrative of his was directed by Cengiz Özkarabekir and broadcast life in Istanbul and experiences in Venice intermin- on CNN Turk in )**+. gle through a colorful imagery that befits the paint- In İzler ve Gölgeler ()**$, Traces and Shad- ings he studies, his professional visit becomes an ows), a collection of essays on his travels, Gürsel he

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 7 8/20/2013 3:29:38 PM Nedim Gürsel DLB !"!

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 8 8/20/2013 3:29:40 PM DLB !"! Nedim Gürsel

Pages from Gürsel’s manuscript for a novel to be published in early +*"- (courtesy of the author)

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 9 8/20/2013 3:29:41 PM Nedim Gürsel DLB !"!

brings together travel writing with literary history. storytelling, provoked strong reactions in predomi- He explores cities such as Saint Petersburg, Prague, nantly Muslim Turkey. Following its publication, the Paris along with their connections to artists, poets, novelist was charged with insulting religious values, and writers from Pieter Brueghel, Charles Baude- an accusation that recalled the furor surrounding laire, and Franz Kafka to Nikolay Gogol, Fyodor Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. In his )**% inter- Dostoyevsky, and Nazım Hikmet, along with their view with İhsan Yılmaz, Gürsel explained that he works. His translation of Jorge Semprun’s Le Grande did not aim to be provocative and that on the con- Voyage (!",() was published in )**$ as Büyük Yolcu- trary the Prophet Mohammed was his childhood luk. In )**, he published a memoir-travel book of hero. He responded to the charges by arguing that his experiences in Berlin under the title Çıplak Ber- the material he ﬁctionalized was taken directly from lin (Berlin Naked). To his established blend of daily the Koran and that he wanted to question without life and literary history, he adds a touch of eroticism o-ending. In June )**" the charges were dropped; to his memories of the city, describing a bohemian soon after, Gürsel as author received the İfade existence marked by loneliness and a lack of a feel- Özgürlüğü Ödülü (Freedom of Speech Award) of ing of belonging. The same year he served as a jury the Türkiye Yayıncılar Birliği (Turkish Association of member for the Lettre Ulysses Award given interna- Publishers). tionally for the Art of Reportage. Written on a trip Also in )**" Gürsel’s Türkiye: Yaşlı Avrupa’ya that was a part of his contract with the Atlas journal, Genç Damat (Turkey: Young Bridegroom to Old Yedi Der vişler ()**#, Seven Dervishes) relates the sto- Europe), which was originally published in France ries and histories of seven of the Anatolian dervishes, as La Turquie: une idée neuve en Europe ()**"), came including Mevlana, Hacı Bektaş, Kaygusuz Abdal, out. In this work, he brings together his knowledge and Geyikli Baba. on the cultures of Turkey and Europe, especially In )**% Gürsel published another novel, France, in order to analyze and discuss the European Allah’ın Kızları (The Daughters of Allah), which he Union and Turkey’s candidacy. Another autobio- dedicated to his grandfather Ahmet Nedim Tüzün. graphical work, Hatırla Barbara (Barbara, Remem- There are two main narratives in the work—one set ber), was published the same year. Similar to much in pre-Islamic Arabia and the early period of Islamic of his writing, whether describing his travels or of conversion and the other in the present time of the autobiographic nature, the pieces in Hatırla Bar- narrator who was brought up as a devout Muslim but bara stand out as being a kind of self-search through has grown out of his belief in his adult years. The externalization and projection. As he notes in his narrative set in the past has direct intertextual rela- retrospective exploration, “aslolan şimdiyi yaşamak; tions with the Koran and folk beliefs that precede geçmişin hayaletleriyle boğuşmak değil. [. . .] Söy- it or have evolved out of it. The three pre-Islamic lemesi kolay, yapması zor. Bir türlü kurtulamıyorum Goddesses of the city of Mecca—“the daughters geçmişin mutlu ya da mutsuz anılarından” (what of Allah,” Lat, Uzza and Manat—narrate the pre- matters is to live the now; not to grapple with the Islamic order and the arrival of Islam through their ghosts of the past. [. . .] Easier said than done. I just separate chapters. can’t shake o- the happy or unhappy memories of The narrator of the present time enters the the past). narrative just after the story of the Prophet Moham- In )*!* Gürsel prepared a book of his impres- med’s birth, which symbolically links historical and sions on Anatolia during his travels for the Atlas jour- contemporary narratives. He addresses his younger nal: Derin Anadolu (Deep Anatolia). Appropriating self in the second person while weaving in and out the French phrase “la France profonde,” which refers the strands of the historical story of Islam and the to the profound Frenchness of southern, provincial stories of his grandfather. There is much autobio- France, the author narrates his travels through west- graphical reference in this layer of narration. The ern, southern and central regions of Anatolia from stories are set in Balıkesir and Manisa, and the Pergamum to Antioch. He relates the historical nar- remembered grandfather is similar to Ahmet Nedim rative of the Anatolian culture from ancient myths Tüzün as presented in Gürsel’s memoirs. The novel- to modern politics. The book is enriched with pho- ist skillfully intermingles present, past, and history tographs taken by his friend Denis Guillaume who along with folk, historical, and religious narrative accompanied him with his father (and Gürsel’s pub- traditions. lisher), Damien. Allah’ın Kızları, in which the Prophet Moham- In )*!! Gürsel published Şeytan, Melek ve Ko- med appears as a character and Islamic history münist, the novel he had begun to write in Berlin, and tradition is explored through a demystifying again employing a self-reﬂexive narrative structure.

