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The victory of the young religious politicians of the Justice and Development Party in 2002 and their new pro-European Union stance was proceded by the emergence of new Islamic intellectual, autobiographical, and literary accounts in the 90s. This book explores the changing understandings of Islam by focusing on the Islamist movement’s production of literary fiction since the early 1980s. It contextualizes a close reading of exemplary novels within broader developments in Turkish society. The study sheds light on how the politics of gender, collective identity, idealism, and individual aspirations in a modern context are expressed, generated, and revised through literature.
“Çayir gives us an original and fresh insight to understand the inner workings of Islamic narrative and its transformation from an ideological one in the 1980s to a self-reflexive one in the 1990s.”—Nilüfer Göle, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris
“Literature in Islam and its manifold faces is vast. However, Çayir skillfully discloses an unattended subject and identifies an unacknowledged transformation taking place in the Islamist ranks among those few writing Islamist novels in Turkey.”—Yesim Arat, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Bogaziçi University, Istanbul
“Islamic Literature in Contemporary Turkey maintains excellent thoroughness and depth of approach. Placed alongside the publication of a number of recent books about Islamist politics, it stands out for its research, integration of theoretical and empirical material, intelligent and considered conclusions.”—Christopher Houston, Macquarie University, Sydney
Kenan Çayir is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Istanbul Bilgi University. His research focuses on Islamic movements and human rights education.
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