Yasar Kemal: Dissidence, Rebellion, and Storytelling in Turkey

This class will address the major works of Yasar Kemal, a prolific novelist and a masterful storyteller of Kurdish descent from Turkey, who throughout his life endured political persecution and imprisonment for his outspoken stance on minority rights and the Kurdish conflict. We will explore his literary career of six decades with a focus on his merging of Kurdish/Turkish oral traditions with modern literary techniques; the language he created that challenged official standard Turkish; his concern for the environment; his contribution to 'the village novel' of 1950s; and the peasants and feudal landlords of his novels to discuss the dissidence and rebellion in Turkish literature. All readings and discussion will be in English.