Bir küçük düşünsel çatlamaya yol

Arapça kökenli “hüzün” kelimesi Kuran’da bugün Türkçede kullanılana yakın bir anlamda iki ayette, ayrıca “hazen” şekilde üç ayette daha geçiyor.  Hazreti Muhammed’in karısı Hatice ile amcası Ebu Talip’in öldüğü yıl için “senetül hüzn” (hüzün yılı) denmesi, kelimenin ruhsal tarafı ağır basan bir kayıptan kaynaklanan bir duyguyu anlattığını kanıtlıyor.  Okudukları, kelimenin bir kayıpla, onun yarattığı ruhsalContinue reading “Bir küçük düşünsel çatlamaya yol”

A strangeness in my mind

Epigraph from Orhan Pamuk’s Kafamda bir Tuhaflık / A Strangeness in my Mind: Vatandaşlarımızın şahsi görüşleri arasındaki farkın derinliği devletimizin gücünün kanıtdır. The gulf between the private and public views of our countrymen is evidence of the power of the state. Celâl Salik, Milliyet Illustrations by Orhan Pamuk

Even if you build a fortress

An/Moment Gülüş bir yanaşım’dır bir öbür bir kişiye Laughter is an approach towards another person Bir’den iki kişiyi döndürür bir kişiye A moment of it turns two people into one Anılarından kale yapıp sığınsa bile Even if you build a fortress of your memories for refuge  Yetmez yalnız başına bir ömür bir kişiye It won’tContinue reading “Even if you build a fortress”

Proust ve Niyet Edilmiş Hatırlama

When the book was published and the museum opened, the nature of the novel and the museum’s effect on visitors were often described as ‘Proustian.’ But I took this Proustian inspiration in a slightly different direction from what is usually understood by the term. The story Proust tells through the madeline is of an unconsciousContinue reading “Proust ve Niyet Edilmiş Hatırlama”

Not to be published

‘A New Theory of Biology,’ was the title of the paper which Mustapha Mond had just finished reading.  He sat for some time, meditatively frowning, then picked up his pen and wrote across the title-page: ‘The author’s mathematical treatment of the conception of purpose is novel and highly ingenious, but heretical and, so far aContinue reading “Not to be published”

In the backstreets

I love museums and I am not alone in finding that they make me happier with each passing day. I take museums very seriously, and that sometimes leads me to angry, forceful thoughts. But I do not have it in me to speak about museums with anger. In my childhood there were very few museumsContinue reading “In the backstreets”

The first twelve years

The world beyond the train window contained more people, wheat fields, poplars, oxen, bridges, donkeys, houses, mosques, tractors, signs, letters, stars, and transmission towers than Mevlut had seen in the first twelve years of his life. The transmission towers looked as if they were coming straight at him, which sometimes made his head spin untilContinue reading “The first twelve years”