Ayşegül Savaş revealed a personal sense of estrangement while writing 'Many Worlds,' her New Yorker story, mirroring the subtle discomfort her characters feel upon returning to their familiar Istanbul. This internal disconnection, expressed through her narrative, investigates how individuals perceive their past within an evolving city. The story, published in 2026, delves into the nuances of belonging.
Characters in Savaş's work return home, encountering a past friend, but instead of comfort, they experience profound insecurity and a sense of being judged. The fragility of identity is highlighted when confronted by former acquaintances.
Savaş's work suggests that our personal evolution and the passage of time inevitably create 'many worlds' within seemingly stable realities, challenging our sense of belonging and self.
The Unsettling Return: Navigating Past Selves in Istanbul
Ayşegül Savaş's 'Many Worlds,' featured in The New Yorker's June 1, 2026, issue, immediately establishes a narrative of discomfort. The story, which Savaş herself read for the podcast, shifts from a joint perspective to primarily Defne's, amplifying the disruption caused by encountering their former housemate, Aleksi. Aleksi, a visitor to Istanbul, triggers deep insecurities in Defne and Mete, who feel judged for their perceived social class and personal evolution since their student days. This mirrors Savaş's own estrangement while writing about Istanbul, underscoring a profound authorial connection to the characters' subtle unease upon returning home. The story masterfully portrays the complex, often unsettling, evolution of identity and belonging through this blend of narrative technique, character psychology, and authorial experience.
Authorial Echoes and Shifting Perspectives
Savaş's personal estrangement from Istanbul serves as the blueprint for her characters' emotional turmoil. Defne and Mete's insecurity and sense of judgment when confronting their past in the city are direct manifestations of this authorial connection. The New Yorker notes this mirroring, suggesting 'Many Worlds' functions less as fictional observation and more as a deeply autobiographical exploration of how past relationships and places trigger profound self-doubt. The narrative's deliberate shift to Defne's perspective further amplifies this personal disruption. This structural decision reveals how past relationships destabilize one's present identity, forcing a re-evaluation of self. The true disruption in 'Many Worlds,' as The New Yorker observes, lies not in returning to a familiar city, but in the internal crisis of identity sparked by a former friend's judgmental gaze.
If Savaş's work is any indication, our evolving selves will likely continue to find familiar places transformed into unsettling mirrors of our own internal shifts.
