The Provincial and The Postcolonial in Cultural Texts from Late Modern Turkey

The book explores Turkey's relationship to modernity and its status in the global order by examining the representation of taşra (the provinces) in contemporary Turkish cinema and literature. It argues that taşra is a way of naming what modernity deems as spatial peripherality, temporal belatedness, and cultural backwardness, and has functioned historically as a repository for the predicaments and contradictions of Turkish modernization and national identity-constitution. The book examines the extent to which dominant codings of taşra are affirmed and/or complicated in cinematic and literary narratives by award-winning filmmakers Nuri BilgeCeylan and Fatih Akın and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk.

Format: Hardback
Length: 186 pages
Publication date: 27 July 2022
Publisher: Springer International Publishing AG

This book delves into the intricate relationship between Turkey and modernity, examining its position within the emerging global order through the lens of contemporary Turkish cinema and literature. The term "taşra" (the provinces) goes beyond its literal spatial connotation, encompassing the marginalized and overlooked aspects of modernity. It serves as a repository for the repressed and disavowed elements of Turkish modernity, providing a means to explore the complexities and contradictions of Turkish modernization and national identity formation. The book adopts "taşra" as its central analytical framework and draws upon postcolonial, psychoanalytical, and critical theory perspectives. It analyzes how dominant representations of "taşra" are affirmed or challenged in cinematic and literary narratives by acclaimed filmmakers Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Fatih Akın, as well as Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk.

Weight: 390g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783031046650
Edition number: 1st ed. 2022