When Rafe gets seriously ill, he entrusts a journal from his youth to his new friend, our narrator. His story begins when his academic ambitions in poetry are curtailed by a family mission to Berlin where he is tasked to learn the business of perfumed soaps as a strategy to expand their olive oil business. His rich romantic fantasy life inspired by literature clashes with his social awkwardness in talking or interacting with women. Even I can empathize with his ineptness: Very, very romantic, coming of age novel… for someone who likes a big epic [book]”—WNYC The Brian Lehrer Show itiraf etmeliyim: kürk mantolu madonna'yı okuyup okumadığımı soran herkese cevap olarak hazırladığım bir metin var, çok da keyif alırdım bilerek okumuyorum, her yerde görmekte bıktım, popülaritesini kaybedince okuyacağım derken. birkaç şaka eklerdim sonra, iltem dilek'in meşhur karikatürünü gösterirdim filan... Kürk Mantolu Madonna, boşlukların felsefesidir. Tablodaki kadının aşağıya doğru gizemli bakışından tümevarım yoluyla bütün romana yayılmış kocaman bir boşluktur. Bu öyle bir boşluk ki, çukur ve kapanmamış yer olarak tanımlanan bir boşluk. Peki Raif Bey TDK'ya cevap olarak ne diyor?

A simple yet gorgeously written love story about a shy, cynical young man named Raif, who is sent by his father to Berlin to learn the scented soap-making trade… It seems to me that that which inspires a younger generation to read, en masse, a seventy year-old book is the same thing that inspires them to fill the streets.”— Tin House Though he looked like an old man when viewed from the side, or from above, he looked enchantingly, and childishly, innocent when he smiled. Opening: Of all the people I have chanced upon in life, there is no one who has left a greater impression. Months have passed but still Raif Efendi haunts my thoughts. I went to sit down at my desk. I examined the scratches and faint ink stains on its surface. What I longed to do, as is customary when sitting across from a stranger, was to size him up, and with stolen glances to form my first — and of course, mistaken — impressions. But he, I saw, had no such desire; he just bent down over his work and continued as if I weren't even there.

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Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali is considered one of the foremost Turkish classics of the 20th century. Written in 1941 and describing how both Germany and Turkey had changed following the Great War, this classic is now available in English for the first time. Using the life of a translation clerk named Raif Efendi as a metaphor to show how the world has changed, Ali delivers a hidden gem of a classic to western readers. yalnız yerine göre isim ve şekil değiştiriyorlardı. kadınla erkek arasındaki sevgiye hakiki ismini vermemek bir nevi kendimizi aldatmaktan başka bir şey değildi. derken, beni ortalarına yaklaştığım sıralarda çekti içine, kahve yapmak için mola vermesem yutacaktı resmen! Büyük konuşmayacaksın' derdi babam, haklıymış. Kitabın bu kadar yüksek bir puan almasını garipsemiş, madem bu kadar güzel bir kitap, neden diğer dillere tercüme edilip bir Dünya klasiği haline gelmemiş diye eleştirmiştim.

The story takes place in Ankara in 1930s. The narrator is going through hard times of unemployment and poverty. With the help of a former friend, he finds a job as a clerk in a firm. There, he shares his office with an ordinary looking man, Raif, who he calls "the sort of man who causes us to ask ourselves: 'What do they live for? What do they find in life? What logic compels them to keep breathing?'" As they keep working together, they form a friendship. I won’t spoil anything more about the evolution of this relationship, but I will share some aspects of her Maria’s character and attitudes. For example, she has a chip on her shoulder over the arrogance and presumption of men with regard to women, especially their angry responses when their advances are rejected: You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. Kürk Mantolu Madonna, boşlukların ütopyasıdır. Boşlukların anlamını en güzel şekilde idrak edeceğiniz romanlardan birisidir. Raif Bey anlatıcı için, Maria Puder de Raif Bey için bir ütopyadır. Fakat aynı zamanda boşlukların distopyasıdır da diyebiliriz. Çünkü boşluklar bu ikilemde kaldıkları sürece anlamlı olan olgulardır zaten. O bilinmez boşluğun kapanıp kapanmayacağını bilmeden yaşamak, beynini ve ruhunu bitirmek harika bir distopya değil midir? Bu kalabalık hayatta, bu dolulukların kirlettiği hayatta, yüreğimizi ve ruhumuzu gereksiz şeylerle doldurmaya çabalayan yüzlerce olayın, nesnenin, insanın olduğu bu hayatta biraz da boşlukların olmasını arzulamak harika bir ütopya değil midir? However, two barriers stand in his way to getting closer to this alluring woman’s flame. On the one hand, she pegs him as almost a virtual woman she can feel safe to befriend. On the other hand, she sets quite a serious boundary for him:Madonna in a Fur Coat , Sabahattin Ali, Maureen Freely (trans), Alexander Dawe (trans) (Penguin Classic, February 2017; Other Press,October 2017) If I ever met a woman I found attractive, my first thought was to run away. From the moment we came face-to-face, I lived in dread that my every glance and movement might reveal my true feelings. Drowning in shame, I became the most miserable person on earth.

By now he had established himself as a poet and writer of short stories. Like so many other writers whom he came to count as friends, he was a patriot of the socialist variety. The works for which he was most admired in his time were imbued by his dreams for the common man, and rooted in his knowledge of the injustices they suffered. Again, I laughed. Whereupon he said, "You really have to stop, my friend!" and went on to lecture me about how, if I wanted to be successful, I had to start being practical, and how empty pursuits like literature could do nothing but harm once your schooldays were behind you. He spoke to me as if I were a child, never considering that I might have something to say, indeed to argue, in response, and he did not shy away from making it clear that it was success that had given him his courage. Meanwhile I just sat there, hiding behind a smile that I was sure must look very foolish and only served to add to his confidence. Raif Bey, koşuyor, hastalanıyor, çevirmenlik yapıyor, seviyor, deliriyor. O da benim, senin, onun gibi sadece bir insan. Bir ruhunun bulunduğunu geç de olsa fark etmiş bir insan. Peki biz vücutlarımızla yaptığımızı sandığımız bu eylemleri gerçekten de ruhumuzu ve yüreğimizi de ortaya koyarak gerçekleştirebiliyor muyuz? Gerçeğin mayasını gözümüzle değil, esas yüreğimizle görmek istiyor muyuz?He seemed so confident, so pleased with himself. He could now, after all, enjoy the luxury of helping his friends. How I envied him!