Writing in Red: Literature and Revolution across Turkey and the Soviet Union, Nergis Ertürk. Columbia University Press, 2024. 360 pp.: ISBN 9780231214858

Year 2025, Issue: 9, 489 - 492, 23.10.2025

Berfin Çiçek

https://doi.org/10.64957/nesir.1804453

Abstract

In Writing in Red: Literature and Revolution across Turkey and the Soviet Union (2024), Nergis Ertürk examines the impact of Soviet artistic forms on Turkish literature during the 1920s, 1940s, and 1960s. She explores not only the works of prominent figures such as Nâzım Hikmet and Vâlâ Nureddin but also highlights the contributions of lesser-studied writers and artists like Suat Derviş and Abidin Dino, who engaged with Marxist literary aesthetics in Turkey. Ertürk closely reads the literary works and delves into the historical and political relationships between the Turkish Republic and the Soviet Union. While Ertürk provides a critical analysis through close engagement with the texts, she also situates the literary networks within their broader historical and political contexts. In this way, her book adopts an interdisciplinary approach to literary and cultural studies, combining the sociology of literature with historicization and close reading, treating narrative as a vital source for exploring cultural and political history.

Keywords

Marxist literary aesthetics , Soviet influence on Turkish literature , Nâzım Hikmet , Mikhail Bakhtin , Suat Derviş , Vala Nureddin

Supporting Institution

This research was supported by the Hall-Ammerer Fellowship, awarded by the University of Washington.

Thanks

I would like to thank Prof. Selim Sırrı Kuru for his valuable critical contributions during the text analyses. In this study, artificial intelligence-supported tools were used to a limited extent within the acceptable boundaries defined in Nesir: Journal of Literary Studies’ Artificial Intelligence Use Policy; all content has been reviewed and approved in its final form by the author.

Writing in Red: Literature and Revolution across Turkey and the Soviet Union, Nergis Ertürk. Columbia University Press, 2024. 360 pp.: ISBN 9780231214858

Abstract

"Writing in Red: Literature and Revolution across Turkey and the Soviet Union (Columbia University Press, 2024) adlı eserinde Nergis Ertürk, 1920’ler, 1940’lar ve 1960’larda Sovyet sanatsal biçimlerinin Türk edebiyatı üzerindeki etkisini inceler. Ertürk yalnızca Nazım Hikmet ve Vala Nureddin gibi önde gelen isimlerin eserlerine odaklanmakla kalmaz, aynı zamanda Türkiye’de Marksist edebiyat estetiğiyle ilişki kuran Suat Derviş ve Abidin Dino gibi daha az çalışılmış yazar ve sanatçıların katkılarını da öne çıkarır. Yazar, edebî metinleri yakından çözümleyerek Türkiye Cumhuriyeti ile Sovyetler Birliği arasındaki tarihsel ve siyasal ilişkileri derinlemesine ele alır. Metinlerle kurduğu yakın ilişki üzerinden eleştirel bir analiz sunan Ertürk, edebiyat ağlarını daha geniş tarihsel ve siyasal bağlamları içinde konumlandırır. Böylece eser, anlatıyı kültürel ve siyasal tarihi araştırmak için temel bir kaynak olarak ele alarak edebiyat ve kültür çalışmalarına disiplinler arası bir yaklaşım kazandırır; edebiyat sosyolojisini tarihsel bağlama yerleştirme ve yakından okuma yöntemleriyle birleştirir."

Keywords

Marksist edebiyat estetiği , Sovyet etkisinde Türk edebiyatı , Nâzım Hikmet , Mihail Bahtin , Suat Derviş , Vala Nureddin

References

• Nuri, Ahmed. 2024. “Writing in Red: Literature and Revolution across Turkey and the Soviet Union, by Nergis Ertürk.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 56 (3): 559–62. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743824000928