Ralph Hubbell on the work of Turkish literary giant Oğuz Atay

What this episode covers

Ralph Hubbell on translating Oğuz Atay’s ”Waiting for the Fear” (New York Review Books). Atay is widely seen as one the great Turkish fiction writers of the 20th century, but he has largely yet to appear in English until now. ”Waiting for the Fear” is made up of eight short stories and was first published in Turkey in 1975. Coming in at under 200 pages, it’s a relatively slender work - a striking contrast with Atay’s most celebrated novel, the sprawling ”Tutunamayanlar”, which is sometimes rendered in English as ”The Disconnected”. The conversation talks about Oğuz Atay’s exploration of paranoia, alienation and absurdity, the humour in his work, as well as his life and the notorious difficulty of translating his fiction. Become a member on either Patreon or Substack to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the whole archive, and links to articles related to each episode. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2998854&fan_landing=true Substack: https://turkeybooktalk.substack.com/