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.

Halide Edib Adivar (1884–1964) was one of the most prolific Turkish women writers of the twentieth century. She is the author of more than a dozen novels, essays, short stories, memoirs, a play, a libretto, and various translations. She was the founder of Taali-I Nisvan Cemiyeti (the Organization for the Elevation of Women), worked as the head of the English Literature program at Istanbul University, and served in the Turkish Parliament as an MP from 1950 to 1954.

Iclal Vanwesenbeeck is an assistant professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia.