Probably no other Turkish author has won so much renown with so few published novels as did Yusuf Atilgan. His literary legacy includes only three novels, one of which was unfinished and published posthumously. Yet his name stands out in the Turkish canon as a pioneer of the modern Turkish novel. This will be Atilgan's first and only work made available in English translation. Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's most well known author in translation, has stated that Yusuf Atilgan is one of his literary heroes. Motherland Hotel is considered a modern classic, and the Turkish National Commission for UNESCO has chosen it as one of three novels recommended for translation. Motherland Hotel was adapted to the cinema by a prominent Turkish director in 1987, and the laudatory reception of the film has heightened the discussions regarding the novel's political, cultural and psychological implications for Turkey and Turkish literature. Following up on our successful efforts to introduce the work of Bilge Karasu, another of Turkey's most important modernists, the publication in translation of Yusuf Atilgan's work is a continuation of our attempt to help establish a fuller aesthetic context in which contemporary Turkish authors can be better recognized and understood. Beautifully written and translated, Motherland Hotel can finally find the wider audience in the west that it deserves."--Susan Daitch, author of The Lost Civilization of Suolucidir Zeberjet, the last surviving member of a once prosperous Ottoman family, is the owner of the Motherland Hotel, a run-down establishment a rundown establishment near the railroad station. A lonely, middle-aged introvert, his simple life is structured by daily administrative tasks and regular, routine sex with the hotel's maid. One day, a beautiful woman from the capital comes to spend the night, promising to return "next week," and suddenly Zeberjet's insular, mechanical existence is dramatically and irrevocably changed. The mysterious woman's presence has tantalized him, and he begins to live his days in fevered anticipation of her return. But the week passes, and then another, and as his fantasies become more and more obsessive, Zeberjet gradually loses his grip on reality. Motherland Hotel was hailed as the novel of the year when it was published in 1973, astonishing critics with its experimental style, its intense psychological depth and its audacious description of sexual obsession. Zeberjet was compared to such memorable characters as Quentin Compson in Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and Meursault in Albert Camus' The Stranger. While author Yusuf Atilgan had already achieved considerable literary fame, Motherland Hotel cemented his reputation as one of Turkey's premier modernists.