Rising nationalist sentiments in certain circles in Turkey has put minorities in a vulnerable and compromising position. In Turkey ‘insulting the Turkish nation’ is a criminal offence, which someone can be arrested for. MRG’s Ara Iskanderian speaks to a young Turkish human rights campaigner working for DurDe, an initiative seeking to stop racism and nationalism within Turkey. Her name has been left out of the article for her protection.

After hearing about her work campaigning against racism at a recent conference in England, I managed to persuade a young Turkish activist to be interviewed.  After some convincing, she agreed to answer some questions while everyone else was at the closing party. She asked to remain anonymous: publicising one’s work on human rights doesn’t always go down well in her native Turkey.

I am Armenian: to break the ice we talk about shared favourite Turkish pop-songs and common dishes, translating the names into Turkish and Armenian. Gradually, I slip in some questions and begin interviewing the young, proud, twenty-something Istanbulite who passionately gesticulates as she speaks.

She begins talking about the Turkish penal code’s notorious Article 301, which criminalises any act seen as ‘insulting the Turkish nation’. The infamous article has led to charges being brought against over sixty Turkish intellectuals including Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk. Pushing out her arms and opening her palms skywards she calls Article 301 racist and an attack upon freedom of expression, all too often used to silence political opponents. ‘You cannot make a law that privileges your nation, which is what 301 is’ she says referring to how 301 seemingly favours the Turkish majority at the expense of minorities. She adds angrily, ‘it’s ridiculous.’

Maybe because the book’s still fresh in my mind, I’m momentarily distracted by her resemblance to Turkish author Elif Shafak, another victim of 301. Shafak was subjected to a Kafkaesque trial because of certain comments made by a fictitious Armenian character in her novel, The Bastard of Istanbul. The book’s anti-heroine is a young Turkish girl called Asya: a secular liberal alone in the crowded city as she navigates awkward relationships with friends and history. The parallels between Asya and my interviewee, who tells me how onlookers give her dirty looks when she eats on the bus during Ramadan and how much she loved Shafak’s book, are remarkable, so I’ll refer to her as Asya from here on.
Asya looks uncomfortable about her last answer and explains her misgivings – she says she feels unqualified to talk, and worried about having her words used against her. She asks that we don’t continue, obligingly I fold my notes away. I can’t help wondering if fear of 301 causes her to clam up. Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, tried and convicted under 301, talked of how the spectre of 301 made him feel ‘as scared as a dove.’ He was later killed by a Turkish nationalist.

A few weeks later and Asya sends me an email from Istanbul. Can we continue over the phone? Sure.

Following the murder and funeral of Dink in 2007, when crowds took to the streets declaring ‘we are all Armenian’ as an expression of solidarity with an ethnic minority, Asya and others like her took the initiative. They established an initiative that campaigns against racism and nationalism. ‘Nationalism is seen as a positive in Turkey, people are proud to be nationalists, but it’s often a negative in reality’ Asya says. She is quick to add that her organization is not ideologically motivated, saying that it reacts to incidents rather than pursuing an agenda.

In just two years, their support base is nearly 30,000 strong and includes young Turks and prominent intellectuals alike. Asya however, laments that this is not enough in a country of 75 million people, especially as their support base is almost exclusively within Istanbul and Ankara.

Asya tells me of an incident in January when in the Anatolian town of Eskishehir the director of a cultural foundation placed a sign up in his headquarters stating, ‘No Jews or Armenians allowed, dogs are free to enter.’ She describes such actions as ‘horrible’ and talks about the statement her organization released in response. ‘We work on hate speech and hate crime’ she says and identifies 301 as a major obstacle, saying that it must go.

The organization found a prominent ally in Baskin Oran, an academic who argued that the synonymy of ‘Turk’ and ‘citizen’ should be replaced with the term ‘citizen of Turkey’. Oran was also tried under 301. Asya tends to agree though, she says, ‘I’m from Istanbul or Turkey. I don’t say I’m Turkish or I’m a Turk, I go by geographical location’.

Given their activities it’s unsurprising that the organization added its weight to supporting the online petition (www.ozurdiliyoruz.com) ‘we apologise’. Asya helped organise a series of forums explaining why people apologised to the Armenians for the ‘Great Catastrophe’ of 1915.  The controversial petition led to suggestions of mass trials by certain nationalists. When I asked Asya why she added her real name to the petition, she makes it clear it was because she is a human being with a conscience. Asya doesn’t wish to be identified with either the modern day deniers or the historic perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide. She feels it’s important to make the distinction.

Asya’s dream is to see Greeks along the Aegean and Armenians in Istanbul, hear their languages spoken loudly, to have churches reopened and a multicultural Turkey accepting of its history and diversity. It’s a nice dream but Asya admits she’s a minority view before going silent again. Campaigners like Asya do important work and whilst some might consider their actions to be too little given the possible repercussions their bravery in breaking taboos is commendable and should be supported. Fear, though, shouldn’t be part of their doings and its fear of a backlash that has Asya reminding me again that she wishes to remain anonymous.

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star is a rich tome of a book, an account of Paul Theroux’s retracing of the steps he took thirty years previously in The Great Railway Bazaar. As I don’t plan on finishing it for a while, I thought I’d check in with a brief update. I’m in Turkey at the moment, surrounded by pinarets and mosques, the prose of Theroux making me more and more itchy to visit the country myself. He’s also thrown me a couple of literary leads, by the names of Orhan Pamuk and Elif Shafak. He meets these two- as well as, apparently, Arthur C Clarke and Haruki Murakami in later chapters. It’s highbrow travel at its finest- the five star Ciragan Palas replacing the backpackers hostel, and Pamuk and Shafak, the leading lights of the Turkish literary scene replacing chance encounters with merchants, fellow backpackers and vagrants. Theroux does describe an encounter with a Ukrainian prostitute in this chapter- but the emphasis so far is on the rich description of the journey, and change. I particularly liked the way he deconstructed Pamuk- noting their similarities and differences while expouding on those universal qualities of a writer.

Well, I’m only on chapter two, and I can’t wait to get to the meeting with Murakami! I’ll save the chapter one material- of which there is much- for a concluding review, except to quote a couple of memorable passages here…

“Often on a trip, I seem to be alive in a hallucinatory vision of difference, the highly coloured unreality of foreigness, where I am vividly aware (as in most dreams) that I don’t belong; yet I am floating, an idle anonymous visitor among busy people, an utter stranger. When you’re strange, as the song goes, no one rememebers your name”

“Travel…holds the magical possibility of reinvention: that you might find a place you love, to begin a new life and never go home. In a distant place no one knows you- nearly always a plus.”

“An aimless joy is a pure joy” W. B. Yeats

Sprache als Waffe im Kulturkampf

Die türkische Schriftstellerin Elif Shafak

«Im Namen der Modernisierung wurde unsere Sprache ganz entscheidend reduziert und beschnitten», sagt Elif Shafak. «Um den neuen Staat zu errichten, etablierte die reformistische Elite damals eine neue Kultur – und eine neue Sprache. Wörter, die während der osmanischen Zeit in Gebrauch waren, wurden ausrangiert, und auch die Begriffe, die auf die Sufitraditionen zurückgingen, hat man Schritt für Schritt zensiert.»

