ABSTRACT
In a world where skyscrapers dominate urban landscapes, vast areas are deforested and natural resources are exploited without consideration for the consequences, Murathan Mungan’s Şairin Romanı (The Poet’s Novel) almost reads, at first glance, like some kind of fantastic fiction which wants to escape the present condition of the world and rather hide in some imaginary preindustrialized alternative reality. The novel starts with the arrival of the poet Bendag on the so-called continent, a place which appears very much like medieval Asia, although Mungan takes great care to also include details pointing at contemporary Turkish culture. The description of the poet Bendag and the critic Mottah associate them with ancient China and the teachings in the Tao Te Ching, but with the introduction of the detective Gamenn, the novel takes on features of the detective novel. Detective fiction, however, is a relatively new genre and moreover, it is a typical product of Western culture. Taking these various features into consideration, it follows that the continent, as it is called in the novel, plays the role modern Turkey feels inclined to play, namely the role of providing a bridge between East and West and between the past and the present. It is exactly in the confrontation between East and West, and past and present that the portrayal of nature represents a criticism in the novel.
