DEMELER
1998-1999/2020*
This book, compiled for the 90th birthday of pioneer poet Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt, is a collection of 30 variations on her poems, mostly written between 1998 and 1999 using a Remington Rand typewriter.
Deme is an archaic word that was once introduced as a substitute for the word poetry, but it did not catch on, according to word-collection (derleme) dictionaries. It stands for one of the verse types of folk poetry and Sufi poetry, poems sung with the bağlama during cem. Additionally, word-collection dictionaries include other meanings such as word, phrase, subject, ballad, elegy, lament, stuttering (in the Bolvadin dialect), mute and pulse (in the Ermenek dialect). An interjection denoting incredulity or surprise… It also takes such forms as demece and dimece. Philosophers once used the word “deme” for the word “concept” to promote the purification of Turkish language during the Reform period.
Pre-press work:
Banu Cennetoğlu
Aslı Özdoyuran
Marina Papazyan
Translation: Başak Altın
Graphic Design: Sinan Kılıç, ALEF Editorial Design
Publisher: BAS-İstanbul Sanat Araştırmaları Derneği
Printed with the support of Ayşe Umur.
Printing & Binding: Ofset Filmcilik ve Matbaacılık Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ
*Written on a Remington Rand typewriter.
© Ege Berensel, Winter 2023
ISBN 978-605-72188-0-3
Photos: Atalay Yeni
