ROSETTA_MAGAZINE_201303

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Gülsüm Cengiz
LITERATURE AND LIFE - OR MY READERS
AND ME
By Gülsüm Cengiz Turkey
Nowadays, computers and other
innovative communication means are part
of our daily lives. These developments in
technology have also affected literature,
in addition to all other fields of life. People
can access the literary publications
through the Internet and also share
their writings with others. But, the
imperialist forces and their ideologists
which dominate the world also want to
control this communication web. Cultural
growth occurs together with political and
military expansion. They impose upon
us degeneration and try to destroy local
and national cultural features. Given the
process of alienating people and their
lives towards each other, evaluating the
relationship between literature and life,
and here both writer and reader seem to
be of major importance.
Before I begin, I would like to relate an
experience I had when I attended a school
discussion. During the questions section
of the discussion, a 10 year old girl asked;
“How do you feel as a writer in this country
in which the readership rate is so low?”
I answered her by saying, “Because you
have asked me this question, I am not
hopeless and do not feel bad!”
But, that child was right in her question.
On the one hand, writers may face the
challenges of both low distribution rates
alongside the dominance of the “best-
selling author” approach. These create
hardships for many writers to reach their
target readers. Today publication is just like
any other commerce and books are objects
of consumption. However books are not
like other consumable products. Reading
itself is a two-fold action: The text finds
life in the reader and reproduces itself in
his/her imagination. On the other hand,
the writer contributes to the development
of the feelings and thoughts of the reader.
Also a book is not discarded after once
being read. It can be passed on from one
to another, and therefore has the ability to
affect many readers.
During the 80’s and later there were so many
chaotic situations. Is this a correct term
or does the author mean to write chaotic
books, which do not consider the people
together with life and environment? Were
there talks about individual crisis, ignoring
the time-place-human components, and
were they written in accordance with the
New World Order? Bookshops are filled
with such books, fitting for market economy
and written with subjects and formats
determined by publishers and bestseller
lists, instead of literature recognising vital
concerns. Sales of such books escalated
making them attractive to publishers and
this situation still continues, with changing
trends over time.
On this subject, I want to share my
observations during my visit to The
Bologna Children’s Book Fair, 2004. It
was at the time when the Harry Potter
and Lord of the Rings series and movies
were spreading all over the world. Whilst
browsing at the Fair, I saw many books
for children and youth about magic and
witches. At that time, I asked myself if
these subjects were really a choice of the
writers or topics which the publishers had
imposed on them. Writing books in line
with current fashion trends and market
conditions destroys the independence of
the writer.
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In this respect, we should study the
word “reader”. Can we talk about “real”
motivated readers? Surely, “motivated”
is a positive term – maybe “designer”
reader be a better term to use) The ”real”
readers decide for themselves on why to
buy which particular book, follow the works
of favourite writers, recommend selected
books to others; the” real” reader does
not consume the book but he perceives,
internalizes and personalizes the text in
the book.
A motivated reader is one who is influenced
by the powerful means of the publication
monopolies, the best-seller system,
newspaper and television promotions,
street posters and national/ international
award listings. In other words, he/she is a
book-buyer as opposed to text-perceiver.
For these readers other elements are more
important than the actual text content; such
as private life details of the author, tabloid
magazine news about the book or its writer,
best- selling chart and topping trends etc.
This type of reader can be found in the big
chain city bookstores and at signature days
organised in shopping malls.
But we are talking here about the
conscious, “real” reader who I would like
to reach and share my experiences with.
Life is so rich and astonishing. We face
the most unanticipated events at the least
expected times. I wish to share a few
examples of these encounters which many