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Literature

Waiting for Fear

Oğuz Atay

Cevvela
Literature

Waiting for Fear

Oğuz Atay · İletişim Yayınları · 1975

7
Cevvela Score
7.3 (1.395 oy)
Reader Score

Summary

A collection of poignant, ironic, and absurd stories that explore the alienation of the individual in the process of modernization, their loneliness amid the crowds, and how they both mock their own fears (their lack of identity) and become trapped by them.

Cevvela Comment

Atay sets fire, one by one, to those hollow prisons that people build within themselves. The man in the story “Waiting for Fear” cannot leave his home simply because he received a threatening letter from a secret cult; he imprisons himself—yet the enemy is not outside, but within his mind. It is the literary reflection of Cevvela’s command to “awaken the gem silenced by fear.” The book tells us this: a person can paralyze themselves with the fears they’ve invented, without even needing an actual enemy. You’ll realize that the excuses and false fears you’ve invented to avoid taking risks in your life don’t actually protect you—on the contrary, they cause you to wither away in your own home. To wait for fear is death itself.

Quotes from Cevvela

“Ben buradayım sevgili okuyucum, sen neredesin acaba?”
“İnsan, ancak kendi korkularıyla yüzleştiği an kendini ciddiye almaya başlar.”
“Dünyanın bütün kötülükleri, kendi köşesine sinmiş korkakların eylemsizliğinden beslenir.”
“Oyun oynadığımızı sanıyoruz, oysa oyun bizi oynuyor.”
“Korkuyu beklemek, asıl korkunun ta kendisidir.”

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Reading threshold

Two reflection prompts to note while reading — you do not need to answer them.

  1. What single question would you ask yourself before and after this book?

  2. After finishing, which line or scene stayed with you — and why?

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