Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Bastard of Istanbul


The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak resonated deeply on many different levels. I found myself unable to put it down! The text weaves a sintilating tale, alternating between past and present narravtives in order to ultimately divulge a horrific family secret.
I found it interesting and compelling that Shafak was in fact arrested and put on trial for "violating Turkisness." In the novel, several of her characters made reference to the WWI genocide of Armenians. (This is apparently an event that must not even be mentioned even though it in fact took place.) She could have been sentenced to three years in prison! Eventually, Shafak was acquitted. One Turkish paper printed a particularly memorable quote: "Are we going to be the type of country that prosecutes fictional characters?" It is amazing to me that this country is so affraid of its past that it is willing to prosecute its citizens for mere mentions of its infractions in the present.

4 comments:

  1. I have a Turkish friend who told me that he had never heard of the Armenian genocide until he moved to the United States. Turkey is not, however, the only nation afraid of troubling incidents in its past.

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  2. I think every country has things in its past that they are afraid is going to happen again. It is hard for people to not remember what happened before. It is really scary because these are things that no one can really control or be prepared for.

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  3. I had never heard much about the Armenian genocide before this class. I was glad to learn more about it. I did not read this book; was the author tried for publishing this book? Wow...

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  4. I really enjoyed this book too! There are so many different aspects and angles you can discuss this book on..

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