The Gaze - Softcover

Shafak, Elif

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141048948 ISBN 13: 9780141048949

Publisher: Viking, 2010

Synopsis

Winner of the Union of Turkish Writers' Best Novel Prize, Elif Shafak explores what it is to look and be looked at in the humorous and carnivalesque novel The Gaze.

An obese woman and her lover, a dwarf, are sick of being stared at wherever they go and so decide to reverse roles. The man goes out wearing make-up and the woman draws a moustache on her face.

This elegant, unforgettable novel explores our desire to look at others.

'Beautifully evoked' The Times

'Original and compelling' TLS

Elif Shafak has emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in both English and Turkish contemporary literature; her novels, The Bastard of Istanbul, The Flea Palace, The Forty Rules of Love, and Honour, are consistently at the top of bestseller lists across the globe. Elif Shafak's examination of national identity, The Happiness of Blond People is available as part of the Penguin Specials series - a digital only series of shorts designed with commuters in mind.

About this title

About the Author

Elif Shafak is one of today's most influential international writers and intellectuals who straddle East and West. She is the acclaimed author of ten novels including The Architect's Apprentice and The Bastard of Istanbul, and is the most widely read female writer in Turkey. Her work has been translated into over forty languages and she has been awarded the prestigious Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. She is also a public speaker, a women's and LGBT rights activist and a commentator who regularly contributes to world publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel and La Repubblica. Elif has been longlisted for the Orange Prize, the Baileys Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award, and shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the Ondaatje Prize. She lives in London and can be found at www.elifshafak.com.

From the Back Cover

'The best author to come out of Turkey in the last decade' Orhan Pamuk

This elegant yet challenging novel explores the damage which can be inflicted by our simple desire to look at others.

An obese woman and her lover, a dwarf, are sick of being stared at wherever they go, and so decide to reverse roles. The man goes out wearing make up and the woman draws a moustache on her face. Intertwined with their story are entries from the mythological Dictionary of Gazes, and tales of a bizarre freak-show in Istanbul in the 1880s.

'Plays with ideas of beauty and ugliness like they're Rubik's cubes.' Helen Oyeyemi, author of The Icarus Girl

'Original and compelling' TLS

Translated from the Turkish by Brendan Freely

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0141048948
• ISBN 13: 9780141048949
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272