The Behavior of Words
AUTHOR
Efe Duyan
TRANSLATOR
Aron Aji
Efe Duyan translates the silent intention behind our instinctive, urgent need of human expression and connection. Duyan's poetry is based on finding unique linguistic forms that fit the respective content of the poem. Through a visible structure, he combines complex metaphors in a rhythmic way, to integrate the daily language by decontextualizing it, and to construct a network of meaning in the background. He is influenced by the art movements of Futurism, Surrealism, conceptual art, and medieval Middle Eastern poetry as well as the modern conception of functionality in architecture. Some poems, built like houses with architectural intention, draw us in through their overall design, clean fine lines breaking at striking angles, guiding our eyes through carefully defined spaces opening to hallways that irresistibly lead us to unexpected enclosures where natural light plays among the walls breathe life into the lives for which they are intended. Where form and function are inseparable, the space is not merely for dwelling. It asks to be experienced. Physically, materially.
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Aron Aji is a Turkish translator and the President of The American Literary Translators Association. He has translated works by Bilge Karasu, Murathan Mungan, Elif Shafak, and other Turkish writers. He is the Director of MFA in Literary Translation at the University of Iowa.
A poet and architect born in İstanbul in 1980, Efe Duyan is the author of three poetry collections: Sıkça Sorulan Sorular/Frequently Asked Questions (2016), Tek Şiirlik Aşklar/One Poem Stands (2012) and Takas/Swap (2006), and currently teaches the history of architecture at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Editor of a comtemporary poetry anthology, Bir Benden Bir O’ndan (2010) and a member of the editorial board of the acclaimed literature magazine Offline Istanbul, he is the author of a critical essay, “The Construction of Characters in Nâzım Hikmet’s Poetry” (2008).
Duyan's poems have been translated into Bosnian, Czech, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, English, Estonian, French, Greek, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Rumanian, Macedonian, Maltese, Occitan, Slovenian, Ukrainian and Welsh.
His translations into Turkish include poetry collections by Radu Vancu (Romania), Matthias Göritz (Germany) and Lloyd Schwartz (USA).