Analysis of a Speech by Elif S,afak
Elif S,afak (pronounced “Shafak”) is an award-successful Turkish novelist and the most extensively read lady writer in Turkey. Writing in each Turkish and English, she has published nine books, seven of which are novels. S,afak’s books have been translated into more than 25 languages.
I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that earlier than coming across her great TED Talk, I was solely vaguely familiar with S,afak from a short e-book evaluation that I had examine one in every of her novels, The Bastard of Istanbul. After listening to her presentation, however, I have made a word to select up one in all her books. She was completely captivating.
See when you agree and then we’ll look at her presentation more closely.
Why is this such a good speak? Listed below are some of the reasons from my perspective:
* S,afak tells stories. Fantastic stories. Private stories. Tales about her childhood; her religious, considerably mystical grandmother; the genesis of her writing career; her international schooling expertise; the 1999 earthquake in Istanbul; being put on trial for one of her novels; and more. However notice how each story has a goal; how every story units the muse for a point that S,afak is making an attempt to make.
* Her mastery of language is terrific. True, S,afak is an writer, so she is aware of methods to wield words. However speaking shouldn't be writing and English is not her mother tongue. Yet we hear gems akin to: “So from the very beginning, fiction for me was less of an autobiographical manifestation than a transcendental journey into different lives, different possibilities.” (5:12 - 5:22) And: “I’m not saying that fiction has the magnitude of an earthquake, however once we’re studying a good novel, we leave our small, cozy apartments behind, exit into the night time alone, and begin attending to know individuals …” (eight:20 - 8:35)
* She makes use of metaphors to bring her message to life. For example, from 2:35 to four:00, she makes use of circles, partitions, “cultural cocoons” and mirrors as a approach of warning us of “communities of the like-minded” and inspiring us to take an curiosity in individuals and issues past our common experiences. Then, at 4:08: “Tales cannot demolish frontiers, but they'll punch holes in our psychological partitions, and through these holes we can get a glimpse of the other and typically even like what we see.” I additionally like her use of a compass as a way to describe her books (16:50 - 17:20).
* She lightens the temper of her talk with intelligent humour at applicable points. In my post, Anatomy of a Humorous Speech, I wrote concerning the power of using “triples” in humour. The concept is to three sentences or phrases, every with the identical cadence or rhythm. However whereas the primary two are severe, the third is unexpected. S,afak uses this system to brilliant impact starting at 6:20 when she talks about three very damaging events for Turkey whereas she was nonetheless at school: a army takeover in the nation, the attempted assassination of the Pope by a Turkish gunman, and Turkey’s horrible showing within the Eurovision Song Contest. Brilliant!
* She makes good eye contact with the members of her audience.
* Her voice is strong.
* She makes use of effectively placed quotes from famous individuals and intriguing historic anecdotes to buttress her points.
* S,afak speaks passionately all through her talk. For me, one particularly poignant moment is when she recounts the story of the conservative grocer sharing his cigarettes with the transvestite and the two of them smoking together in the numbing aftermath of the earthquake in Istanbul (7:35 - eight:15).
* She challenges her audience at the finish of her talk by suggesting that as an alternative of teaching students to “write what they know”, we should always step out of our “cultural ghettoes” and teach them to “write what they feel”.
So how could ElifS,afak make a superb discuss even higher? I have a couple of suggestions:
* Most significantly, I believe that she ought to communicate a bit more slowly. Even though her English is excellent, S,afak does have an accent and generally her pronunciation of words (e.g., “stabbed” and “glue”) shouldn't be easy to follow.
* She ought to pause more between ideas to permit her audience ample time to soak up what she has said. Her words are extremely rich with knowledge and emotion; pausing would enable the viewers to reap the complete good thing about them.
* The concept of circles is vital for S,afak and she or he mentions them in the beginning of her talk. She then shows a slide of dozens of circles of various sizes and colours. I am fairly certain this is the one slide she reveals and it stays up for a few minutes. I feel that S,afak should drop it. We all know what a circle is; she doesn’t want it.
