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Yücel, Tahsin

(1933-2016) Turkish academic, translator and author; of sf interest is a Near Future novel, Gökdelen (2006; trans Ender Gürol as Skyscraper 2013), whose exceedingly wealthy architect protagonist instigates in 2073 a plan to modernize Istanbul on rigorously Modernist lines: the Utopia being created features a central grid of identical skyscrapers, an emblematic re-creation of the Statue of Liberty hugely larger than the original and with his mother's face, and a neocon privatization of the justice system. The Satire is broad, but clearly evokes Turkey's twentieth century past, a period of radical modernization under Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938). [JC]

Tahsin Yücel

born Elbistan, Kahramanmaras, Turkey: 17 August 1933

died Istanbul, Turkey: 22 January 2016

works (highly selected)

• Gökdelen (Istanbul, Turkey: Can Yayinlan, 2006) [binding unknown/]
  • Skyscraper (Greenfield, Massachusetts: Talisman House, 2013) [trans by Ender Gürol of the above: pb/]

links

• Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 02:37 am on 18 April 2026.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/yucel_tahsin>