This book explores the changing understandings of Islam by focusing on the Islamist movement's production of literary fiction since the early 1980s. By focusing on Islamic literary narratives of the period, this study introduces issues of change, space, history and analytical relation that are excluded by the essentialist reading of Islamism.

"Çayir gives us an original and fresh insight to understand the inner workings of Islamic narrative and its transformation from an ideological one in the 1980s to a self-reflexive one in the 1990s." - Nilüfer Göle, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris

"Literature in Islam and its manifold faces is vast. However, Çayir skillfully discloses an unattended subject and identifies an unacknowledged transformation taking place in the Islamist ranks among those few writing Islamist novels in Turkey." - Yesim Arat, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Bogaziçi University, Istanbul

"Islamic Literature in Contemporary Turkey maintains excellent thoroughness and depth of approach. Placed alongside the publication of a number of recent books about Islamist politics, it stands out for its research, integration of theoretical and empirical material, intelligent and considered conclusions." - Christopher Houston, Macquarie University, Sydney

Autorentext
KENAN CAYIR is Assistant Professor of sociology at Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey.

Inhalt
Literature Identity and Politics The Turkish Literary Field: A Space of Struggle over Islam, Secularism, and Modernity Salvation Novels of the 1980s: Islamic Ideal for a Total Islamization of Society Salvation Novels in the Path to Collective Islamic Subjectivity New Novels of the 1990s: A Path to Muslim Subjectivity