With her first essay collection titled “Güzelin Serzenişi” (The Reproach of the Beautiful), Hatice Ebrar Akbulut shared eye-opening texts on fundamental existential topics such as beauty, ego, self, walking, truth, and life; she continues her search in “İncelmiş Vakitler” (Refined Times). She attempts to capture the enigma of life through transitions from our inner being outward, and from the outside in; using words, sentences, and an essayistic language that finally attains a sense of wholeness.

Time is shaped by human beings; it almost takes on flesh and bone with them. Time disciplines the human, and the human, as a responsible being, cultivates time moment by moment. With each of its essays, “İncelmiş Vakitler” seeks to capture this sensitivity and reach an awareness of it.

***

“The one who understands takes action. The silence of the one who understands is profound because their words, feelings, and thoughts have transformed into action. As arduous as it is to understand, it is equally difficult for a person who understands a feeling or a thought to express it. For understanding is simplification, and the more something is simplified, the more complex it becomes.

***

The meaning of reading is the ability to filter what is read, to critique, and to develop the capacity for criticism. A thoughtful reader cannot refrain from writing, taking notes, and pouring what they have read into a meaningful text. Writing is complex by nature. They called it 'der-kenâr' (marginalia) so that we might escape the complexity of writing and jot something down on the side. The 'der-kenâr' is the reader's stop of meaning.”