ARTS AND CULTURE
By Seda Caykara Şen RC 96
Behçet Demircan has published two books, a novel called İffet Abla (Sister İffet, Cinius), and his memoir, Hatıralar (Memories). In his memoir, he writes that he has always had a love for literature, especially poetry. He says that he has always sought solace in poetry during hard times and has intended to express his feelings through poetry.
İffet Abla is a novel about the pain of loneliness and man’s quest to find love. This main theme revolves around many characters in the book. Written in a very realistic style, the characters, their pain and their sadness hit the reader hard but at the same time it’s very easy to find something familiar for everyone in their experiences. Demircan’s love for poetry manifests itself in the rich use of metaphors in his writing. This is a very active novel for creating imagery in the minds of the reader.
In Hatıralar Behçet Demircan shares his personal, familial and corporate life in a very frank manner. Starting from his childhood days in Bakırköy, this is also a nostalgic journey through Istanbul. The honesty of the memoir is really to be appreciated as it is not as easy to openly talk about one’s pain and hardships in life, as it is to talk about success and happiness. Behçet Demircan takes us through all he has experienced openly, reminding his readers that this is probably what beauty of life is.
Published July 2022