However all in all, a terrific talk and one that was relished by the viewers as is obvious from the instances that the digicam panned throughout the room.
I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that earlier than coming across her great TED Talk, I was solely vaguely familiar with S,afak from a short e-book evaluation that I had examine one in every of her novels, The Bastard of Istanbul. After listening to her presentation, however, I have made a word to select up one in all her books. She was completely captivating.
See when you agree and then we’ll look at her presentation more closely.
Why is this such a good speak? Listed below are some of the reasons from my perspective:
* S,afak tells stories. Fantastic stories. Private stories. Tales about her childhood; her religious, considerably mystical grandmother; the genesis of her writing career; her international schooling expertise; the 1999 earthquake in Istanbul; being put on trial for one of her novels; and more. However notice how each story has a goal; how every story units the muse for a point that S,afak is making an attempt to make.
* Her mastery of language is terrific. True, S,afak is an writer, so she is aware of methods to wield words. However speaking shouldn't be writing and English is not her mother tongue. Yet we hear gems akin to: “So from the very beginning, fiction for me was less of an autobiographical manifestation than a transcendental journey into different lives, different possibilities.” (5:12 - 5:22) And: “I’m not saying that fiction has the magnitude of an earthquake, however once we’re studying a good novel, we leave our small, cozy apartments behind, exit into the night time alone, and begin attending to know individuals …” (eight:20 - 8:35)
* She makes use of metaphors to bring her message to life. For example, from 2:35 to four:00, she makes use of circles, partitions, “cultural cocoons” and mirrors as a approach of warning us of “communities of the like-minded” and inspiring us to take an curiosity in individuals and issues past our common experiences. Then, at 4:08: “Tales cannot demolish frontiers, but they'll punch holes in our psychological partitions, and through these holes we can get a glimpse of the other and typically even like what we see.” I additionally like her use of a compass as a way to describe her books (16:50 - 17:20).
* She lightens the temper of her talk with intelligent humour at applicable points. In my post, Anatomy of a Humorous Speech, I wrote concerning the power of using “triples” in humour. The concept is to three sentences or phrases, every with the identical cadence or rhythm. However whereas the primary two are severe, the third is unexpected. S,afak uses this system to brilliant impact starting at 6:20 when she talks about three very damaging events for Turkey whereas she was nonetheless at school: a army takeover in the nation, the attempted assassination of the Pope by a Turkish gunman, and Turkey’s horrible showing within the Eurovision Song Contest. Brilliant!
* She makes good eye contact with the members of her audience.
* Her voice is strong.
* She makes use of effectively placed quotes from famous individuals and intriguing historic anecdotes to buttress her points.
* S,afak speaks passionately all through her talk. For me, one particularly poignant moment is when she recounts the story of the conservative grocer sharing his cigarettes with the transvestite and the two of them smoking together in the numbing aftermath of the earthquake in Istanbul (7:35 - eight:15).
* She challenges her audience at the finish of her talk by suggesting that as an alternative of teaching students to “write what they know”, we should always step out of our “cultural ghettoes” and teach them to “write what they feel”.
So how could ElifS,afak make a superb discuss even higher? I have a couple of suggestions:
* Most significantly, I believe that she ought to communicate a bit more slowly. Even though her English is excellent, S,afak does have an accent and generally her pronunciation of words (e.g., “stabbed” and “glue”) shouldn't be easy to follow.
* She ought to pause more between ideas to permit her audience ample time to soak up what she has said. Her words are extremely rich with knowledge and emotion; pausing would enable the viewers to reap the complete good thing about them.
* The concept of circles is vital for S,afak and she or he mentions them in the beginning of her talk. She then shows a slide of dozens of circles of various sizes and colours. I am fairly certain this is the one slide she reveals and it stays up for a few minutes. I feel that S,afak should drop it. We all know what a circle is; she doesn’t want it.
However all in all, a terrific talk and one that was relished by the viewers as is obvious from the instances that the digicam panned throughout the room.
