Princeton University Department

and Program in Near Eastern Studies and

Light Millennium present

ADALET AĞAOĞLU

In a Discussion of her novel:

SUMMER’S END

(In Turkish & English)

Moderated by Robert P. Finn,
Princeton University

Narrated by an author on vacation among the classical ruins of the ancient city of Side on the Mediterranean coast in Turkey, Summer’s End provides an intricate picture of a large cross-section of modern Turkish society. The novel offers a complex multi-dimensional and multi-leveled view of cultural values, politics, sexuality, and personal dilemmas. Taking place in an Eastern Mediterranean town at the end of the ’70s, the novel deals with issues springing from modernization and social conflict. While transporting the reader to a region with unmatched natural beauty and historical and mythological richness, Ağaoğlu analyzes her characters, affected by the political upheaval in the country at the time, as they struggle to find meaning in their lives. Summer’s End is one of the most celebrated works by Adalet Ağaoğlu, widely considered to be one of the principal novelists of our time.

Adalet Ağaoğlu was born in 1929, Ağaoğlu first achieved prominence as a playwright, writing for various theaters during the ’50s and ’60s. In the early ’70s, she began writing novels; the first, Lying Down to Die (1973), was heralded as a groundbreaking departure from the classical Turkish novel, and her first short story book, High Tension (1975), won the Story Award of the year. She has continued winning major prizes in Turkey ever since. Ağaoğlu was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature by Ohio State University in 1998.

April 28, 2009

4:30pm

100 Jones Hall