Nachdem das Osmanische Reich zerfallen war und Mustafa Kemal 1923 die Türkei gegründet hatte, zählte für ihn vor allem die territoriale Integrität. Der Staatsgründer hatte erkannt, dass postosmanisches Grossmachtdenken illusorisch war und somit die Gefahr politischer Instabilität in sich trug. «Homogenisierung, Türkifizierung und Zentralisierung standen ganz oben auf der politischen Agenda», erklärt Shafak dazu. Für die nach wie vor äusserst einflussreiche kemalistische Elite ist das osmanische Erbe daher bis heute diskreditiert.

AUSBRUCH AUS DER ENGE

Die 1971 geborene Elif Shafak entstammt jedoch einer Generation junger Türken, die einer global orientierten Elite angehören und die nationalistisch geprägte kulturelle Enge der Türkei auffächern wollen. In Strassburg geboren und in Madrid aufgewachsen, teilt Shafak heute ihre Zeit zwischen Istanbul und Tucson auf, wo sie an der University of Arizona Genderstudies und Interkulturalität unterrichtet.

Ein zentraler Faktor im Kampf um die kulturelle Deutungshoheit in der Türkei ist die Sprache. In ihrem jüngsten Roman, «Der Bastard von Istanbul», greift Shafak daher ganz bewusst auf die osmanischen Traditionen zurück. Sie benutzt die von den Modernisten diskreditierten «alten» Wörter, die sich nicht nur aus der Sufikultur, sondern auch aus persischen und arabischen Quellen speisen. «Die osmanische Kultur war wesentlich multilingualer, multikultureller und multireligiöser als diejenige der heutigen Türkei», erklärt Shafak. «Das Osmanische Reich war schliesslich auch ein multiethnisches Empire von enormer Ausdehnung und tief verwurzelter Vielfalt. Und ich bin eine der wenigen Autorinnen, die die Türkifizierung unserer Sprache öffentlich kritisiert». Die Türkei von heute hält Shafak in gewisser Hinsicht für weniger weltoffen und kosmopolitisch als das späte Osmanische Reich: Zu jener Zeit, so Shafak, gab es türkische Schriftstellerinnen, die auf Türkisch, aber auch auf Englisch oder Französisch schrieben. «Und niemand hat sich darüber echauffiert.»

Die Tatsache aber, dass die mit Preisen überhäufte und auch kommerziell erfolgreiche Autorin nun selbst dazu übergegangen ist, ihre Romane auf Englisch zu schreiben, haben ihr viele national Gesinnte als einen Dolchstoss ausgelegt. Wer seine Sprache verrät, verrät auch sein Land – und damit die Nation, so die Schlussfolgerung. Dass sich Shafak dabei auch noch der «Sprache der Imperialisten» bedient, hat die Sache für sie nicht leichter gemacht: Dafür wird sie auch von den Linken attackiert.

INTELLEKTUELLE ALS MACHTFAKTOR

Ob der gegenwärtige nationalistische «Backlash» in der Türkei nicht zuletzt auch als Reaktion auf ungeduldige und überzogene Forderungen aus Brüssel zu deuten ist, wie der deutsch-türkische Politiker Cem Özdemir argumentiert, sei dahingestellt. Fest steht, dass die Ultranationalisten in der Türkei derzeit äusserst lautstark und aggressiv auftreten. Elif Shafak hat aber immer wieder betont, dass diese Fraktion nur eine äusserst kleine Minderheit darstellt. Im Gegensatz zu den liberalen Intellektuellen seien sie jedoch wesentlich besser vernetzt. «Die liberalen Intellektuellen sind nicht wirklich in der Lage, ihre Kräfte effektiv zu bündeln.»

Nichtsdestoweniger sind liberale wie auch konservative Intellektuelle in der Türkei ein Machtfaktor – sie bestimmen die öffentlichen Diskurse. Die moderne Türkei bezieht sich in vielerlei Hinsicht auf französisch-republikanische Traditionen, und wie in Frankreich haben Eliten – also Kulturschaffende und Intellektuelle – in der Türkei einen hohen Stellenwert für die nationalen Debatten. «In einem Land wie der Türkei ist ein Roman in allererster Linie ein öffentliches Statement – und ein Romanautor ist in jeder Hinsicht mehr als einfach nur ein Romanautor», erklärt Shafak. «In den Interviews, die ich in der Türkei gebe, geht es fast immer nur um Politik und nur sehr selten um Ästhetik oder Kunst. In diesem Land ist ein Schriftsteller immer auch eine Figur des öffentlichen Lebens.»

So wird man also auch als Feingeist in die – mit harten Bandagen umkämpften – öffentlichen Diskussionen um nationale Befindlichkeit und Identität verwickelt. Wie schwer es Intellektuelle haben, sich trotz ihrem Stellenwert durchzusetzen und Gehör zu verschaffen, ist in den letzten Wochen und Monaten deutlich geworden; Elif Shafak selbst stand erst kürzlich wegen «Herabwürdigung des Türkentums» vor Gericht, wurde jedoch aus Mangel an Beweisen freigesprochen. Dennoch zeigt gerade auch die Rezeption von Elif Shafaks jüngstem Roman, wie sehr sich die Türkei in den letzten Jahren gewandelt und intellektuell geöffnet hat. «Auch wenn der Roman für gewisse Personen und Gruppen schwer verdaulich war, so möchte ich doch betonen, dass die Reaktionen von den Medien und der Gesellschaft insgesamt sehr positiv waren», merkt Shafak dazu an.

«Der Bastard von Istanbul» ist innerhalb kürzester Zeit zu einem Bestseller avanciert, von dem binnen fünf Monaten – auf einem vergleichsweise sehr kleinen Buchmarkt – weit mehr als 50 000 Exemplare verkauft wurden. «Das Buch ging frei und unzensiert durch den Handel und wurde weitläufig besprochen», betont Shafak. «Ich habe zahlreiche Lesungen und Diskussionen im ganzen Land halten können – von Izmir bis Diyarbakir. Dabei habe ich von den unterschiedlichsten Leuten Rückmeldung erhalten: von Linken, von Kurden, von Hausfrauen, von Mystikern, von Alewiten bis hin zu Kopftuch tragenden Studentinnen – und die Reaktionen waren sehr, sehr positiv.»

IM TABUBEREICH

Die Tatsache, dass «Der Bastard von Istanbul», der wohl im März 2007 auf Deutsch erscheinen wird, ein so grosses Publikum gefunden hat und tatsächlich auch von den Zensoren durchgewinkt wurde, ist umso bemerkenswerter, als sich Shafak damit auf ein dicht vermintes Terrain vorgewagt hat, das in der türkischen Selbstwahrnehmung noch weitgehend als No-go-Zone gilt: Das Buch handelt von den Vertreibungen und Massakern an den Armeniern. Der Bastard der Geschichte ist ein armenischer Knabe, der während der Pogrome von seiner eigenen Familie getrennt und dann von einer türkischen Familie aufgenommen wird. Von dieser Familie behütet, tritt der Knabe zum Islam über und führt dann das Leben eines Türken. «Dieses Thema taucht hier und da am Rande auf, aber viele Jahrzehnte lang hat die türkische Literatur dazu geschwiegen», bilanziert Shafak.

