Alev Alatlı’s novel "Schrödinger’in Kedisi I: Kâbus" ("Schrödinger’s Cat I: Nightmare") is far more than a dystopia. It is a comprehensive meditation on the moral, political and epistemological foundations of the modern world. From the outset, the author signals the reader to look beyond the surface of the text with the warning: "Do not look at my finger, look at where it points!” This statement encapsulates the poetics of the novel: What is presented is not a mere story, but a diagnosis; not fiction, but a map of mentalities.

Ideological reformatory

The central setting, the Adrianople Reformatory, functions less as a physical institution and more as a laboratory for global ideology. Its transformation from a former Ottoman complex into a "rehabilitation” center is no coincidence. A space rich in historical memory becomes a site for reprograming a new world order. The arrival of the candidates amid a snowstorm creates a threshold scene where ties to both nature and history are severed. From the very first depiction, the bewilderment of the people stands alongside the "shy smiles” of the observers. Mercy and control share the same frame.

At the heart of the story is Imre Kadızade, a figure embodying the moral ambiguity of the novel. She is accused of murder, yet the narrative emphasizes less what she does than what is done to her. The system does not merely judge individual wrongdoing. It redefines and reconstructs the individual. Imre’s existence evokes the metaphor of Schrödinger’s cat: She simultaneously carries the potential to be both guilty and a victim. In this way, the novel presents crime not as an individual deviation, but as an ideological reading.

Authority and submission

At the apex of the Reformatory’s hierarchy is the structure known as the "coalition." It defines itself not as a state or organization, but as a sacred union that elevates humanity to a "higher consciousness.” The figure at its summit, the "yüce pir" ("supreme master") embodies both divine and bureaucratic authority. The statement made about her, "she is absolute consciousness,” frames the ultimate stage that modern reason claims to have reached in the language of religion.

Alatlı’s sharp critique becomes evident here: The scientific and economic rationality of the modern world is presented as metaphysical truth, legitimizing obedience as a requirement of reason. The coalition’s emphasis on "economic reason” satirizes the way market rationality is framed as a moral absolute. Humanity now seeks salvation not in revelation, but in productivity.

One of the most striking concepts in the novel is the HIFS score, standing for "Physical Standards of Life Index.” This metric reduces human value to numerical data. The highest score belongs to the supreme master, while the lowest ranks include the "unexploitable” and the "accursed.” This hierarchical quantification grotesquely extends contemporary criteria of development, productivity and competition. Human worth ceases to be a moral or ontological quality and becomes a statistical category.

Social engineering

The section titled "HEAD START” represents the peak of the novel’s critique of social engineering. In reality, the term promotes equal opportunity for disadvantaged groups, but in the novel, it is merged with genetic and biological determinism to produce a chilling policy of "rehabilitation.” The line connecting Kennedy’s ideal of equality to Mao’s thought reform demonstrates how well-intentioned projects can morph into authoritarian instruments. Human beings are no longer subjects to be protected, but drafts to be corrected.

The recurring concept of "absolute submission” summarizes the spirit of the system. The individual is not expected to question, but to surrender. This submission resembles traditional forms of religious devotion, yet the object of devotion is not a transcendent God but the rationality of the global order. Alatlı thereby exposes the structural similarity between modern ideologies and religious systems: both monopolize truth and demand obedience.

The novel’s language reinforces this critique formally. It shifts between the tone of academic reports, bureaucratic decrees and mystical discourse. These deliberate stylistic shifts prevent the reader from finding a secure narrative ground. The reader is carried along by a flow of consciousness directed by concepts, much like the candidates in the Reformatory, constantly questioning who controls the language itself.

Nature of the nightmare

The title Nightmare perfectly captures the novel’s effect. The world depicted is not ruined in the conventional dystopian sense; rather, it is orderly, planned and rational. People are not starving, and everything appears systematized. What creates the nightmare is not chaos, but excessive order and hyper-rationality. Alatlı’s central question is provocative: can a system that classifies, scores and reprograms humanity in the name of "salvation” truly serve humanity?

A nightmare is not a prophecy of the future, but a warning to consciousness. By pushing the modern world’s rhetoric of science, human rights, progress and global governance to extremes, it exposes their latent authoritarian potential. What makes this novel significant is not its vision of a dark future but its reflection of contemporary thought patterns. When the reader closes the book, they are left not with a catastrophe, but with awareness. The nightmare has not yet arrived; it is already germinating within the ways we think.