Fikret, Fikret, can you see the green birds?
Very slowly and quietly and sadly he said,'There are no green birds.'
'Will you send me some spare virgins?'
He smiled a very little and shook his head to say no, and then sighed very deeply and died.
At last I have found my ultimate favourite English story teller! And its probably because he is of French origin. What a story, set in Ottomon times just before the onset of the WW1. There is the microcosm, in the detailed portrayal of a tiny inconsequential village in Turkey, inhabited by Muslims, Armenians, Christians trying to lead perfectly ordinary lives when the great war starts. Gallopoli was explained through the eyes of one of the sons of the same village making the horrors of war very real indeed. Louis juxtaposes this micro story with macro version of Kemal Attaturk rise through the ashes of the Ottomon empire. It is the best way to learn about a bygone era.
I have become a huge fan my Louis de Berniers.....
No comments:
Post a Comment