Der britische «Guardian» geht indessen davon aus, dass der Roman der überhaupt erste ist, der sich explizit mit diesem düsteren Kapitel der türkischen Republik auseinandersetzt. In diesem Fall wäre Shafaks «Bastard von Istanbul» wohl eine Art Mondlandung der türkischen Literaturgeschichte. Vielleicht ist jetzt aber tatsächlich in der Türkei der Zeitpunkt für eine Diskussion über dieses historische Tabu gekommen. Denn, so merkt Shafak an: «Es ist schon interessant: Die meisten hate mails habe ich von Türken bekommen, die im Ausland leben.»

Lewis Gropp lebt als freier Publizist in Köln. Er ist Mitglied der Redaktion des Internet-Portals Qantara, das den Dialog zwischen westlicher und islamischer Welt fördern will.

Hier der Link zu dem Original-Artikel in der NZZ…

Eine Rezension aus der StadtRevue…

Dass Literatur Dinge in Bewegung setzen kann und Literaten folglich über Macht verfügen, konnte man jüngst wieder der neu aufgeflammten Rushdie-Affäre entnehmen. Zwar taugt nicht jede Publikation dazu, globale Erregung und diplomatische Krisen auszulösen, doch die junge türkische Autorin Elif Shafak versetzte mit ihrem jüngsten Roman zumindest die Radikalnationalisten in ihrer Heimat in Aufruhr. Der Grund: “Der Bastard von Istanbul” erzählt eine armenisch-türkische Familiengeschichte und nimmt auch auf die Massaker an den Armeniern in den Wirren des 1. Weltkriegs Bezug. Die Ereignisse werden von den Armeniern als “Genozid” bezeichnet, für viele Türken gelten sie bis heute als ein Akt der Selbstverteidigung, mit dem die Ostflanke des Reichs gegen einen drohenden Einfall der Russen gesichert werden sollte.

Die Autorin wurde jedenfalls der “Herabsetzung des Türkentums” angeklagt; der Prozess erhitzte die Gemüter, bei dem Verfahren flogen Fäuste und Stühle durch den Saal. Am Ende wurde die Autorin freigesprochen.

Dass der Roman so hohe Wellen geschlagen hat, zeigt, wie viel Sprengstoff das Thema auch nach über 90 Jahren noch in sich birgt. Trotzdem überrascht, wie leicht erregbar der türkische Nationalistenseele ist. Zum einen ist der “Bastard” ein unmissverständliches Plädoyer für die Aussöhnung (und keine Kampfschrift), zum anderen ist der Ton, den Elif Shafak anschlägt, fröhlich, frei und unbefangen, bisweilen sogar putzig und burlesk. Ob man der Dramatik der geschilderten Ereignisse so gerecht wird, darüber ließe sich streiten. Der Plot ist auf jeden Fall klug und witzig komponiert, und die Story endet mit einem fulminanten Crescendo. Wer sich allerdings für eine literarischere Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema interessiert, der berücksichtige Edgar Hilsenraths sagenhaftes “Märchen vom letzten Gedanken”.

Lewis Gropp

Elif Shafak: “Der Bastard von Istanbul”: Eichborn, Frankfurt 2007, 464 S., 22,90 €

erschienen in: StadtRevue, Juli 2007

Books Books Books by © LuthienAngel

Ho da qualche giorno terminato la lettura di Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore di Italo Calvino, dicendomi che il genio dell’autore ha immaginato una situazione improbabile per far riflettere i suoi lettori sul processo della lettura. Viene rimessa in discussione l’identità e l’integrità dell’autore visto un po’ come l’Uno nessuno e centomila  di pirandelliana memoria.

E con questi pensieri critico-letterari per la testa mi ritrovo a leggere un articolo del Courrier International che mi lascia a dir poco sbalordita. La scrittrice turca, Elif Shafak pare sia stata condotta dalla polizia in un deposito merci di fronte ad un tir pieno di suoi libri contraffatti. Con lei altri colleghi, posti di fronte a container di libri contraffatti, apparentemente identici agli originali eppure con contenuti fasulli. Approfittando dell’occasione, un collega lì presente le ha chiesto un autografo su una copia del libro della Shafak che, volendo controllare, pare abbia trovato un ennesimo esemplare falsificato.

Convinzioni che si sgretolano in questo XXI secolo: anche la letteratura, come ogni altro prodotto, può diventare oggetto di contraffazione. Sarebbe interessante chiedersi quale messaggio si tenta di far passare dalla voce (doppiata) di scrittori inconsapevoli.

*

*   *

Ascoltando:

Noemi “Briciole”

Entre torrija y torrija… ayy omá que ricas! he terminado de leer dos libros que me han gustado mucho y de temática diferente; el primero de ellos es una novedad en el mercado y seguramente lo vean en muchos escaparates; es “La Bastarda de Estambul“, de la escritora turca Elif Shafak, y trata sobre la historia de dos familias, básicamente formadas por mujeres y de cómo por hechos del pasado, están unidas. No sé que pasa con los libros que se desarrollan en Euroasia, Arabia, etc, que hasta sus páginas de impregan de olores característicos; Puedes oler cada plato que citan, cada ingrediente. Me ha parecido curioso que cada capítulo lleva como título un alimento o condimento y luego lo nombra en alguna parte del texto del capítulo. Para mi fue como un juego dar con la pallbra.. que ñoñazo soy juer… Lo dicho, es una buena lectura y un buen regalo. No les cuento nada más… auqneu les diré que la importancia del libro no es que una de las protagonistas sea bastarda….. Interesante. La verdad es que metes dentro de la historia y de las características de cada personaje, muy bien definidos y muy diferentes entre si.

El otro libro acabado y finiquitado ha sido “El emblema del traidor“, de Juan Gómez-Jurado; un cambio de registro.. del drama histórico familiar al drama histórico con ecos de suspense, aventura, traición, amores, desamores, venganzas a tutiplén. Se desarrolla en el periodo alemán de entreguerras. Como es bien sabido yo apuesto por la literatura de ficción con ecos de best sellers americanos, pero escritos en nuestro país. Son mucho más cinematográficos que el resto y se leen de un tirón. Es más me lo he leído en un par de sentadas… Eso sí, quitándome de tele jajajajajjaa. Es muy recomedable como lectura amena, para desconectar de muchas cosas.

Pd. ya tengo en la recámara dos libros más… uno español con un título que me enamoró… y otro que es continuación de uno muy muy famoso pero que tela de famoso con título de número.

Purtroppo ho perso.

Non è da me, ma mi sono arresa; ho lottato, sforzandomi di andare avanti, nella speranza che la fatica si perdesse tra le parole. Fino a quando ieri ho deciso di dire basta: caro il mio libro ti abbandono, mi spiace, non continuerò a leggerti.

Vuoi delle spiegazioni? Te lo dico a malincuore, ma se in 129 pagine non sei riuscito a conivolgermi non è più colpa mia; c’è troppo attrito nelle tue righe e le pagine sono pesanti da girare. Le descrizioni non sono male, ma gradirei un intreccio, una storia a cui appassionarmi per riuscire ad arrivare a pagina 458.

Arriverderci, ti lascio una porticina aperta, un segnalibro nel punto in cui ti saluto: non si sa mai.

