Forgotten pasts, controlled present: an analysis of power in contemporary Turkish dystopian fiction

This article examines the relationship between crisis and power in Turkish dystopian fiction. Focusing on Zülfü Livaneli’s Last Island (2008), Oya Baydar’s The General of the Garbage Dump (2009), and Mehveş Evin’s The Hotel at the Edge of the World (2022), it argues that these narratives portray crises as a political condition in which sovereign authority and biopower converge. Drawing on the ideas of Foucault and Agamben, the article shows that crises legitimize suspension of law, construction of enemies, and reorganization of social space. In doing so, it contributes to debates on dystopian fiction’s reimagining of political authority through the intertwined logics of biopolitics and sovereignty.