Bøger af Ahmet Altan

”Glemsel er den største frihed, et menneske kan opleve. Fængslet, cellen, væggene, dørene, låsene, problemerne og de mennesker, som sætter grænser for mit liv og siger: 'Hertil og ikke længere', udraderes. Den handling at skrive indeholder et magisk paradoks, for du kan ikke kun søge tilflugt i den og skjule dig i den, men også udbrede dine ord til hele verden. Den gør det muligt både at glemme og at blive husket.” I juli 2016 forsøgte militærfolk at gennemføre et kup mod Tyrkiets præsident Recep Teyyip Erdoğans regering. Forsøget mislykkedes, men konsekvenserne for titusindvis af uskyldige intellektuelle, journalister og forfattere har været og er fortsat enorme. De tyrkiske retssale og fængsler har siden kupforsøget været fyldt med folk, der påstås at have støttet kupmagerne, eller som blot ikke at har udtrykt tilstrækkeligt med opbakning til præsidenten. I februar 2018 blev forfatter og journalist Ahmet Altan dømt til fængsel på livstid. Denne samling af bevægende, hårrejsende og til tider morsomme essays er skrevet i fængslet. De handler om dagligliv, om savn, om inspiration og om at holde fast i, hvem man er, selvom omgivelserne gør, hvad de kan, for at nedbryde en. Kort sagt: de handler om at overleve. Det er korte, gribende beretninger fra en absurd virkelighed, der udspiller sig i dette nu, mens du læser. Ahmet Altan, forfatter og journalist, født i 1950 i Ankara, Tyrkiet. Han har arbejdet for flere af de store tyrkiske aviser, som Hürriyet, Milliyet og Radikal. I 2007 etablerede han avisen Taraf, som støttede, at Tyrkiet knyttede tættere bånd til Europa. Altan har skrevet om det armenske folkemord, og talt for forsoning med landets kurdiske befolkning. Avisen blev lukket af myndighederne i 2016. Ahmet Altan har skrevet syv romaner, der alle er udkommet i Tyrkiet, og hvoraf flere er oversat til andre sprog, herunder engelsk, tysk og norsk. ”Jeg kommer aldrig til at se verden igen” er Altans første udgivelse på dansk. "Læs den. Og læs den så igen!" - The Guardian

A coming-of-age story about freedom with an erotic edge set in modern Turkey - a society navigating great change, like the young male protagonist.

"The second installment in the Ottoman Quartet--the masterful saga of Turkish history by Ahmet Altan--follows the vast and vivid cast of characters introduced in the first volume of the series, Like A Sword Wound. The novel opens with the attempted suicide of Hikmet Bey, the son of the sultan's personal physician. The reason for his extreme gesture was to forget the extremely beautiful and proud Mehpare Hanim, his wife and the cause of all his suffering. While Hikmet is recovering in a hospital in Thessaloniki, slowly regaining his strength and will to live, radical changes are afoot in the Ottoman capital. The power of the sultan is eroding, a rebellion is brewing, and violence erupts on the streets of Istanbul. It is the eve of one of the key events that will lead to the collapse of the Empire: the countercoup of 1909."--Publisher's description.

"First published in Turkey in 2021 as Hayat Hanim"--Title page verso.

Altan's "Ottoman Quartet" spans the fifty years between the final decades of the 19th century and the post-WWI rise of Ataturk as both unchallenged leader and visionary reformer of the new Turkey. The four books in the quartet tell the gripping stories of an unforgettable cast of characters, among them: an Ottoman army officer, the Sultan's personal doctor, a scion of the royal house whose Western education brings him into conflict with his family's legacy, and a beguiling Turkish aristocrat who, while fond of her emancipated life in Paris, finds herself drawn to a conservative Muslim spiritual leader.Intrigue, betrayal, love, war, progress, and tradition provide a colorful backdrop against which the lives of these characters play out. All the while, the society that spawned them is transforming and the Sublime Empire disintegrating.Here is a Turkish saga reminiscent of War and Peace , written in lively, contemporary prose that traces not only the social currents of the time but also the erotic and emotional lives of its characters. The female characters in Altan's gripping saga will upend prejudices about Turkey, the Middle East, and Muslim nations.

"A deeply compelling and immersive narrative about love, desire, loneliness and landscape."-Elif Shafak Altan's Ottoman Quartet spans the fifty years between the final decades of the 19th century and the post-WWI rise of Atatürk as both unchallenged leader and visionary reformer of the new Turkey. The four books tell the stories of an unforgettable cast of characters, among them: an Ottoman army officer, the Sultan's personal doctor, a scion of the royal house whose Western education brings him into conflict with his family's legacy, and a beguiling Turkish aristocrat who, while fond of her emancipated life in Paris, finds herself drawn to a conservative Muslim spiritual leader. Intrigue, betrayal, love, war, progress, and tradition provide a colourful backdrop against which their lives play out. All the while, the society to which they belong is transforming, and the Sublime Empire disintegrates. Here is a Turkish saga reminiscent of War and Peace, that traces not only the social currents of the time but also the erotic and emotional lives of its characters.

From the confines of his prison cell in Istanbul, one of Turkey's greatest living novelists reflects upon hope, despair and the light literature can bring to even the darkest places.

An existential page-turner from one of Turkey's greatest novelists