TURKEY AND THE TURKS IN MID-CENTURY BRITISH THRILLERS

Year 2023, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 1 - 12, 17.01.2023

Erik Jan Zurcher

Abstract

Between 1932 and 1962 six huge successful thrillers were published in Britain, whose action was set at least partly in Turkey. As each of the novels in question also formed the basis for a popular film, one could expect them to play an important role in shaping perceptions of Turkey in the English-speaking world at a time when international travel was still the prerogative of the few and first-hand experience of Turkey was rare. As this article shows, however, this was not the case and there were two main reasons for this: the books featured Turkey as a device to attract readers through exoticism rather than because of any real interest in the country, and the descriptions of Turkey and the Turks relied heavily on older stereotypes inherited from late Ottoman days. That said, there were significant differences between them.

Keywords

Turkey, History, Literature

References

• Graham Greene, Stamboul Train, London: Heinemann, 1932.
• Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express, London: Harper Collins, 2017 [original: London: Collins, 1934).
• Eric Ambler, The Mask of Dimitrios, London: Penguin, 2009 [original: London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1939]
• Eric Ambler, Journey into Fear, London: Penguin, 2009 [original: London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1940]
• Ian Fleming, From Russia with Love, London: Vintage, 2012 [original: London: Jonathan Cape, 1957]
• Eric Ambler, The Light of Day, London: The Reprint Society, 1964 [original: London: Heinemann, 1962]