Keps*

I just finished reading The Bastard of Istanbul, which I found quite charming and delightful. The novel, written by Turkish author Elif Shafak, revolves around the stories of two young women and their families. Asya is the bastard child, a chain-smoking, free-thinking 19-year old hellion growing up in a family of women in Istanbul, Turkey. Amy, or Armanoush is the dreamy teenager daughter of an Armenian man and an American woman. When Amy decides to visit her stepfather’s extended family in Turkey and comes to stay at Asya’s house, a complicated series of events unfolds. As the novel continues, the connections between the two families, Armenian and Turkish, are shown to be far deeper than the two girls ever imagined. I didn’t expect to like the novel, but I gave it a chance and was hooked by the second chapter. At times I was a little confused, there were a lot of names to keep track of. But the story itself was so fascinating, I couldn’t put it down. Afterwords, I found out that author Shafak was one of many Turkish intellectuals targeted by her government for to the Armenian genocide in this very novel. Good read. Highly recommended.

Quante volte abbiamo retto l’ascolto di canzoncine insulse perché “sì, però lei è carina”? Ebbene, non è che la stessa cosa potrebbe valere anche per i libri? Per la gioia degli occhi dei nostri lettori, ecco le foto e i nostri sindacabilissimi giudizi sulle belle della letteratura, italiana e non

ANGELA BUCCELLA

LIBRI

Leda. Romanzo di carne
Buccella Angela, 2007, Azimut (Roma)
€ 6,90

Nel paese delle ragazze suicide
Eliselle; Buccella Angela, 2006, Coniglio Editore
€ 5,00

WEB

sito ufficiale

VOTO DEL COLLETTIVO

MR1: 8,5

MR2: 6

MR3: 6

IN SINTESI

La classica ragazza della porta accanto, chi non vorrebbe aggiustarle il rubinetto che perde?

CARLOTTA MAGNANINI

LIBRI

Valentina sposa tutti
Magnanini Carlotta, 2004, Aliberti
€ 14,90

Valentina compra tutto. Una guida allo shopping metropolitano a Roma, Parigi, Londra
Magnanini Carlotta, 2002, Aliberti
€ 14,90

VOTO DEL COLLETTIVO

MR1: 7,5

MR2: 7,5

MR3: 7

IN SINTESI

Se avessimo avuto una prof di italiano così ai tempi della scuola, Uberto Eco ci farebbe un baffo

ELIF SHAFAK

LIBRI

Il palazzo delle pulci
Shafak Elif, 2008, Rizzoli
€ 15,60

La bastarda di Istanbul
Shafak Elif, 2007, Rizzoli
€ 14,80

WEB

sito ufficiale

VOTO DEL COLLETTIVO

MR1: 8

MR2: 8

MR3: 7

IN SINTESI

Se l’amore esiste è sicuramente celato in un viso così

GABRIELLA KURUVILLA

LIBRI

È la vita, dolcezza
Kuruvilla Gabriella, 2008, Baldini Castoldi Dalai
€ 15,00

VOTO DEL COLLETTIVO

MR1: 7+

MR2: 6,5

MR3: 6,5

IN SINTESI

La sensazione è che in questo caso l’abito faccia il monaco. Grazie per essere venuta, non si disturbi a ripassare, il suo numero l’abbiamo, al massimo la chiamiamo noi. Le facciamo sapere

GISELA SCERMAN

LIBRI

La ragazza definitiva
Scerman Gisela, 2007, Castelvecchi
€ 12,00

Piero Ciampi. Una vita a precipizio. Il cantautore livornese raccontanto dagli amici
Scerman Gisela, 2005, Coniglio Editore
€ 14,50

WEB

sito ufficiale

VOTO DEL COLLETTIVO

MR1: 8+

MR2: 7,5

MR3: 7,5

IN SINTESI
O cara Gisela, portami via con te. Non m’importa dove, da questo momento comandi tu

HEATHER O’NEILL

LIBRI

Ninna nanna per piccoli criminali
O’Neill Heather, 2008, Mondadori
€ 16,50

ALTRE INFORMAZIONI

wikipedia

VOTO DEL COLLETTIVO

MR1: 7

MR2: 6

MR3: 6,5

IN SINTESI

Bene bene, un giretto in Canada ci sta, del resto sarebbe un viaggio culturale

ISABELLA SANTACROCE

LIBRI

V.M. 18
Santacroce Isabella, 2007, Fazi
€ 17,50

Zoo
Santacroce Isabella, 2006, Fazi
€ 12,50

Revolver
Santacroce Isabella, 2004, Mondadori
€ 7,00

WEB

sito ufficiale

blog

VOTO DEL COLLETTIVO

MR1: 9,5

MR2: 7

MR3: 7

IN SINTESI

Stiamo sempre parlando di scrittura, vero?

MICOL ARIANNA BELTRAMINI

LIBRI

Centouno cose da fare a Milano almeno una volta nella vita
Beltramini Micol A., 2008, Newton Compton
€ 10,42

WEB

blog

VOTO DEL COLLETTIVO

MR1: 9

MR2: 6

MR3: 8

IN SINTESI

Ce ne siamo innamorati subito e siamo pronti a sposarla

MIRANDA JULY

LIBRI

Tu più di chiunque altro
July Miranda, 2007, Feltrinelli
€ 15,00

WEB

sito ufficiale

ALTRE INFORMAZIONI

wikipedia

VOTO DEL COLLETTIVO

MR1: 7+

MR2: 7

MR3: 8

IN SINTESI

Be’ dai diciamo che due colpi a questo mondo non si negano quasi a nessuno…

ROSELLA POSTORINO

LIBRI

La stanza di sopra
Postorino Rosella, 2007, Neri Pozza
€ 15,00

VOTO DEL COLLETTIVO

MR1: 8+

MR2: 8

MR3: 7

IN SINTESI

Aspettami lì ancora 5 minuti, sto arrivando

SOFIA MERONI

LIBRI

Troppo bella
Meroni Sofia, 2007, Aliberti
€ 15,00

ALTRE INFORMAZIONI

fotogallery 1

fotogallery 2

VOTO DEL COLLETTIVO

MR1: 9+

MR2: 10

MR3: 8

IN SINTESI

Oggettivamente bella, ma non amiamo le belle di professione

Die Erwartungen auf die diesjährige Frankfurter Buchmesse waren besonders unter den in Deutschland lebenden Türken sehr groß. Denn in diesem Jahr ist die Türkei Ehrengast der Frankfurter Buchmesse. Unter dem Motto „Türkei – Faszinierend farbig“ steht die Türkei im Mittelpunkt. Der Auftritt der Türkei war eine einmalige Gelegenheit, die gesamte Bandbreite türkischer Literatur, das historische Kulturerbe sowie die modernen Facetten des Landes einem breiten Publikum zu präsentieren, denn mit mehr als 7000 Ausstellern aus über 100 Ländern ist die Frankfurter Buchmesse die größte Buchmesse der Welt.

Die Pressemitteilung der Organisatoren hatte Hoffnung auf vieles gemacht. Es war von einer Präsentation auf einer Fläche von 4000 Quadratmetern die Rede, und von rund 100 türkischen Verlagen. Die Ehrenpräsentation habe das Ziel, das in vielen Teilen noch unbekannte historische Erbe und die Potenziale der modernen Türkei international bekannter zu machen.

