London, United Kingdom Apr 17, 2021 (Issuewire.com) - “What type of experience, do you think, would force an individual to leave the country one was born and brought up in, spoke its language, had friends, and knew its every corner by heart?”
‘Leaving One’s Comfort Zone’ tells the story of Gökhan Kutluer, who, with this question in his mind, opts to take the plunge rather than reverting to forever if only’s, who drops everything and leaves, forever altering the course of his life with a tourist visa and a carry-on, who chases his own dreams until there is no place to go and immigrates to Italy.
This striking account of the cities he stumbles across and the social specifics of his migration from his homeland can tempt anyone with eyes and curiosity; it is the story of achieving to leave, of not being able to persist, of not belonging, of statelessness, of struggle, self-exploration, of solitude and loneliness, family affairs and self-recognition.
Since the mid-2000s, “Leaving Turkey” has been a social phenomenon associated with the changing social atmosphere, declining economy (more so in the last few years), and a fear that is associated with state power/violence… Compared to the migration from other Middle Eastern or Post-Colonial African or Asian Countries, the phenomena of “Leaving Turkey” has emerged from and is almost, only contained to the well-educated middle, upper-middle-class who holds the idea of not belonging, not seeing a future in good harmony with their own ideologies…
As it is still an ongoing phenomenon, there aren’t many literary or artistic representations that contribute to this reality. I, myself, am also a Kennismigrant as they call it in Dutch. For these reasons and my own, I believe Gökhan’s novel not only presents as a migrant, auto-fiction literary text; it also engages with this social problem of brain drain from Turkey.
Gökhan addresses a whole generation of well-educated, middle or upper-middle class wanting to leave Turkey, even though remaining subjective and auto-fictional. His engagement with this social problem is hidden in the first chapters of Leaving One’s Comfort Zone. It is not a coincidence that this novel’s Turkish reception was a success. There are a few, in our generations, who have narrated their story of leaving Turkey due to its social chaos.
Links:
* https://www.tplondon.com/product/comfort-zone/
* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57741028-leaving-one-s-comfort-zone
* https://gokhankutluer.com/books/leaving-ones-comfort-zone-the-story-of-a-move-to-italy/
* Author's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gokhankutluer/
Media Contact
Gökhan Kutluer ciao@gokhankutluer.com https://www.tplondon.com/
