Seviyye Talip: CMES Modern Middle East Literatures in Translation

From the most acclaimed Turkish woman writer of the twentieth century comes a novel of violent political uprisings, opera, adultery, polygamy, modernity, liberty, and exile in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. Set in the early twentieth century, the novel follows Fahir, a philosopher, idealist, and reformist who graduates from Oxford University and returns to Istanbul after a voluntary (but possibly compulsory) exile. In the midst of political turmoil and social upheaval, Fahir finds himself embroiled in a love triangle with Macide, a traditional Muslim Turkish woman, and Seviyye, a rebellious Turkish soprano who defies social and religious norms. A bestseller in Turkey in 1910, the novel features the first-ever Turkish soprano protagonist and is interwoven with operatic references and landscapes from turn-of-the-century Istanbul and Cairo.