July 26, 2024
The Center for Fiction welcomed Ayşegül Savaş, acclaimed author of Walking on the Ceiling and White on White, to discuss her latest work of fiction The Anthropologists. The novel follows Asya and Manu, a couple contemplating the life they want to build together as they go apartment hunting in a foreign city. Asya, a documentarian, films the daily life of the city as she immerses herself in local culture. Her journey with Manu is told through a series of apartment viewings and late-night conversations, as the couple examines their ever-expanding world. Evocative and soulful, the novel is “an acute portrait of the tender frequencies that make a life” (Raven Leilani, author of Luster). Adam Dalva, author of graphic novel Olivia Twist, joined Savaş in conversation. The two discussed The Anthropologists and Savaş’ intimate examination of homebuilding and modern love.
Featured Book
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The Anthropologists
By AYŞEGÜL SAVAŞ
Published by BLOOMSBURY
Asya and Manu are looking at apartments, envisioning their future in a foreign city. What should their life here look like? What rituals will structure their days? Whom can they consider family?
As the young couple dreams about the possibilities of each new listing, Asya, a documentarian, gathers footage from the neighborhood like an anthropologist observing local customs. “Forget about daily life,” chides her grandmother on the phone. “We named you for a whole continent and you’re filming a park.”
Back in their home countries parents age, grandparents get sick, nieces and nephews grow up-all just slightly out of reach. But Asya and Manu’s new world is growing, too, they hope. As they open the horizons of their lives, what and whom will they hold onto, and what will they need to release?
Unfolding over a series of apartment viewings, late-night conversations, last rounds of drinks and lazy breakfasts, The Anthropologists is a soulful examination of homebuilding and modern love, written with Ayşegül Savaş’ distinctive elegance, warmth, and humor
In Conversation
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Ayşegül Savaş
Ayşegül Savaş
Ayşegül Savaş is the author of the acclaimed novels Walking on the Ceiling and White on White. Her work has been translated into six languages and has appeared in the New Yorker, the Paris Review, Granta, and elsewhere. She lives in Paris.
Photo Credit: MAKS OVSJANIKOV
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Adam Dalva
Adam Dalva
Adam Dalva’s writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the Paris Review, the New York Review of Books, and the Atlantic. He serves on the board of the National Book Critics Circle and is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Rutgers University.
Photo Credit: BEOWULF SHEEHAN
