Die jungen Kosmopoliten

Literatures in Context is a peer-reviewed book series devoted to Near Eastern and North African literatures. The editors want the title of the series to be understood programmatically. They presuppose a concept of world literature that includes Near Eastern and North African literatures. What is more, they assume that literatures are in many ways marked by intertextuality, that they constitute readings of extremely diverse earlier texts, and that they are posited within a field of tensions, much broader than their respective national language. For the earlier eras of Near Eastern and North African literatures, this field of tensions geographically covers the regions of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor. In modern times, it has become a space of interaction that has long since included “global” Western literatures (and realities). This does not imply that the modern Near Eastern and North African literatures have severed themselves from their predecessors. Instead it is precisely the tension between different sets of references in modern Near Eastern and North African literatures, or their “local historical context”, which is a great part of their attraction, that remains a crucial field of research for the modern scholar.

English summary: Young authors from Turkey question boundaries, they are challenging borders between nations, between humans, between times. Their works reflect a new zeitgeist which is often shaped by contradictions, but instead of trying to dissolve these contradictions, withdrawing to one’s own and raising the boundaries to the other, they learn and teach to endure these contradictions, to let them stand.This justifies the designation of these Turkish authors as “young cosmopolitans”, considering that sociologist Ulrich Beck emphasizes the fact that cosmopolitanism ignores the principle of the either-or and embodies an as-well-as-thinking. It is precisely this as-well-as-thinking that has become the determining principle of the works of contemporary Turkish authors. Its implementation includes features of cosmopolitan literature such as ambiguity, simultaneity, polyperspectivity, ambiguity in terms of literary spaces and figures, as well as locally and globally identifiable themes and the depiction of the dialectics of the conflict between the cosmopolitan and its opponents. All this can be exemplified by the following works analyzed here: Yitik Gozun Boslugunda (In the Void of the Lost Eye, 1996) and Kirmizi Pelerinli Kent (The City with the Red Pelerine, 1998 ) by Asli Erdogan; The Saint of Incipient Insanities (2004) and Iskender (Iskender, 2011) by Elif Safak; Esmahan Aykol’s novel Savrulanlar (The Scattered, 2006) and Hakan Gunday’s novel Az (Little, 2011).These contemporary Turkish authors create a literature that cannot be easily instrumentalized, that is no longer in the service of a nation, but promotes a new view on an equally regional and global world, which includes today’s Turkey. While the political situation in Turkey remains difficult and the country is once again challenged by inner tensions and hostile oppositions, these writers and their works are of utmost importance. Their voices, their texts show a different picture, another option of Turkish society. In this sense, this thesis not only wants to broaden the current research on contemporary Turkish literature, especially in German-speaking countries, but also emphasizes that literature celebrates diversity and deliberately reflects the countless nuances of an actually very heterogeneous Turkish society, while politics fuel resentments and push the boundaries higher. German description: Junge turkische Autoren stellen Grenzen in Frage. Grenzen zwischen Nationen, zwischen Menschen, zwischen Zeiten. Ihre Texte reflektieren ein neues, von Widerspruchen gepragtes Lebensgefuhl, doch statt diese Widerspruche auflosen zu wollen, sich aufs Eigene zuruckzuziehen und die Grenzen zum Anderen hoher zu ziehen, lernen und lehren sie diese Widerspruche auszuhalten, stehenzulassen.Nicht zuletzt dies rechtfertigt die Bezeichnung der “jungen Kosmopoliten”, betont doch der Soziologe Ulrich Beck, Kosmopolitismus ignoriere das Prinzip des Entweder-Oder und verkorpere das Sowohl-als-auch-Denken. Gerade dieses Sowohl-als-auch-Denken ist zum bestimmenden Prinzip der Werke zeitgenossischer turkischer Autoren geworden. Seine Umsetzung beinhalte Merkmale kosmopolitischer Literatur wie Mehrdeutigkeit, Gleichzeitigkeit, Polyperspektivitat, Ambiguitat in Bezug auf literarische Raume und Figuren, gleichermassen lokal wie global verortbare Thematiken und die Abbildung der Dialektik des Konflikts zwischen dem Kosmopolitischen und seinen Gegnern. All dies lasst sich exemplarisch auch an den hier analysierten Texten festmachen. Diese sind im Einzelnen: Die Erzahlung Yitik Gozun Boslugunda (In der Leere des verlorenen Auges, dt. Der wundersame Mandarin, 1996) sowie der Roman Kirmizi Pelerinli Kent (Die Stadt mit der roten Pelerine, dt. Die Stadt mit der roten Pelerine, 1998) von Asli Erdogan; die Romane The Saint of Incipient Insanities (dt. Die Heilige des nahenden Irrsinns, 2004) und Iskender (Iskender, dt. Ehre, 2011) von Elif Safak; Esmahan Aykols Roman Savrulanlar (Die Verstreuten, dt. Goodbye Istanbul, 2006) sowie Hakan Gundays Roman Az (Wenig, dt. Extrem, 2011).Zeitgenossische turkische Autoren schaffen hier eine Literatur, die sich nicht instrumentalisieren lasst, die nicht langer im Dienst einer Nation steht, sondern eine neue Sicht auf jene regionale wie globale Welt erproben, zu der auch die Turkei heute gehort. Wahrend aktuell die politische Situation in der Turkei schwierig bleibt, sich Bevolkerungsgruppen wieder feindlich gegenuberstehen und das Land einmal mehr an seinen inneren Spannungen zu scheitern droht, sind seine Literaten damit gefragter denn je. Ihre Stimmen, ihre Texte zeigen ein anderes Bild, eine andere Option der turkischen Gesellschaft. In diesem Sinne will die vorliegende Arbeit nicht nur die gerade im deutschsprachigen Raum nach wie vor uberschaubare Forschung zur zeitgenossischen turkischen Literatur erweitern, sondern auch herausstellen, dass hier Literatur Vielfalt zelebriert und bewusst die unzahligen Nuancen der so heterogenen turkischen Gesellschaft reflektiert, wo Politik eher Ressentiments schurt und die Grenzen hoher zieht.

• By (author) Katharina Müller