Editing Metin Kaçan (section)

== Literary career ==
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Besides ''[[Ağır Roman (novel)|Ağır Roman]]'', Kaçan is also the author of the novel ''[[Fındık Sekiz]]'', a collection of short stories, "A ship to the Islands" (''Adalara Vapur'', Kaçan 2002), and a book written in a mixed style between prose and poetry, entitled "The Tiger at Withdrawal" (''Harman Kaplan'', Kaçan 1999).

Much of Kaçan's writings deals with life in [[Istanbul]], in particular its poor quarter [[Dolapdere]] (not far from [[Taksim Square]]). To Dolapdere, he sarcastically gave the name "[[Cholera]]" (''Kolera'' in Turkish) in ''Ağır Roman'', thereby recalling both its shabbiness and the fact that the great [[Poland|Polish]] poet [[Adam Mickiewicz]] died there from the cholera in 1855. [[Adam Mickiewicz Museum, Istanbul|Mickiewicz Museum]] at Dolapdere, still open to visitors today, figures in "Ağır Roman". The title of this novel plays ingeniously with the [[polysemy]] of the [[Turkish language|Turkish]] word ''Roman'', which means both "[[wikt:gypsy|gypsy]]" and "novel". Also, together with the adjective ''ağır'', which means "heavy" or "slow" in Turkish, ''Roman'' is the designation for a special kind of [[street music]], played by some of the novel's protagonists.

''Ağır Roman'' tells the tragic story of a young hero, who grows up in ''Cholera'' quarter but finally fails and commits suicide. His failure parallels the failure of the quarter itself, whose ancient structures as well as its multi-ethnic and multi-religious composition disintegrate.<ref>See Hess 1998b, Hess 2005</ref>

''[[Fındık Sekiz]]'' tells a story about two cars, that appear sometimes as personified figures, and that take the semi-autobiographical protagonist Meto on a mystical journey. At the same time, Meto's conflict with a woman, who manages to have him thrown into prison through fraudulent statements, is related, which might reflect some of Kaçan's own experiences.<ref>See Kaçan 1997
and Hess 1998b</ref>

Kaçan's style is heavily imbued with Turkish slang. This choice gives his writings a non-conformistic, frequently vulgar, but overall extremely vivid and creative tone, which has been hailed, among others, by Yıldız Ecevit.<ref>Ecevit 2004</ref> Other characteristics of his writing are the personification of natural phenomena
and inanimate items such as cars (in particular in ''[[Fındık Sekiz]]''), autobiographical details (Kaçan grew up in Dolapdere), the blurring of the limitations of poetry and prose, and references to mysticism, in particular Muslim mysticism ([[Sufism]]). His best-selling novel, ''Ağır Roman'' was translated into French by Actes Sud in 2010.