Boston Globe – February 13, 2007
Across the divide

Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, 34, has published six novels, her last two in English. The newest, "The Bastard of Istanbul," was a success in Turkey, but ultranationalist lawyers brought her to court under the notorious Article 301, which makes it a crime to "insult Turkishness." Her crime: One of the characters mentions the Turkish massacre of Armenians in 1915. The charge was dismissed last September, but tensions increased last month when Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, a close friend of Shafak, was gunned down in Istanbul by a nationalist. "The Bastard of Istanbul" concerns two large families of remarkable women -- one of Armenian Christians living in San Francisco, and the other of Turkish Muslims in Istanbul -- brought into confrontation across the historic divide by a young daughter on each side who become friends. Shafak was born in France, raised by a Turkish single mother mostly in Spain, and went to Turkey in her early 20s. Holding a doctorate in cultural studies, she lives in Istanbul and teaches part of the year at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Shafak came to the United States for the release of "The Bastard of Istanbul," but her tour was curtailed out of concern for her safety. Using excellent English, she spoke by telephone from New York.

DAVID MEHEGAN

Q Why did you write your novel in English?

A It's a challenge to write in a language that is not your mother tongue. You have to start from zero, to re-find your literary voice. A new language gives you a new zone of existence. I have a huge passion for language in an almost mystical sense -- a love for letters. They embody infinity, and that fascinates me. I don't use language as a tool, but I think of it as a continent -- I breathe inside the language so that I can discover it.

Q The 2006 Turkish nobel laureate, Orhan Pamuk, is often described as bridging East and West in his novels. It does seem that Turkey in many ways is right on the fault line between the Eastern and Western worlds -- geography, language, politics, religion. Is that an accurate picture?

A Yes, the country is a synthesis of different, if not opposing, forces. It is a hybrid culture, historically very strongly anchored in the Western world, yet not Western in the sense of, say, Belgium. It also has Eastern and Islamic elements, which are a source of richness. It is a very interesting and unique country.

Q Does your writing reflect the tensions in Turkey?

A There is so much tension in the world, and it is reflected in my books in general. The world is more polarized, and the number of people who believe in the clash of civilizations between Islam and the Western world is unfortunately increasing. One thing that makes me sad is to see this gap between Armenians and Turks. They often don't hear each other, don't know each other very well. Identity politics is such a powerful tide in the world. Art has to question identity politics. Art is about fragmentation, the micro and not the gross reality; it is about the diminutive and the nuances. Literature is not telling your own story to others. It is the opposite. It is transcending yourself and managing to become someone else.

Q Is Istanbul important to your writing?

A I have always been in love with Istanbul. It is an actual character in my novels, and is always a "she." She is amazing and difficult : 10 million people, incredible chaos, so mixed with rich and poor living side by side. If you want a sterile, hygienic life, Istanbul is not for you. But for artists and writers, she is an endless source of inspiration.

Q Does the assault on your work remind us, in an ironic way, of the importance of art and literature to society? Writers such as Isaac Babel, Joseph Brodsky, Naguib Mahfouz were harmless, yet some people feared the power of their writings.

A Art has such amazing transformative power. Its task is to question boundaries and mental frontiers. It can enter into those places where politics cannot reach. Art and literature unite people who would never break bread together, but they read the same book without knowing that they are united in the same story at the same time.

Q Are you hopeful about the future of Turkey?

A Yes, I am. The irony is that the country is moving in a positive direction, and every positive direction comes with its opponents. The ultranationalists do not represent the whole society. I have faith in Turkish civil society. It is very dynamic and heterogeneous.

Q Do you feel at home there now?

A My home is my writing. For a long time, my only continuity came from my writing. There is a metaphor in the Koran about the tree called tuba. Some nationalist critics in Turkey have said I have no roots. I say I have roots like the tuba tree. According to the Koran, it has roots in the air.
 

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