Valor

“A feast of lyric and legend, Valor: Stories depicts mythical and metaphorical battles about the coming of age, love, rivalry, loss, and perseverance. With roots extending into Anatolia, this collection resonates with the question, ‘Can one who doesn’t believe in stories believe in reality?’ Mungan’s intimate, poetic prose is majestically translated into English for the first time by Aji and Gramling.” —Erdağ Göknar, translator of Orhan Pamuk’s My Name Is Red

“When it was first published in 1986, Valor became a turning point in Turkish Literature for two reasons. First, it formulated stories of power relations in male to male relationships in the form of connected tales and in an unprecedented manner. Second, in Valor Murathan Mungan refreshed the Turkish language drawing on the language of old Turkic tales and masters of modern Turkish radical fiction. With their impeccable translation, Aji and Gramling are able to reflect the freshness Mungan brought into Turkish literature, and they present a timeless text that complicates ideas of love, friendship, desire, and sexuality.” —Selim S. Kuru, University of Washington