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 10 8/20/2013 3:29:42 PM DLB !"! Nedim Gürsel

The narrator, a biographer of the famous communist Balkanika Foundation in )*!). The same year his poet Nazım Hikmet, flies to Berlin to meet a mysteri- Allah’ın Kızları was short-listed for the Haus der Kul- ous man, Ali Albayrak, who claims to possess docu- turen der Welt Award in Germany. ments that reveal personal, classified information on In Yine Bana Döneceksin ()*!), You Will Return the poet. A fictional character not modeled on any to Me Again), Gürsel returned to travel writing, real person, Albayrak is presented as Hikmet’s friend exploring such cites as Rio de Janeiro and Sarajevo from the military, a fellow communist but also a party and mixing his observations of his journey with informant who spied on the poet. The story of the insights into the writer’s inner world. He received narrator-writer intermingles with the stories of the )*!( Prix Méditérranée with Şeytan, Melek ve Albayrak and Hikmet through flashbacks to a love a-air Komünist. He had revisited Venice with his daugh- the poet conducted in the city. The main narrative, ter, out of which came his latest book Aşk Kırgınları however, is not Hikmet’s personal life but Albayrak’s (Those Hurt by Love) in the February of )*!(. It is life, which parallels the story of the narrator- a collection of pieces that focus on stories of Venice, writer. Essentially, the narrator and Albayrak are the way it is perceived, represented, and imagined. reflections of one another in terms of characteriza- The main trajectory of the work, in which the city tion, be it their emotional worlds, perceptions of life, or admiration for the poet. of Venice itself is the protagonist, is love a-airs that Albayrak’s typed documents, bearing lines ended in this romanticized geography. from Hikmet’s poetry as titles, are the works of an A founding member of the International Par- eccentric, homosexual spy who was in love with the liament of Writers, Nedim Gürsel is also members of poet. Once called “the angel” but now calling him- PEN, Fédération des maisons d’écrivain et des patrimoines self “the devil,” Albayrak’s perspective embodies littéraires, and the Mediterranean Academy. He con- the feeling of jealousy for a sublimated love, trans- tinues to teach contemporary Turkish literature at formed into an admiration that is tainted with frus- the Sorbonne and to work as research director on tration. His emotional and sexual frustration leads Turkish Literature at CNRS. His works have been to betrayal as a form of revenge, but his guilt even- translated into more than twenty languages, includ- tually results in his his intense desire to dispose of ing French, German, English, Spanish, Italian, and all his records by giving them away to the biogra- Arabic. With an international reputation as a scholar pher, which becomes his attempt at clearing his con- and author, Gürsel is one of the writers who are true science. Rather ironically, the precious materials of ambassadors for Turkish letters abroad. Ali Albayrak do not impress the writer-narrator, who is preoccupied with his own emotional turmoil. The Interviews: novel ends with Albayrak being shot dead by person Halil Gökhan, “Interview,” Hürriyet Gösteri, )!# or persons unknown. (March )***); Şeytan, Melek ve Komünist was criticized by some Hâle Seval, Yeryüzünde Bir Yolcu (Istanbul: Doğan leftists who considered it as an attack on the commu- Kitap, )**,); nist movement in Turkey. As Asuman Kafaoğlu-Büke Onur Caymaz, “Tasavvuf, Anadolu Eseri,” Radikal points out, one of the main themes of the novel is to (!) April )**#); explore what makes a communist and what commu- Sema Aslan, “Nedim Gürsel’den Müslümanlık,” nism is really about. The critic maintains that within Radikal Kitap, (,+ (# March )**%): pp. (*–(); its multiple narrative layers, the novel essentially İhsan Yılmaz, “Muhammed’i insan olarak daha çok portrays a period with its perceptions and represen- sevdim,” Hürriyet, ! March )**%; tations. Sennur Sezer, on the other hand, finds the novel o-ensive and considers the novelist’s position Yekta Kopan, Nedim Gürsel, Youtube, + March )**% a purposeful attack on communism. In his interview [Web., accessed !( August )*!(]; with Bülent Günal, Gürsel predicted that conserva- Yılmaz, “Türkiye yaşlı Avrupa’ya genç damat mı yoksa tive leftists would not be happy with the novel. He gelin mi,” Hürriyet, )" December )**"; argues, “Komünizm güzel ve büyük bir ütopyaydı. Ali Ramon Schack, “A Thinker Must Be Allowed to Albayrak’ın romanda söylediği gibi komünizm yanlış Question Belief,” Qantara.de, ) February )*!* uygulamalar sonucu büyük bir yalana dönüştü” [Web., accessed !( August )*!(]; (Communism was a beautiful and grand utopia. As Banu Duran, “Muhafazakar değerler tek değer Ali Albayrak says in the novel, communism turned değildir! Aykırı insanların da hayatları zengin into a big lie due to wrong practices). The novel bir yaşam olabilir,” Vatan Pazar (, February received the International Literature Award of the )*!!);

