#bihter

[gece1g]

Rahat uyu Bihter Ziyagil, dünyanın en korkak adamını sadece sen sevmedin..🥀

[bihters]

[noovva]

Beren Saat 💕

[muregunes]

Last Call for İstanbul - Serin&Mehmet

[sanimainan]

[sadeceanlamayacalis]

sevdiğin adam önce seni aşka inandırıp sonra başkasına varmış dayanabilirsen dayan bihter ziyagil ...

[julyzaa]

having just read the novel, the bihter movie is the 2022 persuasion of the book, for fucks sake Bihter wasn't a vapid and selfish twat, she had actual substance, tried to love adnan and actually cared for Nihal until the whole Behlul thing.

[literatureismyentirepersonality]

What thoughts do you have on Nihal as a passive character versus Bihter as an active one?

I've been putting off answering this because I'm honestly a little unsure.

It's true that Nihal doesn't outwardly become active in the plot, but her internal world is hardly that of a passive character. In a text that is so psychological, Nihal's active internal rebellion against the changes Bihter brings may be more important than her external passivity.

I might also challenge that external passivity. When Nihal does affect the plot, it is usually by illness or emotion that has 'happened' to her. But has it simply 'happened'? She is highly in control of her own internal world:

Determining her own innocence

Controlled repression

Finally (but not exhaustively), there is her setting herself out to die at the close of the novel, determining to be ill to make others sorry and mysteriously fulfilling this through her faint.

Her psychological self control is so complete that it is barely conscious.

Nihal's passivity is almost calculated— but then it seems cruel to construe a teenage girl's actions and thoughts as such.

Bihter is ostensibly active in her choices, but her submission to convention, even the conventions of unconvention, could render her a passive character. Of course the young wife seeks love in another; of course she makes changes to the household; of course she seeks to protect her secret; of course she determines to escape even to death. In fact, as Nihal gains internal power, Bihter seems to lose it, ceasing to resist the evil stepmother convention that she has thus far avoided to the best of her abilities.

Both these women are strong agents in the novel, over either internal or external worlds. What does interest me is the ostensible passivity of Adnan Bey, oblivious or ignoring of most of the drama, but really the only character with complete agency— the agency to determine the marriage in the first place, to put Bihter and Behlül in fear of their lives, to employ and dismiss servants, to decide the manner of Nihal's upbringing.

He is the most powerful agent in the text and yet he so rarely exerts his power that it is easy to forget how much of the novel's events are caused by his activities or passivities. He married Bihter. He raised Nihal in that insular environment (Mlle de Courton cannot fully hold the blame— he employed her). He then insidiously fades into the background so that Nihal and the reader may blame everyone but him. I have not often enough thought about the problematic nature of Adnan Bey.

[blondeadx]

Tabii siz anneleri tarafından size emanet edilen çocukları her bakımdan yetersiz gördüğünüz bir kadının annelik etmesine şiddetle karşısınız ama...

[coalaspy]

[enderinlerindebiryerde]

[bihters]

[faintingheroine]

Hiii, I've started Aşk-ı Memnu (in the Italian translation) ! At the beginning of the novel there's an introduction of the translator that picked my attention because it brought up some points that I remember from your posts, namely the fact that Halit Ziya took inspiration from the usual conflict between the ""sexually active"" brunette vs the pretty delicate blonde girl, but with a new and particular attention to the psychology of the characters, and that the conflict between Nihal and her stepmother is also given a new depth and it's far from being the same we're used to in the snow white fairytales (the translator mentioned this tale specifically). The translator name is Cristiano Bedin if you're interested ! I thought of you in reading the introduction

Hi!

I actually got a free sample of the Italian translation and read Bedin’s introduction via Google Translate, yes that’s the level of my dedication to this book. I think it is a very good introduction: It gives the necessary historical and biographical background and its assessments on the book and the characters are fair and accurate. I was pleasantly surprised by the Snow White reference since it is not that common a comparison in Aşk-ı Memnu criticism. I mean maybe I shouldn’t be surprised since Berna Moran mentions Nardaniye Hanım (the Turkish variant of Snow White) in his famous essay on the novel, but I still was surprised by Bedin mentioning it.

I hope the translation is readable and I hope you will have fun reading the book. But even if you hate it, it will be interesting to hear your perspective :)

[noovva]

Beren Saat x Vogue film 🖤

[muregunes]

Beren Saat & Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ | Last Call of İstanbul