Un-Silencing the Past: A Juxtaposition of Personal and Political in Elif Shafak’s Novel, The Bastard of Istanbul

Abstract

This paper explores the thematic aspect of bastard and the alternative spaces present in the novel to show how Armenian genocide is addressed and unsilenced    from the censorship of the State. The juxtaposition of the Armenian issue with the tribulations of ‘Kazanci’ family is argued as a metaphorical and personalised account of Armenian genocide. Such an engagement with the past has been made possible by bringing political and personal together in the form of a family in Istanbul and a family in America; one belonging to a Muslim majority and the other belonging to an Armenian religious minority.