Sabahattin Ali; Translated by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe
Madonna in a Fur Coat
978-1-59051-880-9 l $15.95 l Other Press l TR e 978-1-59051-881-6
READERS’ ADVISORY: “Ali’s affecting story of love and loss is both timeless and grounded in its distinctive setting, with sometimes old-fashioned charm that will appeal to many readers.” —Library Journal
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A
shy young man leaves his home in rural Turkey to learn a trade and discover life in 1920s Berlin. There, amidst the city’s bustling streets, elegant museums, passionate politics, and infamous cabarets, a chance meeting with a beautiful half-Jewish artist transforms him forever. Caught between his desire for freedom from tradition and his yearning to belong, he struggles to hold on to the new life he has found with the woman he loves. Emotionally powerful, intensely atmospheric, and touchingly profound, Madonna in a Fur Coat is an unforgettable novel about new beginnings, the relentless pull of family ties, and the unfathomable nature of the human soul. First published in 1943, this novel, with its quiet yet insistent defiance of social norms, has been topping bestseller lists in Turkey since 2013.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. Does the story of Raif Efendi’s love affair with Maria Puder move you as much as it moves the narrator?
2. What writers and stories animate Raif Efendi’s imagination before he goes to Germany? Do the daydreams he has while in Istanbul resemble his adventure in Germany?
3. Describe Raif Efendi as you first meet him through the narrator’s description. Does your understanding of him change once the narrator starts reading his notebook? How?
4. What draws Raif to Maria? How are they similar, and how are they different? 5. Raif says, “No matter what I had bottled up inside me, I was absurdly anxious about letting it out.” Why is he so anxious about revealing himself? In what actions does he reveal his true self to Maria? How does this anxiety about revealing himself mutate and intensify after he returns from Germany and believes Maria has spurned him?
For more discussion questions visit: OtherPress.com/Books/Madonna-Fur-Coat/#Reading_Groups 2
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