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A Useless Man
Selected Stories
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Pub Date
Jan 06 2015
| Archive Date
Jan 06 2015
Description
With all the wit and brilliance of Chekhov, a distinctive collection of lyrical stories from Sait Faik Abasıyanık, “Turkey’s greatest short story writer” (The Guardian)
Sait Faik Abasıyanık’s fiction traces the interior lives of strangers in his native Istanbul: ancient coffeehouse proprietors, priests, dream-addled fishermen, poets of the Princes’ Isles, lovers and wandering minstrels of another time. The stories in A Useless Man are shaped by Sait Faik’s political autobiography – his resistance to social convention, the relentless pace of westernization, and the ethnic cleansing of his city – as he conjures the varied textures of life in Istanbul and its surrounding islands. The calm surface of these stories might seem to signal deference to the new Republic’s restrictions on language and culture, but Abasıyanık’s prose is crafted deceptively, with dark, subversive undercurrents. “Reading these stories by Sait Faik feels like finding the secret doors inside of poems,” Rivka Galchen wrote. Beautifully translated by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe, A Useless Man is the most comprehensive collection of Sait Faik’s stories in English to date.
With all the wit and brilliance of Chekhov, a distinctive collection of lyrical stories from Sait Faik Abasıyanık, “Turkey’s greatest short story writer” (The Guardian) Sait Faik Abasıyanık’s...
Description
With all the wit and brilliance of Chekhov, a distinctive collection of lyrical stories from Sait Faik Abasıyanık, “Turkey’s greatest short story writer” (The Guardian)
Sait Faik Abasıyanık’s fiction traces the interior lives of strangers in his native Istanbul: ancient coffeehouse proprietors, priests, dream-addled fishermen, poets of the Princes’ Isles, lovers and wandering minstrels of another time. The stories in A Useless Man are shaped by Sait Faik’s political autobiography – his resistance to social convention, the relentless pace of westernization, and the ethnic cleansing of his city – as he conjures the varied textures of life in Istanbul and its surrounding islands. The calm surface of these stories might seem to signal deference to the new Republic’s restrictions on language and culture, but Abasıyanık’s prose is crafted deceptively, with dark, subversive undercurrents. “Reading these stories by Sait Faik feels like finding the secret doors inside of poems,” Rivka Galchen wrote. Beautifully translated by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe, A Useless Man is the most comprehensive collection of Sait Faik’s stories in English to date.
Advance Praise
"These stories unfold like secrets or hallowed gossip passed between friends and neighbors. Each one’s telling--intimate and mysterious, earthy and luminous—is propelled universal by a striking glimpse of the human heart. Set in post-Ottoman Istanbul, Sait Faik’s characters span a rich cultural and linguistic array, including Turkish fisherman (and their fish), Greek Orthodox priests, factory girls, thieves, simit sellers and all manner of lovers. The stories take us to a specific place and time, but because of Sait Faik’s unflinching eye, we land precisely in our own backyard." — Anne Germanacos, author of In the Time of the Girls and Tribute
"Reading these stories by Sait Faik feels like finding the secret doors inside of poems. Little moments–here one about milk, there one about death–open out into corridors of narrative, leading to effects and endings that are consistently both gentle and cutting, simultaneously honest and surprising. A distinctive, humane voice worthy of our serious attention." — Rivka Galchen
"These stories unfold like secrets or hallowed gossip passed between friends and neighbors. Each one’s telling--intimate and mysterious, earthy and luminous—is propelled universal by a striking...
Advance Praise
"These stories unfold like secrets or hallowed gossip passed between friends and neighbors. Each one’s telling--intimate and mysterious, earthy and luminous—is propelled universal by a striking glimpse of the human heart. Set in post-Ottoman Istanbul, Sait Faik’s characters span a rich cultural and linguistic array, including Turkish fisherman (and their fish), Greek Orthodox priests, factory girls, thieves, simit sellers and all manner of lovers. The stories take us to a specific place and time, but because of Sait Faik’s unflinching eye, we land precisely in our own backyard." — Anne Germanacos, author of In the Time of the Girls and Tribute
"Reading these stories by Sait Faik feels like finding the secret doors inside of poems. Little moments–here one about milk, there one about death–open out into corridors of narrative, leading to effects and endings that are consistently both gentle and cutting, simultaneously honest and surprising. A distinctive, humane voice worthy of our serious attention." — Rivka Galchen
Marketing Plan
Advertising in Bookforum, NYRB
Reading Group Guides, available on our wesbsite or as a print-ready file
Targeted galley mailing to comparative literature professors, especially those with an interest in Italian lit.
Blurbs from esteemed writers
Print and e-ARCs widely available
First serial in
The American Reader, September 2013
Second Serial in a major literary publication
Launch events in London, Istambul, NYC & DC (potential Turkish Embassy involvement)
Advertising in Bookforum, NYRB
Reading Group Guides, available on our wesbsite or as a print-ready file
Targeted galley mailing to comparative literature professors, especially those with an interest...
Marketing Plan
Advertising in Bookforum, NYRB
Reading Group Guides, available on our wesbsite or as a print-ready file
Targeted galley mailing to comparative literature professors, especially those with an interest in Italian lit.
Blurbs from esteemed writers
Print and e-ARCs widely available
First serial in
The American Reader, September 2013
Second Serial in a major literary publication
Launch events in London, Istambul, NYC & DC (potential Turkish Embassy involvement)
Available Editions
| EDITION |
Other Format |
| ISBN |
9780914671077 |
| PRICE |
$18.00 (USD)
|
Additional Information
Available Editions
| EDITION |
Other Format |
| ISBN |
9780914671077 |
| PRICE |
$18.00 (USD)
|
Average rating from 4 members
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