Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Anyone read Turkish?

A colleague in Lehigh's International Relations department stopped me in the hallway this morning and said, "Hey, you made the Turkish press!" He couldn't remember exactly what or where, but he said it was something to do with my comments on Orhan Pamuk.

I did my own restricted Google search, and I came up with this mention in Milliyet. It looks like a pretty straightforward account of what American academics are doing with Orhan Pamuk, but I still wouldn't mind knowing what it says. I think the word "Edebiyati" means literature, and the word "diyalog" is probably just dialogue. But the rest is Greek to me (and yes, the Turks would hate that euphemism).

If there are any people who read Turkish around today (that means you, Elizabeth!), I'd be grateful for a gloss.

3 Comments:

elizabeth said...

hi amardeep,

it's basically a chatty first-person piece on how frequently Pamuk is now assigned as reading in American universities. The author starts out by mentioning the recent legal case and the Nobel speculation, then goes on to say she did a bit of informal research on curricula and found him all over the place (she calls him "a campus favorite.") She points out that he's one of the few Turkish voices who's gained "resonance" in the world, and that therefore American students are being widely exposed to his work. The relevant paragraph says, roughly:

Thus, what could be more natural than that Michael Websler at Michigan's Grand Valley State University assigns "My Name is Red" in his World Literature class? Or that while giving a class on "International Literature Today," Christopher Merrill at Iowa University turns to "Snow"? I was not at all puzzled that Brian Kiteley at Denver University uses "The White Castle" in a "History and Literature class," that Michael Beard at North Dakota uses "My Name is Red" under the heading of "Literature of the Islamic World," that Michael Skafidas of City University of New York adds "The New Life" to "Life Writing" and that Amardeep Singh at Lehigh University assigns "The White Castle" in the scope of "Debate and Dialogue in Middle Eastern Literatures"...In summary, Pamuk has gained a place in the "contemporary literature" classes at many universities all over the USA.

She then goes on to say she was surprised to find his work assigned in classes on so many other subjects, "from politics to architecture," and gives a list of varied courses in which his books are used. The piece is somewhat informal/colloquial and I'm missing some phrases- there's a point or two at the beginning where I wonder if she's being kind of snarky about his popularity, but it's hard to tell without translating it more closely.

10:15 AM  
Oxy said...

Hi.
Tilotamma(a-lumpen-proletariat.blogspot.com) had sent me your link and had told me that you might need some help with turkish translation. I saw that Elizabeth has done a good job here. If you still needed help with the translation please don't hesitate to tell me. I'm azerbaijani in origin but the two languages are very close so I might be able to help.

7:01 PM  
Amardeep said...

Elizabeth,

Thank you so much! If you ever need something translated from the Hindi or Punjabi press, you know who to call! ;-)

And Oxy, thanks for coming in as well.

8:20 AM  

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