Orhan Pamuk mit dem türkischen Staatspräsidenten Gül und Bundesaußenminister Steinmeier (© Frankfurter Buchmesse)

Nach einem Besuch der Buchmesse muss man aber feststellen, dass dies nicht gerade gelungen ist. Zwar sind zahlreiche Verlage aus der Türkei auf der Buchmesse vertreten. Die Stände der unterschiedlichsten Verlage präsentieren sich nur sehr ungenügend. Im Vergleich zu Verlagen aus Italien oder dem asiatischen Raum, fällt die der Verlage aus der Türkei sehr dürftig aus. Die türkischen Verlage haben sich sowohl inhaltlich als auch optisch schlecht präsentiert. Die Präsentation als Ehrengast der Buchmesse im Forum Ebene 1 wirkt ideenlos und inhaltsarm. In einer Ausstellung werden lediglich die bekanntesten türkischen Autoren kurz vorgestellt, und einige Bücher konnten als Ausstellungsstücke eingesehen werden.

Interessanter ist jedoch das Rahmenprogramm begleitend zur Buchmesse. Im Gegensatz zum Auftritt der türkischen Verlage, bietet das Rahmenprogramm dem Besucher interessante Einblicke in verschiedene Aspekte der Türkei. Dabei werden auch die Probleme der Gegenwart in der türkischen Gesellschaft zum Ausdruck gebracht. Der türkische Nobelpreisträger Orhan Pamuk etwa beklagte die fortdauernde Behinderung schriftstellerischer Tätigkeit in seiner Heimat. Heute noch werde trotz zahlreicher Reformen Druck auf Autoren und Journalisten ausgeübt. „Der Hang des Staates zu bestrafen, hält immer noch an“, so Pamuk zur Eröffnung der Buchmesse. Der türkische Staatspräsident Gül, der zur Eröffnung der Frankfurter Buchmesse anwesend war, bedankte sich bei Orhan Pamuk für seine Bücher. Er hob in seiner Rede zur Eröffnung hervor, dass „unsere Diversität uns stärker macht“. Staatspräsident Gül sagte, Einschränkungen und Druck, denen Schriftsteller und Bücher ausgesetzt gewesen seien, „haben mit der Zeit abgenommen oder sind gänzlich verschwunden“. Die Türkei habe dank der in den letzten Jahren beschleunigten wirtschaftlichen und politischen Reformen „die Kriterien der Europäischen Union auf den Gebieten der Meinungs- und Redefreiheit sowie der Achtung der kulturellen Vielfalt in großem Maße verwirklicht“.

Die diesjährige Buchmesse ist vor allem für die zahlreichen deutschen Autoren mit türkischem Hintergrund etwas besonderes. Für den in Kiel lebenden Schriftsteller Feridun Zaimoglu zum Beispiel ist es etwas ganz besonderes. „Es hat für mich eine sehr emotionale Bedeutung, dass die Türkei Gastland wird. Das bedeutet mir wegen meiner Eltern natürlich sehr viel.“

Der Buchmesse-Auftritt der Türkei wird von Zaimoglu jedoch kritisiert. „Ich sehe hinter der Präsentation, hinter der Oberfläche nichts“, sagte der 43-Jährige in einem Gespräch mit der Deutschen Presse-Agentur dpa. „Hier hat ein Land, also die Türkei, versucht, bloß nicht den Eindruck zu erwecken, dass man vielleicht orientalisch ist.“ Man könne sich die kulturelle Präsentation auf der Messe ansehen oder es auch sein lassen.

Von den „Festreden“, wie die von Orhan Pamuk oder dem Staatspräsidenten Gül, solle man sich nicht beeindrucken lassen. Die Einladung von Gastländern sei „eine Art touristische Maßnahme“, meinte der Autor. „Egal welches Land Gastland ist, man muss einfach mal auf den Völkerverständigungsquatsch verzichten.“ Auf die Frage, ob die Einladung der Türkei zur Integration der Türken in Deutschland beitragen könne, sagte Zaimoglu, der Beitrag sei gleich „null“. „Wer das Gegenteil behauptet, ist ein Traumtänzer und redet groben Unfug daher.
Seine Favoritin unter den türkischen Schriftstellern ist Elif Shafak, sie schreibe die interessantesten Istanbul-Romane überhaupt: „Man kann das pralle Leben gewissermaßen bebildern, indem man – wie in ‘Bonbonpalast’ (Shafaks jüngstem Roman) – die Menschen, diese normalen skurrilen Menschen, diese normalen skurrilen Begebenheiten zu Papier bringt.

Det blir ikke så mange oppdateringer for tiden, men så blir det ikke mye lesing på meg heller! Jeg jobber heltid, og tilbringer mye av dagen med å oppdatere nettsider, så…

Nesten så jeg gleder meg til skolen begynner igjen, merkelig nok så har jeg MYE bedre tid da…

De få bøkene jeg har lest har ikke vært særlig mye å skrive om. “Breaking Dawn” er selvsagt unntatt fra denne karakteristikken! Noen av de nye bøkene jeg har lest de siste to ukene er:

• Brian Keaney – Menneskedyret. (Grei fantasy-serie, men bøkene virker så korte. Jeg kommer aldri helt inn i historien)
• Nicholas Sparks – Kjære John. (Typisk Sparks-roman, helt ok)
• Melanie Wallace – Vintervakten. (Merkelig sak)
• Alaa Al Aswany – Chicago. (Jeg var vel en av de få som ga opp “Yacoubian-bygningen. Jeg kom meg gjennom denne, men det var bare så vidt. Rotete.)
• Elif Shafak – Bastarden fra Istanbul. (Jeg var positivt overrasket de første hundre sidene, men det gikk fort over… Jeg ble fort lei av intellektuelle som sitter og diskuterer på café)
• Jeg leser også Anna Karenina, men det er et pågående prosjekt. For å være helt ærlig så vil det antagelig pågå i noen år til…

Inizio lettura 16 giugno 2008 – Termine 19 giugno 2008

Sono perplesso di fronte a questo libro. Non posso dire che non mi sia piaciuto, anzi l’ho letto abbastanza speditamente però non mi ha entusiasmato. Forse è la storia che non mi ha convinto del tutto, perchè i personaggi sono tracciati bene. Bello il parallelo tra la vita delle due protagoniste che poi si incrociano a Istanbul e anche il contrasto tra la città che volge il suo sguardo a oriente e a quella che guarda ad occidente. E’ un poco ripetitivo e non mi è piaciuto come si svela il finale.

Voto: 7,5/10

Incipit
Non maledire ciò che viene dal cielo. Inclusa la pioggia. Non importa cosa ti preoccupi addosso, non importa quanto violento il nubifragio o la gelida grandine: non rifiutare quello che il cielo ti manda.

Trama. Attenzione: di seguito viene rivelata, del tutto o in parte, la trama dell’opera.
Istanbul non è una città, è una grande nave. Una nave dalla rotta incerta su cui da secoli si alternano passeggeri di ogni provenienza, colore, religione. Lo scopre Armanoush, giovane americana in cerca nelle proprie radici armene in Turchia. E lo sa bene chi a Istanbul ci vive, come Asya, diciannove anni, una grande e colorata famiglia di donne alle spalle, e un vuoto al posto del padre. Quando Asya e Armanoush si conoscono, il loro è l’incontro di due mondi che la storia ha visto scontrarsi con esiti terribili: la ragazza turca e la ragazza armena diventano amiche, scoprono insieme il segreto che lega il passato delle loro famiglie e fanno i conti con la storia comune dei loro popoli. Elif Shafak, nuova protagonista della letteratura turca, affronta un tema ancora scottante: quel buco nero nella coscienza del suo paese che è la questione armena. Simbolo di una Turchia che ha il coraggio di guardarsi dentro e di raccontare le proprie contraddizioni, Shafak intreccia con luminosa maestria le mille e una storia che fanno pulsare il cuore della sua terra.

