A โmasterpiece . . . one of the 20th centuryโs notable literary love stories and cultural watershedsโโfrom Turkeyโs most influential writers (Los Angeles Times)
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A young man comes-of-age in a rapidly-changing Istanbul circa the 1930s, grappling with childhood trauma but finding relief in literature, family, and love
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โThe greatest novel ever written about Istanbul.โ โOrhan Pamuk
Surviving the childhood trauma of his parentsโ untimely deaths in the early skirmishes of World War I, Mรผmtaz is raised and mentored in Istanbul by his cousin Ihsan and his cosmopolitan family of intellectuals. Having lived through the tumultuous cultural revolutions following the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of the early Turkish Republic, each is challenged by the difficulties brought about by such rapid social change.
The promise of modernization and progress has given way to crippling anxiety rather than hope for the future. Fragmentation and destabilization seem the only certainties within the new World where they now find themselves. Mรผmtaz takes refuge in the fading past, immersing himself in literature and music. But when he falls in love with Nuran, a complex woman with demanding relatives, he is forced to confront the challenges of the World at large. Can their love save them from the turbulent times and protect them from disasterโor will inner obsessions, along with powerful social forces seemingly set against them, tear the couple apart?
A Mind at Peace, originally published in 1949 is a magnum opus, a Turkish Ulysses and a lyrical homage to Istanbul. With an innate awareness of how dueling cultural mentalities can lead to the distress of divided selves, Tanpinar gauges this moment in history by masterfully portraying its register on the layered psyches of his Istanbulite characters.