Identity problems in the novel of " where were you when the darkness descending " İstanbul as the identity creating space

Abstract

The novel of “When were you when the darkness descending?”, whose author is Mario Levi, is a story of journey towards the past days and memories. Izak as the narrator of the novel confronts both with İstanbul where he lived and himself with 50 years exhaust while coming back. It can be said that the novel consists of two chapters. In the first chapter, Izak has been introduced with his family, view of world, and naive character. In the second chapter, the combining attempt of Izak his school friends such as Necmi, Şebnem, Niso, Yorgo and Şeli in order to grasp the life again… In this analysis, there are two sections in line with the structure of the work. After summarizing the novel within the first section, it has been elaborated the identity of Izak by means of the identity he identified himself. In the second section, the attempt of space and identity corelation has been investigated over İstanbul.