Scheda del libro
Autore: Shafak, Elif
Titolo: La bastarda di Istanbul / Elif Shafak ; traduzione di Laura Prandino
Pubblicazione: Milano : Rizzoli, 2008
Descrizione fisica: 388p. ; 18 cm.
Collezione: Libri oro ; 36
Numeri: ISBN – 9788848603850

Collegamenti utili per capire meglio il libro

Cenni biografici dell’autrice

Discutiamone insieme sul forum

NEWS

The week that saw the sad news of the death of Anthony Minghella, also saw the deaths of two prominent writers.

Arthur C. Clark dies at the age of 90.

Tallish, bespectacled, rather big-eared and increasingly thin on top, he tended to be described by his friends as a beaming and highly articulate shambles of a chap, a man to whom convention meant very little. Yet his mind was like a razor…Clarke’s amazing career was possible largely because he was never, in any ordinary sense, quite a part of this world. (Read the rest of The Guardian’s obituary here.)

Hugo Claus dies of euthanasia

The writer of The Sorrow of Belgium, had Alzheimer’s opted for euthanasia. He was 78. More from Associated Press here.

The Orange Longlist announced

From the Guardian:

Anita Amirrezvani The Blood of Flowers
Stella Duffy The Room of Lost Things
Jennifer Egan The Keep
Anne Enright The Gathering
Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs
Tessa Hadley The Master Bedroom
Nancy Huston Fault Lines
Gail Jones Sorry
Sadie Jones The Outcast
Lauren Liebenberg The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam
Charlotte Mendelson When We Were Bad
Deborah Moggach In The Dark
Anita Nair Mistress
Heather O’Neill Lullabies for Little Criminals
Elif Shafak The Bastard of Istanbul
Dalia Sofer The Septembers of Shiraz
Scarlett Thomas The End of Mr Y
Carol Topolski Monster Love
Rose Tremain The Road Home
Patricia Wood Lottery

The list includes, for the first time, a Turkish Writer, Elif Shafak, whose previous book, The Flea Palace, was published by Marion Boyars publishers.

Ms Shafak, 35, had faced charges for comments made by her characters on the mass killings of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

Turkey rejects Armenia’s claim that the killings constituted “genocide”. (From the BBC)

(Our own bookfox, Lisa, whose Armenian grandmother was a witness to the atrocities and whose first novel Prince Rupert’s Teardrop was partly inspired her experiences, is hoping to bring us more on this story in due course.)

Here is the coverage from the New York Times. And more stories on this issue can be found at The Independent and The Scotsman

NET COMMENT

The Literary Saloon’s overview of coverage on The Orange Prize, excerpt here:

“Reading 120 books I did find myself thinking, ‘Oh god, not another dead baby’,” said Kirsty Lang, as the longlist for the prize was announced. “There were a hell of a lot of abused children and family secrets.”

(We’d have thought ‘Another dead baby !’ might be a great slogan for the longlist, tempting the male readers who might be hoping for some horror-thriller schlock …..)

….And in The Times Dalya Alberge reports that A.S.Byatt denounces ’sexist’ Orange prize:

The novelist A. S. Byatt told The Times that the Orange was a sexist prize, saying that she was so critical of what it stands for that she forbids her publishers to submit her novels for consideration. “Such a prize was never needed,” she said, noting that many works of literature were written by women.”

And there is an excellent overview of the exclusive prize for women debate over at Booklit :

It proudly claims to be “the UK’s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman”. But what relevance does it have today when even by its own admission, as per its FAQ page, it’s set out what it achieved to do (especially with women scooping the Nobel, the Man Booker, and the Costa Best Book in 2007)(more here)

The ultra-cool Artemis Fowl fansite explores just how many published authors start off in fanfiction – (and if you look hard enough you might recognise a couple of recent Vulpes interviewees!)

These aren’t the only fanfiction authors that are well known. Phillipa Ashley and Rosy Thorton both loved the TV show North and South. They both wrote fanfiction avidly, and received many reviews and encouragements from their fans. And they both wrote their own novels, and then got picked up by publishes. Philipa Ashley wrote Decent Exposure, the first in a new series of books called Little Black Dresses. Rosy Thorton published More than Love Letters. Both are romantic comedies, edged with parody.

The popular teen author Meg Cabot wrote fanfiction when she was a girl. She dedicated much of her time to the fantasy author Anne McCaffrey. She later grew up to write successful book series such as The Princess Diaries, and The Mediator. Cabot encourages her fans to write fictions based on her books, and it is one of the most active fandoms today.

SNIPPETS AND FUNNIES

The Onion spoofs the recent screenwriters strike, reporting of the ZERO impact of a Novelist’s Guild of Amerca strike…

LOS ANGELES—The Novelists Guild of America strike, now entering its fourth month, has had no impact on the nation at all, sources reported Tuesday.

…consumers easily adjust to the sudden cessation of any bold new sprawling works of fiction or taut psychological character studies….

So far, sources say, no one has attempted to cross the picket lines, most of which are located in private homes. However, unconfirmed reports indicate that at least one novelist may be breaking the strike by writing under the pseudonym “Richard Bachman.”

“We must, as a people, achieve a resolution to this strike soon,” novelist David Foster Wallace said at a rally Monday at Pomona College in Claremont, CA, where he is a professor. “The thought of this country being deprived of its only source of book-length fiction is enough to give one the howling fantods.”

“I thank you both for coming,” he added. (Read all here.)

New York Public Library in New York goes all out in their Milton exhibit

Just inside the New York Public Library’s Fifth Avenue temple, to the left of the blinking neon “KEROUAC” sign, I found a room with the size and feel of a mausoleum….

…Piped in for mood enhancement is a loop of musical pieces inspired by the poet’s work, from Handel to Haydn, Penderecki and a mercifully brief selection from the song “Better to Reign in Hell” by black-metal band Cradle of Filth. The group’s 2003 CD “Damnation and a Day: From Genesis to Nemesis” is on display….

….“Satan is so pretty,” says a man in his 30s to his companion as they leave a display case. It holds a mezzotint by William Henry Hyde (1858-1925) of a broodingly handsome devil titled “Satan Surveys the Canopie of Night.” (For full article click here.)

IN THE DEN: What the foxes have been blogging about

Emma talks about the torture of writing synopses:

What’s it about?’ is still the question I find hardest to answer, whether it’s for an interested friend or a radio host. And usually I wait for a title to emerge as I write, only sometimes of course it doesn’t. By the time I realise that, the dull working title has stuck and I can’t think of any thing more. (For the same reason my children had many a soft toy who never got further than ‘Bear’ or ‘Rabbit’). (More here)

Whilst Emily talks about that first date with the agent (and remembers why she doesn’t want teenage skin)

You remember how it used to be: you’re fifteen (32) and the boy (literary agent) you’ve fancied for ages (done a redraft for and exchanged some promising emails with) has finally asked you out (invited you into the office)…

…But here you are, the morning before the date, lying in bed wondering what to wear, how to act, which way to tilt your head for that first kiss (we’ll probably just shake hands first off) . . . But hang on, something’s different – you can feel something lightly throbbing on your cheek and as you rush out of bed and stumble to the mirror you see the full horror of what has erupted on your face overnight:

A ZIT.

