The Enduring Power of Shakespeare
Prof. Bülent Bozkurt, who served as dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Letters and chair of the Department of English Language and Literature from 1986 to 2005, was recently welcomed again at the university, where he presented a talk hosted by his former department. On November 7 in C-Block Auditorium, Prof. Bozkurt, a distinguished translator, drama critic and writer, spoke on the topic of "Shakespeare's Eternal Lines and Intriguing Characters."
He started his presentation by mentioning the sports page of a newspaper, which referred to a "To Be or Not to Be Match," as an apt illustration of the way lines from Shakespeare have endured
Photograph by Bikem Ahıska (IR/I)
and remain part of everyday discourse even today. Prof. Bozkurt then focused on what makes the characters in such plays as "Hamlet," "Macbeth" and "King Lear" tragic and why they are still memorable. Numerous quotations from Shakespeare -- including, from Sonnet 18, "When in eternal lines to time thou growst" -- provided the basis for a profound analysis of the human condition and its sufferings. After the talk, Prof. Bozkurt responded to the many comments and questions from the appreciative audience.
By Meryam Tuğba Pekşen (ELIT/IV)