Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.04.2019, Page 46

38The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 05— 2019
Sensibility Is A
Muscle
Turkish author Hakan Günday brings his love of
language to the Reykjavík International
Literary Festival
Words: Björn Halldórsson Photo: Selen Ozer Günday
International Reykjavik
Literary festival
Hakan Günday will be one of
the authors taking part in the
International Reykjavík Literary
Festival that takes place between
the 24th to the 27th of April 2019.
With his eighth novel, 'More,' pub-
lished by Arcade, Hakan Günday
entered the relatively small group
of contemporary Turkish authors
whose work is available in English
translation. His standing in that
group was cemented when an ear-
lier work, 'The Few,' was published
in translation last fall. Günday is
one of the many
international au-
thors who w i l l
be attending the
Reykjavík Inter-
national Literary
festival this April.
A s u s t a i n a b l e
s t a t e o f e v i l
' Mor e' i s n a r-
rated by a boy
n a m e d G a z a ,
who from child-
hood takes part
in his family’s bloody business
of human trafficking. The novel
offers a dark and poignant look
at the ongoing refugee crisis and
is filled with disturbing scenes
of v iolence and cal lousness.
“I’m more concerned with how
people get used to violence than
I am with violence itself,” Gün-
day explains. “I find that far
more dangerous and horrify-
ing. My characters are lost in
a vicious cycle, living with per-
manent violence yet unaware of
their situation. They’re living
in a sustainable state of evil.”
For the love of words
Despite its violent imagery, Gün-
day’s writing is also filled with
evidence of his
love l a n g ua ge .
The names of his
books and charac-
ters often contain
elaborate word
games that may
sadly become lost
i n t ra n slat ion.
“ M y f a v o u r i t e
book is the Turk-
ish dictionary,”
Günday says. “It
cont a i n s thou-
sands of words that are waiting
for their stories to be told. In Tur-
key, and everywhere else where
populism reigns, words are the
first things that the authorities
target. The first act of an authori-
tarian regime is to write its own
dictionary, changing the mean-
ing of words in order to control
our communication. I want to
do my best to remind my read-
ers of the true meaning of words.”
Fighting man’s
natural tendencies
Perhaps due to Turkey’s centuries
old poetic traditions, the novel
form was a relative latecomer in
Turkish literature. Early novel-
ists were influenced by transla-
tions of Russian and European
literature—Günday himself lists
French novelist Louis-Ferdinand
Celine’s 'Journey to the End of
the Night' as an early inspiration.
“That book showed me how man
has a natural tendency to become
merciless and dumb,” he remi-
nisces. “You have to accept that
first if you want to change your
nature.” He also mentions the
influence of Turkish writer Oğuz
Atay, a pioneer of the Turkish nov-
el form who wrote several complex
psychological novels in the 1970s.
Forcing yourself to stay
awake
Looking back, Günday says he
can see a common thread in
these early inspirations: “These
writers were trying to tell us
that sensibility is a muscle. If
you train that muscle then you
might be able to stay awake. Oth-
erwise you allow society and the
authorities to put you to sleep.
If they put you to sleep, your
dreams will never be your own.
You will be left with the dreams
of those that put you to sleep.”
“My characters
are lost in a
vicious cycle;
living with per-
manent violence
yet unaware of
their situation”
Books
Hakan Günday
The oldestdiner
B U R G E R S – S A N D W I C H E S
BBQ RIBS – STEAKS – FISH
WRAPS AND LOCAL DISHES
V I S I T
I N R E Y K J A V Í K
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