Ahmet Celal, an officer in the Ottoman army, loses his right arm as the result of a bullet wound while fighting in the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. After the war, he returns to Istanbul, which is now occupied by Allied forces comprised of British, French, and Italian troops. He moves into a mansion in Istanbul which he inherited from his father. Although he is well-educated and at home in the culturally rich city, he feels alienated and lonely, as he’s cruelly taunted and teased in Istanbul society because of his disability, and he dreams of moving to the countryside. When one of his lieutenants offers to let him live with him and his family in a village in central Anatolia, he jumps at the chance. However, once he takes up residence in the village, which turns out to be far more impoverished and primitive than even he’d imagined, once again he’s treated like an outcast—not because of his missing arm, but because he’s a “stranger.” When the Greek army invades Anatolia, he’s horrified to find that the villagers are completely indifferent to the idea of resisting and establishing a Turkish state. In the meantime, he falls in love with a village girl who also spurns him because he’s an outsider. The text of Yaban, which is in fact the journal of Ahmet Celal, artfully weaves together the themes of nationalism, loneliness, and existential despair against the stark backdrop of the vast, barren Anatolian plains.
Ahmet Celal, an officer in the Ottoman army, loses his right arm as the result of a bullet wound while fighting in the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. After the war, he returns to Istanbul, which is now occupied by Allied forces comprised of British, French, and Italian troops. He moves into a mansion in Istanbul which he inherited from his father. Although he is well-educated and at home in the culturally rich city, he feels alienated and lonely, as he’s cruelly taunted and teased in Istanbul society because of his disability, and he dreams of moving to the countryside. When one of his lieutenants offers to let him live with him and his family in a village in central Anatolia, he jumps at the chance. However, once he takes up residence in the village, which turns out to be far more impoverished and primitive than even he’d imagined, once again he’s treated like an outcast—not because of his missing arm, but because he’s a “stranger.” When the Greek army invades Anatolia, he’s horrified to find that the villagers are completely indifferent to the idea of resisting and establishing a Turkish state. In the meantime, he falls in love with a village girl who also spurns him because he’s an outsider. The text of Yaban, which is in fact the journal of Ahmet Celal, artfully weaves together the themes of nationalism, loneliness, and existential despair against the stark backdrop of the vast, barren Anatolian plains.
