The Turkish Muse

Turkish Muse: Views and Reviews, 1960s-1990s collects Talat S. Halman's book reviews written in English and, read chronologically, provides a unique perspective on the development of Turkish literature and criticism during the formative and later years of the Turkish Republic. The new genres adopted from Europe and, to a lesser extent, from the United States include the novel, the short story, the stage play, and the essay. The reviews collected in this volume reflect the way in which these genres developed and matured within their new milieu of Turkish letters. Establishing each book in its literary, social, and cultural Turkish context, Halman then addresses the work's more international or universal importance. Written over a period of four decades, these reviews illuminate the careers of many writers from their early work to their rise as leading Turkish poets, novelists, and dramatists - Ilhan Berk, Melih Cevdet Anday, Gungor Dilmen, Fazil Husnu Daglarca, and Yasar Kemal, to name just a few. More recent reviews discuss the work of such important figures as Hilmi Yavuz and Orhan Pamuk.