The Last Exit Before the Parallel Universe: The Representation of Hijabi Women in the Novel Sincaplı Gece

Abstract

This paper explores the different meanings attributed to the identity of hijabi woman as represented in Cem Akaş’s novel Sincaplı Gece (2017) in terms of narrative ethics. The hijab used to be examined as the boundary between a woman’s self-identity and how it is represented in Turkish novels that function as a symbol for writers to manifest their political positions. This symbolic role requires the woman protagonist to get through mental, physical, and psychological stages that introduce unveiling as the criteria for abandoning a premodern lifestyle and attaining the modern ideal. The different narrative strategies employed for subversive women characters like Emine (Sincaplı Gece) suggest that the problems of representation do not solely progress chronologically, but multiple dynamics make this open to inner differentiation. In this sense, the problematic identity of the hijab unfolds cultural gender issue.