(Read the rest here)

Whilst Jenn talks writers and parties and, err, who wrote the biggest book here:

I think real writers go to secret parties in each others houses and when they are drunk they put their books on the table and measure them, and say, that’s a million words, that, and it only took me three months. Then someone else says, oh, mine’s fifteen thousand words but it took me all of my life including my puberty years, and no-one knows who is the hardest.

Thanks to my vulpine colleagues for collecting together all the links. As always, views and comments are very welcome!

Since it is clear that my New Year’s resolution to balance my book budget is now a total bust after two whole months, I thought I’d share some passages from a few of my recent acquisitions:

“Scarce nine the first time I was stolen away, I remember a wild and unthinking fright as I was snatched from my pony’s back and dragged into the arms of one of the men who rode toward my father’s escort party. We were heading north to watch our kinsman, King Malcolm, second of the name, hold an autumnal court on the moot hill at Scone. Proud of my shaggy garron and painted saddle, I insisted on riding alone in the length between my father, older brother Farquhar, and several of their retainers. Then horsemen emerged from a fringe of trees and came straight for us. As men shouted and horses reared, a warrior reached out and plucked me up like a poppet.”

LADY MACBETH by Susan Fraser King.

“Whatever falls from the sky above, thou shall not curse it. That includes the rain. No matter what might pour down, no matter how heavy the cloudburst or how icy the sleet, you should never ever utter profanities against whatever the heavens might have in store for us. Everybody knows this. And that includes Zeliha.”

THE BASTARD OF ISTANBUL by Elif Shafak.

“Every summer Lin King returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu. Together they had appeared at the courthouse in Wujia Town many times, but she had always changed her mind at the last moment when the judge asked if she would accept a divorce. Year after year, they went to Wujia Town and came back with the same marriage license issued to them by the county’s registry office twenty years before.”

WAITING by Ha Jin (from Bookmooch).

“I am not a yoga kinda guy. Yoga people are sensitive, aware, largely sober, slender, double-jointed, humorless vegans who are concerned with their own spiritual welfare and don’t hesitate to tell you about it. They are spiritually intense and consequently enormously boring in the manner of folks who, in their own self-absorption, feel you ought be alerted as to the quantity and texture of their last bowel movement. Or so I used to think.”

HOLD THE ENLIGHTENMENT by Tim Cahill (from Bookmooch).

“What will that innocent lamb tell her friends when she grows up? My father is Barsam Tchakhmakhchian, my great-uncle is Dikran Stamboulian, his father is Varvant Istanboulian, my name is Armanoush Tchakhmakhchian, all my family tree has been Something Somethingian, and I am the grandchild of genocide survivors who lost all their relatives at the hands of Turkish butchers in 1915, but I myself have been brainwashed to deny the genocide because I was raised by some Turk named Mustafa! What kind of a joke is that!”

This passage, shouted out by one of the characters in The Bastard of Istanbul, is what got Elif Shafak in court for “insulting Turkishness”, another case based on the by now infamous Article 301. The case against Shafak was eventually dropped, but she became well-known as one of the very few Turkish authors, together with for example Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, who was not afraid to tackle the issue of the Armenian genocide in a way that was not well appreciated (to put it mildly) by the Turkish authorities.

Armanoush is the child of an Armenian father and an American mother who remarried with a Turkish man. She divides her time between her mother in Arizona and her father’s family in San Fransisco. When she feels something in her identity is missing, she sets off on a trip to Istanbul, to stay with her stepfather’s family and find out more about her past. In Istanbul, she becomes fast friends with Asya, the youngest member of her stepfather’s family.

The Armenian genocide is a major theme in the story, but eventually it is one of the ways the bigger theme of dealing with the past is worked out. All of the major characters have something in their past they have to deal with, either by accepting it or denying it or, even before acceptation or denial, by trying to find out what their past actually is.

The first chapter was hard to finish – I didn’t like the writing style, very “flowering” with long sentences and many adjectives. I regularly had to reread a sentence to actually get the meaning. Fortunately, that was only the first chapter, after that I either got used to the language or the style changed (I guess it was a bit of both). Anyway, I got hooked and, having started the book on Saturday afternoon, had finished it Sunday before dinner.

It is a beautifully told story with an interesting plot, if somewhat constructed at times. I felt as if the author wanted to represent all the different opinions on the Armenian genocide in the book. There is the staunch Turkish nationalist who is absolutely convinced that there was no genocide and that, on the contrary, the Armenians killed the Turks en masse. There is the Turk who acknowledges that the Turks did horrible things to the Armenians during World War I, but that that was in the past and that the current generation is not responsible for it. There is also the Armenian who thinks that Armenians still living in Turkey are being repressed and who is convinced that they’d be better off emigrating. There is the somewhat skeptical Armenian who thinks that striving for recognition of the genocide is the only thing that still binds the Diaspora and that once recognition by Turkey has been achieved, the Diaspora will fall apart. Finally there is the Armenian who was born and raised in Istanbul, feels Istanbulite first and foremost and doesn’t want to live anywhere else. This urge to represent all those opinions led to superfluous scenes and even characters in my opinion. I ended up quickly reading the superfluous parts and then diving back into the rest of the book.

There were already so many characters, major and minor, that at times, especially when the perspective changed for example from San Fransisco to Istanbul or from present to past or back, I had to try to remember who was who and what the relation’s were between them. On the other hand, this extensive set of characters was also part of why I loved the book. I especially loved Asya’s family with all their quirky characters. Armanoush initially started out as an interesting character as well, but soon I started finding her a bit bland, colorless, especially compared to colorful Asya and her equally colorful family.

I am not sure the book is among my favorite reads of this year, but I did enjoy it very much and am certainly interested in reading more by Elif Shafak.

This review is crossposted at Internations Musings.

Istambul è una città così bella che ti rimane nel cuore per sempre, se hai avuto la fortuna di vederla e di attraversarla e ancor più se l’hai ri-conosciuta nelle parole e nelle fotografie del libro ISTANBUL del premio Nobel Oran Pamuk. E poi, se vuoi, puoi ritornarci ancora, se ti immergi nella lettura di un bel romanzo, uscito in Italia nel 2007, LA BASTARDA DI ISTAMBUL di ELIF SHAFAK, che proprio Pamuk raccomanda come ” la migliore scrittrice turca dell’ultimo decennio.”

Come è ricordato nella copertina, Istambul”non è una città, è una grande nave.Una nave dalla rotta incerta su cui da secoli si alternano passeggeri di ogni provenienza , colore, religione.
Ancora oggi in quella Turchia in cui le donne si erano tolte il velo 90 anni fa grazie ad Ataturk- come ricorda un personaggio del libro – e dove le donne hanno conquistato il diritto di voto nel 1934 ( in Svizzera nel 1971 sic!!! ), in quella Turchia pronta ad entrare in Europa con 70 milioni di mussulmani, E.Safak, come del resto anche Pamuk, ha corso il rischio di trascorrere tre anni in carcere.
La giovane scrittrice è stata infatti denunciata e poi prosciolta nel 2006, per avere offeso l’identità turca, in base all’articolo 301 del nuovo codice penale, proprio quell’articolo, che, se non verrà soppresso, tra le altre cose ” rischia di far deragliare il processo di avvicinamento della Turchia all’Europa” Ed Elif è convinta che l’entrata in Europa gioverebbe ad entrambe!

