Turkish is one of the major languages in the world spoken by hundreds of millions of people in Europe and Asia. It is the official language of Turkey. Although many people study Turkish either in Turkey or abroad today, there is not a dictionary especially compiled for learners of Turkish as a foreign language. This dictionary has been produced to meet such a need. Therefore, it is more of a learners’ dictionary whose primary aim is to help students of Turkish who not only try to understand but also produce the language.

Turkish is a rich language with more than a hundred thousand words. Learners’ dictionaries are not expected to cover all the words for practical reasons because ordinary people or the educated for that matter normally use no more than a few thousand words. This dictionary covers most frequently used 4456 words. A clarifying sample Turkish sentence is provided together with its English translation for each meaning. These sample sentences are invaluable in that they help the learner to see the syntactic properties of words in addition to their denotations.

The aim of this book is to study William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus (1594), Macbeth (1606), and King Lear (1608), as examples of the state of rivalry which, as the study asserts, is related to Thomas Hobbes’ theory of the state of nature, and René Girard’s theory of mimetic desire. To this end, the state of nature, mimetic desire, and the state of rivalry are studied with their origins, definitions, types, and characteristics. The state of nature refers to the state of man who is egotistic, and self-preserving. A man in this state believes in equality by birth. In this state, man is at war against one another, as there is no (or lack of) authority to keep everyone secure. However, there may be human beings who are in that state even in a civil society under the dominion of an authority. They may secretly put manipulative plans into action for personal gains. Such an authority constructs order by the help of civil laws to prevent any disobedience and civil strife. In time of disobedience, this condition may spread around like a contagious disease. Among the reasons that lead to such a conflict, for Hobbes, are competition, diffidence, and glory. These notions have parallels with mimetic desire. Mimetic desire refers to man’s mediated desire toward an object. Imitating a mediator brings forth rivalry since the desired object ascertains competition. Therefore, mimetic desire has a triangular structure: mediator as the model, the desirer, and the desired object. The study concludes that the characteristics of, and the relationship between the state of nature, and mimetic desire are conducive to the state of rivalry in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, Macbeth, and King Lear.

Magical realism is an appropriate genre for the authors dealing with problematic themes such as memory because it is practical for those seeking for answers to these problematic questions that cannot be solved with empirical attitudes. In The Buried Giant, Ishiguro handles the chaotic nature of memory creating a primitive version of Britain where people’s memories are covered by a magical mist. This spell has an effect not only on individuals such as Axl and Beatrice, but also on the two ethnic groups, the Saxons and the Britons, making them forget the former enmity between them. In this regard, referring to the theoretical background of magical realism, this book aims to analyse the magical realist elements of the novel that enables Ishiguro to discuss the effects of memory loss on individuals and societies.