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| Thread: A question about national identity and literature | |
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artu
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posted January 13, 2023 07:01 AM |
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Edited by artu at 07:02, 13 Jan 2023.
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A question about national identity and literature
Hi guys, there has been a debate around here, in Turkish the word for the people and language are different. When you say Turk it is the nation/ethnicity, when you say Turkish it is the language. The convention when talking about literature is to define it with the nation, so for instance, talking about German literature, we say Alman Edebiyati, not Almanca Edebiyat. Alman defines the people, Almanca defines the language, Fransiz defines the people, Fransizca defines the language.
When categorizing Turkish literature though, some publication houses dont use the term Türk Edebiyati (literature of Turks) but Türkçe Edebiyat (literature in Turkish), since minorities, mostly Kurds dont want their literature to be called "the literature of Turks" as the convention demands, although it is literature in Turkish, not Kurdish. The nationalists are quite furious about this and claim it is a double standard.
What is the situation in your countries, do you categorize literature over nations or language, such a distinction is kind of non-existent in English (the word French defines both the people and the language) but still, is there some convention, what do ethnic minorities call their own literatures written in mainstream language?
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Drakon-Deus
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Qapla'
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posted January 13, 2023 07:09 AM |
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Hi.
In Romanian we have "literatura romana" and "poporul roman", so it's the same. Romanian literature and Romanian people. Poporul turc, literatura turca, poporul german literatura germana and so on.
There is a different word "romanesc" but that one is only used for things that are made in Romania. e.g. traditional clothes or specific items, foods. Romanesc, turcesc.
I didn't know about the distinction in Turkish.
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JollyJoker
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posted January 13, 2023 08:20 AM |
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No distinction for German.
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Geny
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posted January 13, 2023 09:45 AM |
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I'd say that in both Russian and Hebrew the distinction isn't too apparent, but if it leans more towards nationality. And there examples that don't need to rely on such insignificant distinctions either: American literature is a phrase I'm sure I've heard a lot. On the other hand, Hebrew literature is not a phrase I've encountered too often, unlike Jewish literature or Israeli literature. "Books in Hebrew" - yes, "Hebrew literature" - not so much.
So in the case you're describing, I'd say that the most logical solution would be to call it Kurd literature. By the way, some definition can easily overlap. For example a book over here might be considered both Israeli and Arab literature.
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NimoStar
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posted January 13, 2023 02:03 PM |
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In Latin America you need to use the country or region. Saying "Spanish literature" won't do anything but signal Spain itself.
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artu
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My BS sensor is tingling again
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posted January 13, 2023 02:37 PM |
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Edited by artu at 14:38, 13 Jan 2023.
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@Geny
Well, calling it Kurd literature wouldnt apply because there is not a branch separate enough to be called that. It's like how you can find Bernard Shaw or Oscar Wilde under British Literature because they are from UK and write in English, although they are Irish.
What they call a double standard is this, when you walk through the sections of some bookstores, what you see translates as this:
- Literature of Germans
- Literature of the French
- Literature of Russians
- Literature of Americans
- Literature in Turkish (which was traditionally called Literature of Turks)
I dont think it's a pretty big deal but the nationalist reaction to this is "oh, so we're ashamed to call it literature of the Turks now, why, how is it any different than Literature of Russians, is everybody who writes in Russian ethnically a Russian, why is it all called literature of the Russians then!"
Now, part of the outrage includes the (unchecked) claim that everywhere, the national literature is referred to by the nationality no matter the ethnicity of the writers, so I want to find out if your countries have similar conflicts when it comes to literature and identity.
____________
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Ghost
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Therefore I am
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posted January 13, 2023 04:05 PM |
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purerogue
Known Hero
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posted January 13, 2023 04:36 PM |
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I have no idea what you are talking about.
I suggest you focus on universal truths rather than subjective/local phenomena. Nothing wrong with being a botanist however.
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baronus
Legendary Hero
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posted January 13, 2023 11:13 PM |
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Edited by baronus at 23:14, 13 Jan 2023.
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baronus
In Poland like in Switzerland we have some languages so ethnicity is not a language. question.Gente Ruthenus, natione Polonus
But main country is old medieval Poland and this culture is a parttern so all country is named Poland.
Turkey is other question. We have some turkish countries so its not only one Turkey! We have other Kazakstan Turkmenistan Uzebekistan etc. All of them is turkish stan!
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