"Shamampires" of Istanbul: Edouard Roditi’s Multiethnic Imaginary

Edouard Roditi (1910–92) remains a largely overlooked figure in Comparative and Jewish literature, despite his contributions to modernist writing, translation, and queer history. A multilingual Sephardic Jewish intellectual of Ottoman descent who penned a book on Oscar Wilde, translated Cavafy and Pessoa, and befriended Chagall and Kokoschka during his time in Europe, it is not easy to categorize Roditi’s works for they stand at the intersection of multiple literary and cultural traditions. In this talk, Ipek will examine Roditi’s short story “The Vampires of Istanbul” as a rich site for exploring queerness, Jewish identity, and Turkish literary history. She will show how the story uses Gothic elements to interrogate Istanbul’s Sephardic Jewish community, addressing themes of displacement, historical erasure, and spectral longing.

Ipek Sahinler is a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin, with degree expected in April 2026. Her dissertation is about the Queer Global South, particularly the intersections between modern Turkish and Mexican literature. Her writings have appeared in the Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, Culture, Theory and Critique, World Literature Today, Middle Eastern Literatures, and Routledge’s Global Perspectives Series. Since 2020, she runs the virtual, open-to-all, international literary platform “Turkish Literature in Translation Reading Group” alongside its adjacent podcast called “LiteraTurca" (literaturcapodcast.com).

This talk is part of the Graduate Student Lunch Colloquium Series.

Lunch provided for those who RSVP in by Monday, February 16th.

Also check out other Arts events in Austin, Literary Art events in Austin.