In ‘Five Cities’ (‘Beş Şehir’), Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar focuses on cities significant in Anatolian history and his own emotional life. Part history, part autobiography, part poetic meditation on time and memory, ‘Five Cities’ is Proustian in style with a tension between a backward-looking melancholy and a concern for the unpredictable future of the author’s country.
In ‘Five Cities’ (‘Beş Şehir’), Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar focuses on cities significant in Anatolian history and his own emotional life. Part history, part autobiography, part poetic meditation on time and memory, ‘Five Cities’ is Proustian in style with a tension between a backward-looking melancholy and a concern for the unpredictable future of the author’s country.
Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar, poet, novelist and critic, was a professor of Ottoman and Turkish literature at Istanbul University. His ‘Five Cities’ was first published in Turkish as ‘Beş Şehir’ in 1946 and revised in 1960. It consists of five lyrical essays, each focused on a city significant in Anatolian history and in Tanpinar's emotional life.
Part history, part autobiography, part poetic meditation on time and memory, ‘Five Cities’ is Proustian in style, with a tension between a backward-looking melancholy and a concern for the unpredictable future of his country. Comparable to Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk’s ‘Istanbul: Memories of a City’, ‘Five Cities’ emphasizes personal attitudes and reactions but has a wider scope of geography, history and culture.
Ruth Christie’s translation of ‘Beş Şehir’ makes the essays, which are as aesthetically appealing as a novel, available to readers of English for the first time.
Details
Price: $15.95
Pages: 228
Publisher: Anthem Press
Imprint: Anthem Press
Series: Anthem Cosmopolis Writings
Publication Date: 15th November 2018
Trim Size: 5 x 8 in
ISBN: 9781783088485
Format: Paperback
BISACs: HISTORY / Essays BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Cultural Heritage BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical
Reviews
Five Cities, ably translated by Ruth Christie, is a first-rate achievement and an important addition to any collection in which Turkey features prominently.
Ruth Christie studied Turkish language and literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, UK. She has translated a large number of works of Turkish fiction and poetry into English.
Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar, poet, novelist and critic, was a professor of Ottoman and Turkish literature at Istanbul University. His ‘Five Cities’ was first published in Turkish as ‘Beş Şehir’ in 1946 and revised in 1960. It consists of five lyrical essays, each focused on a city significant in Anatolian history and in Tanpinar's emotional life.
Part history, part autobiography, part poetic meditation on time and memory, ‘Five Cities’ is Proustian in style, with a tension between a backward-looking melancholy and a concern for the unpredictable future of his country. Comparable to Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk’s ‘Istanbul: Memories of a City’, ‘Five Cities’ emphasizes personal attitudes and reactions but has a wider scope of geography, history and culture.
Ruth Christie’s translation of ‘Beş Şehir’ makes the essays, which are as aesthetically appealing as a novel, available to readers of English for the first time.
Price: $15.95
Pages: 228
Publisher: Anthem Press
Imprint: Anthem Press
Series: Anthem Cosmopolis Writings
Publication Date: 15th November 2018
Trim Size: 5 x 8 in
ISBN: 9781783088485
Format: Paperback
BISACs: HISTORY / Essays BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Cultural Heritage BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical
Five Cities, ably translated by Ruth Christie, is a first-rate achievement and an important addition to any collection in which Turkey features prominently.
Ruth Christie studied Turkish language and literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, UK. She has translated a large number of works of Turkish fiction and poetry into English.