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 11 8/20/2013 3:29:42 PM Nedim Gürsel DLB !"!

Bülent Günal, “Romanıma Muhafazakar Solcular “Lettre Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage,” Tepki Gösterebilir,” HaberTürk, ( March )*!! Lettre Ulysses Award—Nedim Gürsel, Turkey [Web., accessed !( August )*!(]; [Web., accessed !( August )*!(]; Asuman Kafaoğlu-Büke, “Nâzım ve İhbarcısı,” Radi- References: kal Kitap, !! February )*!! [Web., accessed !( Burcu Alkan, “Nedim Gürsel’in Tarihsel Romancılığı,” August )*!(]; Notos, )# (April–May )*!!): pp. "*–"+; Bahriye Çeri, ed., Tarih ve Roman (Boğazkesen Üzerine Camille Lamotte, “Orient Expressed,” Nedim Gürsel Yazılar) (Istanbul: Can, )**!); CNRS Website [Web., accessed !( August )*!(]; Doğan Kitap—Nedim Gürsel, www.dogankitap.com.tr Erol Önderoğlu, “ ‘Allah’ın Kızları’ndan Yargılanan [Web., accessed !( August )*!(]; Nedim Gürsel’e Beraat,” Bianet [Web., accessed Orhan Duru, “Boğazı Kesilen Roman,” Roman Medy- !( August )*!(]; adan Önce Gelir—Seçme Yazılar (Istanbul: YKY, Şamil Yeşilyurt, “Nedim Gürsel’in Romanlarının Yeni )*!)) [Web., accessed !( August )*!(]; Tarihselci Bağlamda Okunması,” Turkish Stud- Hanife Nalan Genç and Ali Tilbe, “Postmodern ies: International Journal for the Languages, Litera- Bir Göçebe Nedim Gürsel: İzler ve Gölgeler’in ture and History of Turkish or Turkic, +, nos. I–II Işığında Anlatının Ötesine,” Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, !" ()**%): (Winter )**"): !"%"–)**"; )+(–)$%; Seza Yılancıoğlu, Pera’dan Paris—De Pera a Paris: Semih Gümüş, “Kılavuzu Edebiyat,” Radikal Kitap Nedim Gürsel’e Armağan (Istanbul: Galatasaray (, January )**,); Üniversitesi, )**#).

6229-008-Gürsel, Nedim-1Pass-r02.indd 12 8/20/2013 3:29:42 PM