A Once-Forgotten Novel Unites Turkish Readers in Troubled Times
The parallels between what he endured as a dissident intellectual
and the ordeals faced by modern Turkish writers arrested for speaking out against the current Islamist government help explain Mr. Ali’s newfound popularity among the Turkish public.
Sevengul Sonmez, an editor and literary historian, said
that Turkish readers who love "Romeo and Juliet" are "now reading Maria and Raif, as the modern impossible love story." "We needed a classic as well," she said.
But now, all at once, the doors had flown open." That is the basis of "Madonna in a Fur Coat," a once-forgotten Turkish novel written nearly 75 years ago
that has improbably become a best seller, outselling, these days, even Orhan Pamuk, Turkey’s Nobel laureate.
Kaya Genc, a young Turkish novelist and writer, quoted Susan Sontag, the critic, when asked about "Madonna’s" resonance: "What is most beautiful in virile men is something
feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine." "This applies perfectly to Sabahattin Ali’s ‘Madonna in a Fur Coat,’" he said.
‘Madonna in a Fur Coat’ finally emerged as the common ground." If one can glean insights into a society from the books its citizens read, then one thing the popularity of "Madonna"
may underscore about Turkey is the eagerness, among the country’s youth, to break free of the traditional gender roles and machismo pushed by Turkey’s leader, Mr. Erdogan.
English translated that It is read, loved and wept over by men and women of all ages, but most of all by young adults,