"Tezer Özlü had a reputation for being gloomy. "Sorrowful princess" was among her monikers. During my college years in Istanbul, in the early aughts, friends would be alarmed if a classmate had their nose in Özlü's books for too long. Özlü, who died of breast cancer in her early 40s, obsessed over the flimsiness and frailty of human life. In her debut novel, Cold Nights of Childhood (1980), she wrote about chasing sexual and political freedom"
"In the summer of 1982, two years after Cold Nights of Childhood had been published in Turkey, Özlü was awarded a fellowship in Berlin, which she used to write a monograph on the Italian author's death and the circumstances surrounding it-his political disillusionment as a Marxist in postwar Italy and his unrequited love for Constance Dowling, an American actress. When Auf den Spuren eines Selbstmords ( On the Trail of a Suicide), the product of that residency,"
Tezer Özlü gained a reputation for gloominess and earned the nickname "Sorrowful princess." Friends in Istanbul recalled alarm when classmates read her books for long stretches. She died of breast cancer in her early forties and fixated on the flimsiness and frailty of human life. Her debut novel, Cold Nights of Childhood (1980), portrayed pursuits of sexual and political freedom in Istanbul and subsequent marginalization and institutionalization by heartless men. Cesare Pavese's suicide profoundly influenced her. A 1982 Berlin fellowship produced a monograph on Pavese that won the Marburg Prize; she later rewrote it in Turkish, transforming it into a composite of biography, criticism, and autobiography titled Journey to the Edge of Life.
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