Literature Series

FROM HISTORY TO STORYTELLING: "RESCUING CRITIQUE" IN DEFNE SUMAN'S NOVELS

with author DEFNE SUMAN

Moderated by ÜLKER GÖKBERK
Professor Emerita of German and Humanities, Reed College

In this conversation we will explore the main themes and techniques through which Suman conjures vanishing moments of the recent past. Most notably among these are collective forgetting and remembering, trauma, the repression and uncovering of truth at the personal and social levels, questions pertaining to identity, such as, the connection between language and identity, covert identities, and the malleability of identity. A prominent voice among contemporary Turkish novelists, Suman sheds light on these buried layers, akin to Walter Benjamin’s “rescuing critique,” just as they are about to disappear from reminiscence. Moreover, Suman’s novels examine the conflict between a pluralistic notion of selfhood and a monolithically constructed national identity. The paradigms of exile and displacement, of speaking from minority positions, are intertwined with the above-mentioned themes. Altogether, these premises establish a narrative network of signification, through which the philosophical core of Suman’s work can be discerned. By way of reading her novels, such as, At the Breakfast Table (Kahvaltı Sofrası), The Silence of Scheherazade (Emanet Zaman) and Summer Heat (Yaz Sıcağı) in this context, we can reveal the central subject-matter of these narratives as a critical investigation of violence and oppression. By conjuring up injustices, buried under the debris of a recent past, the author opens up a cathartic space for her characters. Her latest novel, Çember Apartmanı, is another forceful example. Thus, Suman offers a rich literary resource for memory studies, in particular for studies in collective memory.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2024 | 2:00 pm (EST) | Online

<<REGISTER HERE FOR THIS ONLINE EVENT >>

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT AUTHOR DEFNE SUMAN
AND HOW TO BUY HER BOOKS PLEASE VISIT
https://defnesuman.com

 

DEFNE SUMAN

By Defne Suman

"I discovered books at an early age and I have been writing since the day my mother gave me my first diary. Literature has been my best friend and more than the actual world, I have spent time in the fictive one. Still, becoming an author was not my childhood dream at all. I was born in Istanbul, where the Orient express arrives. Growing up at the crossroads between East and West, I wanted to experience both worlds and travel all my life.

With all these dreams in mind I entered Turkey’s best university, Bosphorus University—former American Robert College—and received an excellent education in sociology. When I finished my BA, I still did not know how to realize my childhood dreams, so I stayed a bit longer in school and completed my Master’s. By that time, I was very well versed in feminist theory, orientalism, post colonialism, postmodernism, social movements and conducting research but still no adventure was on the horizon for me.

What was waiting ahead on the other hand, was a full scholarship for graduate work from the department of social anthropology at UCLA. Despite my dreams featured a life in some remote parts of the world, up until then, I had been simply confined within the Byzantine city walls of Istanbul.

Finally, after many painful months of pondering over whether I should go to UCLA and become an academician or do something else (but what?) at the age of 28 I left Istanbul with a backpack and headed for Thailand. If someone was going to make my dreams come true, that someone was going to be none other than me.
I spent the next ten years traveling the world. In Thailand I started learning and practicing yoga which helped me to understand where I should direct my energy for a meaningful life with fulfillment. Yoga also gave me courage to present my writings to a publisher and soon after I returned to Turkey, I was holding my first book, Blue Forest.

Since then, my writings have become a source for inspiration for many people in Turkey, especially for young women who would like to live their lives beyond the traditional expectations.

I write stories, novels and articles that explore some darker corners of the human psyche, connected to family secrets and “the silenced parts” of Turkish/Ottoman history. In all my narratives you can find themes of exile, memory, displacement, and speaking from the perspectives of the minorities. I have been honored to be picked by many publishing houses all around the world. My books are being translated into twentyfive languages from Greek to Malayalam, from Norwegian to Arabic.

When I am not at my desk, you can find me traveling between Istanbul and Athens or swimming in the blue waters of the Aegean Sea. I love getting to know my readers, so please write to me or follow me on any of my social media sites."

-- Defne Suman

ÜLKER GÖKBERK

Ülker Gökberk is Professor Emerita of German and Humanities at Reed College.

She earned her undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Istanbul University. After completing her Ph.D. in Germanics at the University of Washington, she joined the faculty of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, in 1986.

The methodology and themes of her teaching and scholarship have been inspired by the paradigm intercultural German studies. In her publications she focuses on models of cultural encounter and difference. Gökberk has worked with texts by German authors, ranging from Thomas Mann to Siegfried Lenz, as well as with immigrants’ literature by Turkish-German authors.

Her publications on modern Turkish literature include essays on Orhan Pamuk and Bilge Karasu. Aesthetic representations of displacement remain an ongoing concern of Gökberk’s critical inquiry. In Excavating Memory: Bilge Karasu’s Istanbul, Walter Benjamin’s Berlin (Academic Studies Press, 2020; Turkish translation: Hafıza Kazısı: Bilge Karasu’nun İstanbul’u, Walter Benjamin’in Berlin’i, Metis Yayınları, 2022) Gökberk explores her authors’ poetics of remembrance through the textual tableaux of early twentieth century Berlin and of the bygone cosmopolitan Pera-Beyoğlu.

Gökberk continues her teaching at Portland’s Literary Arts.