ONE CITY TWO NOVELS

Abstract: Thessaloniki is a cultural and commercial city and it constitutes the settings for several contemporary novels, in that the cities location and historical background is important for Greeks, Bulgarians and Turks. In this study we will examine two novels, one of which was published in Turkey, Like a Sword Wound (Kılıç Yarası Gibi) by Ahmet Altan, and the other having been published in Greece, Skoteinos Vardaris by Elena Houzouri. Although the characters and the narrators of these two novels are different, they reflect the same time period and the same geography. These two novels tell us about the Balkan Wars and national bandits from the Turkish and from the Greek point of view, and Thessaloniki is one of the joint settings of the two novels previously mentioned. Therefore, the aim of this study is; to examine the different points of view, to compare these novels and show how historical events affect the literary works