Deccal Ä°ncili by Fırat Caner (review)

Abstract

persona. As such, Bunch is iconic, always outrageously in your face, sometimes very funny, sometimes cringeworthy, sometimes lovable, and sometimes revolting (even to herself), but always and forever authentic. Rita D. Jacobs New York City Franziska Hauser Die Gewitterschwimmerin Cologne, Germany. Eichborn Verlag. 2018. 428 pages. How does someone turn into the person they don’t want to be? Franziska Hauser answers this question in her autofictional book, Die Gewitterschwimmerin (The thunderstorm swimmer). The title character is based on the author’s own mother, and the book, Hauser’s second novel and longlisted for the 2018 Deutscher Buchpreis, is a journey to discover how this woman was shaped by both history and her family. Two converging timelines skillfully alternate between the chronology of the Hirsch family from 1889 onward and the story of Tamara, the thunderstorm swimmer , told from the present day back to her birth in 1951. We accompany members of the Hirsch family through the pivotal events of the past century, from the Jew who wanted to be a communist to the puppeteer who embraced the chances brought by German reunification. As readers, we become involved in the triumphs and tragedies of the Hirsch family. Being privy to their thoughts, we reflect on why they behave the way they do. As the trajectories meet around fourfifths of the way through the book, the open secret that has been lurking since the very first pages is unveiled; the actions and reactions of the characters gain context, and we start to understand what has hardened Tamara. We question whether her father, the decorated resistance fighter and celebrated socialist author, was really as good a man as his public persona would suggest. However, it is only in the closing scenes when an old acquaintance visits Tamara that she becomes aware of the unpleasant secret she has spent a lifetime hiding from herself. Although the topics and background events of Die Gewitterschwimmerin may be familiar to readers of contemporary German fiction, Franziska Hauser’s vividly drawn characters keep the story moving and the interest high. The detailed images and descriptions allow us as readers to fully appreciate the constraints of the times, which are the key to understanding the novel. For all it is character led, it is the situational circumstances that dictate their actions. Die Gewitterschwimmerin is a painfully beautiful exploration of what makes a person who they are. Catherine Venner Durham, UK Fırat Caner Deccal İncili İstanbul. Heyamola. 2018. 88 pages. In this playful and provocatively ironic book, Fırat Caner makes his readers suspect the foundations of alleged truths and provides a critique of cultural and sociopolitical assumptions within his narrative. Caner’s iconoclastic effort, perhaps best translated into English as “The Demon’s Gospel,” exploits a variety of emotions, including anger, sarcasm, and irony, through which he discusses a range of issues, from the interaction of good and evil, fate and free will, to knowledge, mineworkers, alienated individuals , inequality among genders, fixed gender roles, and power relations. In his rich narration, it is hard to pinpoint when it is the demon or the narrator ’s voice surfacing. It is, however, certain the narrator/evil endeavors to unmask the genuine intentions of the status quo and expose the disguised forms of social degradation , economic exploitation, and political manipulation. Through the cynical identities of aspiring Faust and alluring Gretchen, the narrator not only portrays the corruption of interpersonal relationships but also provides a panoramic view of society. Society is argued to have emerged among the compromising forces of wealth, advertisement , authority, and media. Through his reinterpretation of history and deconstruction of popular culture with all its concrete institutions and abstract notions, Caner provides concise formulations or brief aphorisms such as “The smartest censorship ever invented is noise” or “Opposition is the smartest invention of Power.” Books in Review 106 WLT WINTER 2019 Nota Bene By embodying evil, the narrator chooses a different strategy in telling the truth, particularly when the demon is regarded as the scapegoat of every bad deed. He refutes the accusations and tries to prevent the potential rebuttals by claiming he has never existed. It is an argument that recalls the aphorism from The Usual Suspects...