Pinhan: A Hidden Gem, Humble and Precious - Turkish
In the footsteps of souls who wait with grace, knowing that they are different and valuable instead of being overly spectacular
There are some literary miracles that one wishes to have learned an entire language for the sake of reading those pieces in their original words. I know such novels in Turkish, my mother tongue; Pinhan by Elif Shafak is one of them.
Pinhan is her first novel and hasn’t been translated into English so far, as far as I know. By the way, I doubt it would be translated properly since its magic is mostly hidden in the linguistic manner, which highly contributes to forming the atmosphere and the choice of words as much as the tale itself. Pinhan had made me feel excited and pleased that I was introduced to a talented author as a literature lover.
Pinhan is a character who is outstanding and desperately finding a nest, a place to belong. Born as a hermaphrodite, Pinhan’s journey is extraordinary and needing courage knowing that he tries to find his way in a conservative society, a dervish lodge and later a closed, traditional district.
The novel includes many words which we rarely use in daily Turkish but they are so special and hidden gems so I'm now re-reading Pinhan with pleasure after almost a decade. Even you can’t read Turkish, I would highly recommend you read it if it’s translated into English or your native language.
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The word pinhan came to Turkish from Persian (pinhān.) Sharing an ancient history together with Persians, Arabics, Greeks and many other societies and living in a mutual region gave way to many interactions. As a result, Turkish has countless words originating from those languages. Pinhan is a lovely one of them.
Pinhan means something different and precious but hidden from eyes.
Imagine some sort of cafe in a crowded city, which is nested within a lovely garden, not known by everyone, and you don’t prefer to mention it in order to avoid making it famous by word of mouth. This is a real pinhan. A small library is a pinhan also, or a special artist who lives by their art but don't prefer standing in front of crowds to flatter their ego.
The philosophy of pinhan sounds truly wise to me. In the present era where promotion of any kind stands everywhere as an inevitable part of our lives somehow, the rareness of hidden gems are more remarkable. The wisdom of crowds is a phenomenon, no suspect, but sometimes those crowds’ delusion make something truly precious.
I’m one of those annoying characters who dislikes what is popular.
I adore New Balance for years but when its some models became popular I suddenly began to observe some new-born problems with New Balance and tried to find some other brands nobody cares. It’s the same with almost anything. If something is popular, it’s something to immediately leave for me. Sally Rooney —I’m going to read her lastest novel Intermezzo as soon as I finish Elif Shafak’s Pinhan— and Murakami are exceptions in literature. No matter how popular they are I treat them as valuable as my other hidden gems.
I admit to being odd about this. Perhaps I have ego issues, or I refuse to be a member of a characterless crowd pushed by ultra-profitable big brothers.
At the end of the day, those are the ones we remember with love and gratefulness and feel that they are distinguishing souls deep within our hearts. I can see your respectfully smiling faces remembering at least one such person, and knowing this make me more hopeful.
I wish you a great week that you discover at least one pinhan, hidden gem, or remember and visit that one which you haven't seen for a long time.
— Gulsun
We are made of stories—that is, of words.
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Hitting simply ❤️ at the top or bottom or leaving a comment will let me know about your thoughts and feelings, which is so valuable to me.
Great article, thank you. And thank you for my newest vocabulary word, pinhan.
With your permission, I would like to add "Hitting simply ❤️ at the top or bottom or leaving a comment will let me know about your thoughts and feelings, which is so valuable to me." slightly reworded, to my Substack posts. Thank you.