Mahfouz was the first Arab to ever win the Nobel Prize for literature, while Orhan Pamuk was the first Turkish individual to win a Nobel Prize at all. In contrast to Mahfouz who criticized his nation's government only indirectly, Pamuk's open criticism of Turkish government practices outside of his fictional universe made him something of a cause celeb for human-rights organizations and writers' unions. Rather than praise, right-win Turkish patriots lobbied for punishing him under Article 301 of the Turkish criminal code. Article #01 bans expressions of speech that could be considered critical of the Turkish culture, and carries a penalty of up to three years in prison ("In Istanbul, a writer awaits her day in court," the Guardian, 2006). The feminist Turkish author Elif Shafak suffered a similar fate upon the publication of her novel the Bastard of Istanbul.
In the eyes of some Westerners, the condemnation of both Elif Shafak and Orhan Pamuk was bizarre -- Pamuk in particular has been praised not for bracing political satire, but for the "Ottoman otherworldliness "of his novels such as in My Name Is Red, and the way that his "magic realism" is used to subvert "the harder-edged world we all share" (Eoan-Chuan, 2006). The political positions Pamuk has advocated outside of his literary output may have had to do more with his prosecution, than anything of substance in his works, in contrast to Shafak, who has not been as noted for her political activism as much as her daring decision to author the Bastard of Istanbul in English.
Shafak's...
I take an oath of loyalty to the table / coated with white Formica, a cup full of pens, the ashtray / I dreamed that the State had passed out of existence / and with our children / we'd settled down in the three volumes of the / dictionary."(Shabtai, 39) Also, in Our Land he dramatically deplores the ugliness of his land. The poem is even more telling because
Thorough reviews of the Q'uran have revealed that it actually forbids sexual oppression of women. Several and well-entrenched customary practices in the region, however, violate women's basic human rights. These practices include honor crimes, stoning, female general mutilation, and virginity tests. Women researchers and activists did not find a basis for these practices in the Q'uran (Ilkakaracan). Modernization in the 19th and 20th centuries, the foundation of nation-states and the
Ali gives the reader the impression that there must be value in letting go of hatred and acknowledging the better emotions, such as those which are present in the former work by Ali, even if such purity is not the end to our means it is infinitely valuable nonetheless. Eliaz Cohen writes of the universal historical struggles of power and control in the Middle East in Snow. (Cohen NP) Though
Isma'ilis believe only the descendants of Ali and Fatimah can be considered the rightful caliphs. As the center of power weakened in Baghdad, Persian nobles ignored the caliph and established their own kingdoms. Toward the end the Abbasid only had Iraq under their control. In 945 the Buyids invaded Iraq and forced the caliph to recognize their prince, called a sultan, as ruler of Iraq. Another problem started much
Symbolism of the Veil In almost any modern social environment, not dictated by the standards and restrictions associated with a non-secular institution it is difficult for most people, not just women to imagine living life behind the screen of a veil. Though it may seem that this is true only of western states that is just not the case. The reality of the fundamentalist resurgence of the legalism of the Islamic
The Lebanese and the overall middle easterners are known to be strict to their cultural beliefs and practices. Such beliefs and practices dictate every aspect of their lives and how they interact with other people from other cultures across the world as well as other aspects of life that are widely applicable in the contemporary world. This culture has a great impact on the structure and nature of health care
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