This book contains the memoirs of a Turkish author while he was in prison. The present oppressive regime is famous for imprisoning the writers and all other free-thinkers when what they say can cross its agenda. Such a practice found enough reason to go after anyone that voiced a contrary opinion against a tyrant and his repressive government after a coup d’état attempt on July 15, 2016, which failed anyway.

It seems being accused of anti-government crimes and thrown into jail for insubstantial reasons ran in the Altan family. The author of this book is Ahmet Altan, the brother of Mehmet Altan, and their father was Çetin Altan.

Ahmet Altan was accused of the flimsiest of crimes. He had appeared on a TV program before the coup, and later, was accused of giving subliminal messages favoring the uprising. This was enough reason for being sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on February 16, 2016. Politics and fake, fanatic religion when glued together can create deadly poisons as this book proves.

The book contains memoir pieces and essays and reads like poetry. The lines and words of the author is heart-rending, lyrical, expressive, and profound. Since I read the book from its English translation, I believe applauding the translator Yasemin Çongar is appropriate, here.

In the book, from the filthy oppressive cell-life to being deprived of books, this author still didn’t buckle down but wrote longhand what he observed, felt, and thought. His words are a boon to every writer in the world. “You can imprison me but you cannot keep me here. Because like all writers, I have magic. I can pass through your walls with ease.”

The author talks about several aspects of prison life. As an example, one thing that affected him was the absence of mirrors anywhere. The author says, “The mirror shows you to you, it confirms your being.” To him and other prisoners, not seeing one’s own image in a mirror felt as if being denied of their personhood.

Then, although there were three others in his cell, there was this huge loneliness, which the author marks with, “Everyone took refuge in his own loneliness.” And in his loneliness, his words, “Wherever you lock me up I will travel the world with the wings of my infinite mind,” comes through to show the readers the wisdom, the intelligence, and the kind of enviable education that empowered this author.

At the end, I wondered what happened to this author and if he ever could get out of jail. After a Google search, I learned that the papers he wrote his priceless words were smuggled out of prison through his lawyers and were sent abroad to be published. This must have made thirty-eight Nobel laureates condemn his incarceration, and he was released at the end of 2019. That alone shows the power of his pen, and I hope those puppets of that government do not come up with other trumped up charges against this author and those like him, again.

To wrap it up, this is one of the most powerful books about prison life that I have read, and it even tops my once favorite one, Notes from a Dead House, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

appreciating prose that is truly poetical, emotional, and sincere.

is Ahmet Altan, a columnist and novelist in Turkey.

It is literary, profound, and heartbreaking. And true.

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Created Oct 15, 2020 at 3:17pm • Submit your own review...