Step-Mothertongue

"STEP-MOTHERTONGUE is the first book of its kind to bring together scholars, authors and poets of Turkish-Cypriot, Greek-Cypriot, Greek, Turkish and other backgrounds, to consider issues related to national and cultural identity in the Turkish and Greek language literatures, with the intention of creating a new bicommunal and multicultural approach. The book, aims
to create an agenda for a post-national understanding of the literatures and languages of Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey. It studies literature and literary traditions in the two main languages of these three countries through an encompassing, cross-cultural, and comparative perspective that has not been properly endeavoured up to now.

The purpose of this book is to revive and reinvigorate that long tradition of cultural and linguistic contact between Turkishes (in the plural) and Greeks (multiple) written in various forms in the three countries, their surroundings, and diasporas.

Step-Mothertongue's tasks, is not to formalise a new kind of canon, but to question the very idea of canonization in the contexts of both national and multicultural literary discourses. One of the points of this book, is to open more space for literature and poetry in our life, rather
then inventing a new literary canon for the sake of new identity politics.

Mehmet Yashin, Editor

"The essays in this book tell our common story in a global era. I like the design of the volume very much; in particular, the decision to interpolate a selection of poetry seems to be not only appropriate, but rather pointed. I find Step-Mothertongue rich in ideas and an eloquent piece of writing. I hope this book receives the attention it deserves"

Francis Mulhern, Professor in English Literature.

Spring 2000 ISBN:1898253307 Size: 228 x 152mm
Price: £15.99 Paperback Extent: 227pp

For orders please contact: musl1@mdx.ac.uk