Il romanzo di E. Shafak, che, nata in Francia da genitori turchi, vive tra Istambul e Tucson, dove insegna nell’Università dell’Arizona, è il caso letterario dell’anno in Turchia, proprio per l’essere stata messa sotto accusa, perchè alcuni personaggi del suo libro parlano di genocidio armeno, del massacro di Adana del 1909, delle deportazioni del 1915 ( le cd.marce della morte di 1.200.000 armeni, dove centinaia di migliaia morirono di fame, di malattie o sfinimento )

Chi non ha sofferto qualche anno fa leggendo il romanzo di ANTONIA ARSLAN” La fattoria delle allodole“, in cui si raccontavano proprio questi atroci misfatti?

In quella Turchia, che ancora oggi non vuole riconoscere ufficialmente il genocidio armeno e chiedere il giusto perdono, vive la famiglia di Asya, una giovane ventenne, la bastarda di Istambul appunto, ragazza senza padre, con una madre, Zeliha, che si fa chiamare zia. Asya, figlia unica di 4 donne, che appena nata si è trovata” tra 4 zie-mamme o mamme-zie:”

“La bastarda di Istambul “è un romanzo con tante donne e pochi uomini: donne particolari, coraggiose, misteriose, stravaganti, colorate, con il velo o con minigonne vertiginose e l’anello al naso, anche un po’ streghe, in una casa con tanti profumi, dove l’unico maschio è il gatto soriano Pascià terzo. Mustafà invece , fratello di Zeliha, Ceryie, Banu e Feride, andato a studiare negli Stati Uniti, non è più tornato; si è laureato, vive in Arizona e ha sposato Rose, un’americana , già divorziata e con una figlia Armanoush, che chiama Amy, nel tentativo di cancellare il ricordo di quella famiglia armena così soffocante, di cui faceva parte il primo marito Barsam

Una famiglia armena, che vive a S. Francisco, dal cognome impossibile TCHAKHMAKHCHIAM , e dal passato traumatico, in cui i legami affettivi sono così intensi ( e insopportabili per l’americana Rose ), perchè come si dirà ad un certo punto del romanzo, chi è stato perseguitato ed è sopravvissuto alla diaspora, ha un senso della solidarietà più forte dentro la famiglia e fuori nella comunità armena.

Le storie di Asya e di Armanoush si intersecano, perchè la giovane armeno- americana si reca ad Istambul alla ricerca della sua identità, delle sue radici ed è ospite della famiglia del patrigno. E se pure c’è un passato che ha contrapposto Armeni e Turchi, tra di loro nasce una facile intesa, una condivisione di tante cose, anche se sono diverse.

Quando Armanoush entra nella casa turca è accolta dal profumo accattivante di cibi particolari, che sono gli stessi della nonna armena, originaria di Istambul.E così l’incipit della favola ricordata in esergo, in apertura del romanzo , è una favola turca, ma è anche armena.

Al ricordo dei fatti tragici del genocidio le donne della famiglia di Asya” non vedevano nessun collegamento tra loro e il crimine “, mentre per gli Armeni il tempo era un continuum in cui il passato viveva nel presente e il presente generava il futuro”.

La storia delle due famiglie si snoda dall’America alla Turchia, dal presente al passato con un ritmo molto felice che rende coinvolgente la narrazione di facile e piacevole lettura, forse un po’ meno nell’ultima parte, in cui il ritmo è più accelerato nel tentativo di arrivare ad una soluzione, che risulterà misteriosa, inaspettata, anche se qualche sospetto nasce un po’ prima. Agnizioni da commedia antica e un po’ da feuilleton?

Efficace, nel mettere a confronto generazioni e usanze, la scrittura di Efis, che è al suo quinto romanzo, il secondo in inglese ( anche questo le è stato contestato !), gli altri sono in turco e in tedesco.

Come ha dichiarato a Ferrara al festival di Internazionale, dove sedeva in una tavola rotonda accanto ad Arundhati Roy, a volte i romanzi dicono di più della situazione sociale e politica di un paese che non le trasmissioni televisive e i giornali ufficiali, soprattutto dove ancora esiste la censura.

Mi ha colpito nel suo intervento di Ferrara la citazione di un passo del Corano, perchè Efis Safak è mussulmana: ” in paradiso c’è un albero molto particolare chiamato Tuba. Si dice che cresca capovolto, con le radici rivolte in aria. Proprio come per gli alberi ciò che permette agli esseri umani di crescere e sopravvivere sono le radici. ma a differenza di quelle radici degli alberi possono viaggiare” Non avere radici o avere radici in aria significa essere liberi. liberi di raccontare, di fare un grande lavoro sulla memoria, nel caso di Elif rielaborando anche i racconti delle nonne di quando era bambina.

Per la Turchia invece radici e confini sono ancora solo quelli dell’identità nazionale!

Cannella,ceci, zucchero, nocciole tostate, vaniglia, pistacchi, grano, pinoli, scorza d’arancia, mandorle, albicocche secche, semi di melograno, fichi secchi, acqua, uva passa, acqua di rose, riso sono gli ingredienti di in dolce turco e armeno, l’ARSCHUR, che è importante nel romanzo, ma sono anche, uno per uno, i titoli dei primi 17 capitoli, a cui si contrappone l’ultimo intitolato CIANURO DI POTASSIO, un potente veleno, usato per uccidere nei genocidi, anche ad Aushwitz per gli ebrei.

Agli eventuali lettori , come sempre, la scoperta del finale !

EFIS SAFAK LA BASTARDA DI ISTAMBUL RIZZOLI 2007 pp 388

Alberto Rosselli, L’olocausto armeno
Solfanelli, 79 PAG. 7,50 EURO

Il genocidio armeno è il primo del XX secolo ad essere stato documentato con testi e fotografie ed è da questo massacro che verrà coniato il termine indicante lo sterminio di massa. Storicamente la mattanza contro gli armeni si suddivide in due fasi riconducibili al periodo 1894-96 con la morte di 250.000 armeni e al massacro di 1.500.000 persone nel 1915. I motivi della repressione, politici e religiosi, scaturiscono dalla vicendevole insofferenza tra la maggioranza musulmana turca e curda e la minoranza armena cristiana, perseguitata insieme agli ebrei. Nel 1914 l’ascesa del movimento rivoluzionario dei Giovani Turchi progetta l’eliminazione del sultano per avviare la modernizzazione del Paese e conduce a una progressiva soppressione di esponenti dell’élite militare, notabile e politica armena, culminata nella deportazione di massa in Siria e Mesopotamia, con l’allestimento di campi di concentramento dove si diffondono epidemie di tifo e vaiolo, torture, sperimentazioni di nuovi farmaci e vendite di ragazze e bambini ai bordelli, con la confisca dei beni ai deportati. Il libro di Rosselli si oppone alla politica negazionista del governo turco che ha processato gli scrittori Orhan Pamuk e Elif Shafak (rei di aver offeso l’identità turca citando il genocidio), e al clima di terrore provocato dall’omicidio del giornalista armeno Hrant Dink nel gennaio scorso da parte delle frange ultranazionaliste, evento che ha spinto alla fuga lo stesso Pamuk.