Bondi Literary Salon February Book Club: The Time Regulation Institute

Join the Bondi Literary Salon for our February book club, hosted by Simon Pearce! In our gathering, we will be discussing Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar's Turkish classic, The Time Regulation Institute.

WHEN: Thursday, 29th February 2024, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore, please arrive at 6.45 pm for a prompt 7 pm start.

TICKETS: Admission; $25.00 (excluding external fees). Your ticket includes a drink on arrival and nibbles during the evening.

A literary discovery: an uproarious tragicomedy of modernization, in its first-ever English translation

About The Time Regulation Institute

Perhaps the greatest Turkish novel of the twentieth century, being discovered around the world only now, more than fifty years after its first publication, The Time Regulation Institute is an antic, freewheeling send-up of the modern bureaucratic state.
 
At its center is Hayri Irdal, an infectiously charming antihero who becomes entangled with an eccentric cast of characters—a television mystic, a pharmacist who dabbles in alchemy, a dignitary from the lost Ottoman Empire, a “clock whisperer”—at the Time Regulation Institute, a vast organization that employs a hilariously intricate system of fines for the purpose of changing all the clocks in Turkey to Western time. Recounted in sessions with his psychoanalyst, the story of Hayri Irdal’s absurdist misadventures plays out as a brilliant allegory of the collision of tradition and modernity, of East and West, infused with a poignant blend of hope for the promise of the future and nostalgia for a simpler time.

About the Author

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar (1901-1962) is considered one of the most significant Turkish novelists of the twentieth century. Also a poet, short-story writer, essayist, literary historian, and professor, he created a unique cultural universe in his work, combining a European literary voice with the Ottoman sensibilities of the Near East.

About the Host

Hosted by Heather Lord - a member of the Bondi Literary Salon Book CLub. 

Heather Lord is a philanthropic strategist, memory writing instructor, Venetian-trained bookmaker, recovering academic, Oxford-comma enthusiast, itinerant American, and aspiring Australian. 

Her favorite books tend to be multi-volumed literary behemoths which also make excellent doorstoppers, but she will read anything she gets her hands on, from trashy magazines to cereal boxes. She loves nothing more than a friendly yet fervid book club debate over the relative merits of a novel, and thanks to the Gertrude & Alice Bookstore, her book-collecting addiction continues to flourish unabated in her new home in Bondi.

About Bondi Literary Salon

Bondi Literary Salon was established in 2018, it is the in-house book club of the beloved Bondi institution, Gertrude & Alice. The Bondi Literary Salon endeavours to explore the vast world of literature each month, with a selection that reflects a focus on diverse writers and stories; delving into both classic and contemporary fiction, as well as non-fiction. 

Our philosophy has always been to use language and literature not only as a tool for connection and community but as an insight into worlds we have not had the pleasure of visiting ourselves. We welcome all - young and old, those with a life-long love of literature, or whose relationship may be only beginning. Join us in the unmatched comfort of an after-hours bookstore, accompanied by wine and cheese, for an evening spent discussing books and building community.

About Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore

Rated as one of the top 10 bookstores in the world by National Geographic, Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore is an oasis for writers, readers, and coffee lovers. Books overflow from the shelves of their store, featuring a mix of new, second-hand, antiquarian and rare books. Stay a while & enjoy some home made chai, and amazing coffee, and unearth a book treasure or two. Read more about the bookstore's story here, and about the real Gertrude & Alice here.