The Role of the Intellectual in Contemporary Turkish Women's Narratives

In her article "The Role of the Intellectual in Contemporary Turkish Women's Narratives" Adile Aslan analyzes the figure of the woman intellectual in two of the most widely praised novels written in Turkish, Adalet Agaoglu's 1971 Olmeye Yatmak (Lying Down to Die) and Leyla Erbil's 1985 Karanligin Gunu (The Day of Darkness). Aslan discusses how the two authors represent in their texts intertwined personal histories with political history. The novels present, as well as surmount the obstacles that the current socio-historical conditions impose on people in general and intellectuals in particular and how these circumstances have a bearing on their private and public lives.