Review of ‘Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü’ by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar Dergah 1961 (17th Print 2012) This wonderful book tells the story of Hayri Irdal, a man adrift from the times he lives in. He begins as a successful member of the Time Regulation Institute, but very quickly we learn that it’s all gone wrong and he proceeds to tell his rambling story. He grew up in the shadow of a clock called Mubarek (blessed) though his father occasionally cursed it as Click for more
Tag: Maureen Freely
Cloudy Weather
Review of ‘Bir Sonbahar Akşamı’ by Sait Faik Abasıyanık Edited by Raşit Çavaş Doğan Kardeş Kitaplığı/Yapı Kredi Yayınları 2009 My first encounter of Sait Faik was a TRT series way back in 2002. It was called ‘Havada Bulut’ and took place on Burgaz Adası where Sait Faik lived. Bearing in mind that my Turkish was pretty poor back then my impression was of a sad man with an altogether too-inquisitive postman, a quiet thoughtful man, an outsider in his Click for more
Focus on Turkey
Next week the London Book Fair takes place in Earls Court in London. It looks like it will be a great event with over 1600 exhibitors from 58 countries. Turkey is the Market Focus this year and will have a large presence at the fair. From cultural events, translation seminars, author interviews and much more there’s a lot going on. You can check out all the details, along with contributor information in this booklet. There’s some familiar faces here with Click for more
Translation Day
Over the summer I came across a competition which I felt compelled to enter. It was to translate one or more prose pieces or one or more poems from Turkish into English. Though I’d never attempted literary translation and had only been doing technical translation (of academic papers) for six months I thought I’d give it a go. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the challenge of the actual translation and of shaping it into a piece Click for more