Voice of the Imperial Ancestor in Amin Maalouf's Origins: A Memoir
Journal Title: KareDergi: Uluslararası Edebiyat, Tarih ve Düşünce Dergisi - Year 2019, Vol 7, Issue 7
Abstract
Amin Maalouf, a Lebanese-born French writer, often mentions Eastern geography in his novels. In these novels, Maalouf makes determinations and comments on the Oriental people, and he conveys the lives, cultures and beliefs of them to his readers. In his novel Origins: A Memoir, through the correspondence between his grandfather Botros and his brother Gebrayel he provides knowledge about his origin and gives remarkable information about that time period. In the novel, which includes the early years of the twentieth century, there are remarkable expressions about the Ottoman Empire and Atatürk. During this term, the Ottoman Empire was at the edge of disintegration, and Abdülhamid II, Enver Pasha, Niyazi Bey and Young Turks who made attempts to raise the empire again, are praised by the narrator and Botros. The struggle of the idealist Botros, who wanted to transform the region into a more modern and developed structure, against ignorance is also highlighted. In the novel, it is stated that in order to get back to its glorious days, the Orient must have reformations and revolutions and the knowledge should come back to the Orient where it was born once. At this point, Maalouf uses Botros as a means to express his ideas and states that he would prefer the Ottoman Empire to get back to its glorious days rather than to disintegrate. On the other hand, it is clearly seen that both Botros and Amin Maalouf admire and appreciate modernisation efforts of Atatürk who built up a new country with several reformations and revolutions. In this novel, Amin Maalouf expresses the dream of building an advanced and modern Eastern civilisation on the past wisdom of the Orient regardless of race, language and religion.
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Hasan Baktır
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