Gunter Grass, Yaşar Kemal build literary bridges in İstanbul

The project has offered literature buffs in 24 Turkish provinces a chance to explore contemporary literature from Europe with panel discussions, book readings and even musical performances, introducing the work of around 50 authors from eight European Union countries. The program offered audiences in many cities an opportunity to share their views and engage in debates with European authors and artists. And before the project travels to Europe, Kemal and Grass shared their views on literature and its effects on the transformation of society with a packed audience at the theater, in a discussion moderated by Osman Okkan.

The meeting brought forward two common points of the two authors: first, the attitudes of both authors to their societies, and second, their opposition to dominant ideas. The two authors have other things in common, too. Both Grass -- born in Danzig, Poland -- and Kemal had their roots in minority groups and had a minority language as their mother tongue, which Grass confirmed in his speech. “We’re both people from outside the center, from the country, and we turned all our experience of the country into literature because we saw these countries as the center of the world.”

The main theme of the meeting was the contribution of literature to society and what kind of influence literature could have on society. For Grass, this influence could be very slow, and if any immediate influence was to be expected, this could only be through popular literature. “When we look at today’s society, maybe a football match score agitates people much more than literature,” said Grass.

On the other hand, literature is not exempt from interaction between the author and the society he lives in. “Isn’t literature eventually an effort to recreate what is lost?” asked Grass in his speech. “This is not, of course, my deliberate choice, but I feel that I return to the place where I was born in all my works. They always ask me whether I am a political writer or not. Actually I don’t need any qualifications. But all in all, I’m a writer, and I’m influenced by politics.”

As Grass indicated, an author should be aware of his responsibilities, and Kemal confirmed this by saying that every artist should rebel against injustice. “The 20th century has been a period when all the dreadfulness took place and all the rights of the minorities were violated,” said Grass. “And yet, this has not come to an end. An author should express the ideas of the minorities, not the majorities. An author should undertake his obligations and responsibilities as a citizen. Maybe you cannot write about how an article about the equality of people in the Constitution is not implemented, but to express it openly is your responsibility.”

“Every real artist must rise up against war and persecution,” said Kemal in relation to Grass’ point. “Art is an upheaval. And the first work which rebels against war is the Iliad.”

Minorities as wealth

One of the main themes of the meeting was minorities and human rights violations and how these issues should be integrated into literature. “While I was working as a columnist in the 1970s, the title of one of my articles was something like, ‘There’s a minaret missing in Kreuzberg’,” said Grass. “I was talking about our Turkish citizens. You know, during those years, many Gastarbeiter [guest workers] came to Germany and then there came such an exclamation: We had wanted labor, but what came was not labor but human beings. Many people don’t want to accept this, but these are all a part of a richness, not only the Turks but all the foreign minorities. As for Turkey, it should not only recognize its minorities, but also feel proud of them. Deciding who’s a Turk or who’s not from the top would only impoverish the culture, just as in the case that you cannot determine any criteria for who’s European or not.”

“Yaşar Kemal had once said that the school of Turkish literature was prison,” said Grass. “Unfortunately, there lies a significant reality in this sentence. Many old tanks from the East German army were given to Turkey, and these tanks were used against the Kurdish people. I mentioned this in a speech which was for a prize I had received, and I said I was ashamed to be a part of such a nation. It was indeed the peace prize of the Union of Stock Exchanges, and I don’t think the directors of the union were very content with my words.”

“No human being is bad for me,” said Kemal. “Nobody is born as a bad person, only conditions can change people later on. But today, they’re creating an insatiable society under the name of the society of consumption. They’re trying to impose an artificial culture, and the novel is a threat against this. That’s why they’re trying to overwhelm the novel with the artificiality of what they call the ‘bestseller’.”

Traveling to Europe

After the meeting between Kemal and Grass, a second meeting took place with the European authors who had previously visited various cities within the project -- Monika Maron (Germany), Alek Popov (Bulgaria), Atilla Bartis (Romania) and Stefan Brijs (Belgium).