Što pepeo priča: Trilogija. “Sjeme smrti,” “Utjeha noćnog neba,” “Miris straha” by Dževad Karahasan

Abstract

Reviewed by: Što pepeo priča: Trilogija. “Sjeme smrti,” “Utjeha noćnog neba,” “Miris straha” by Dževad Karahasan Nada Petković (bio) Dževad Karahasan. Što pepeo priča: Trilogija. “Sjeme smrti,” “Utjeha noćnog neba,” “Miris straha” (Stories from the Ashes: Trilogy. “The Seed of Death,” “The Solace of the Night Sky,” and “The Smell of Fear”). Novi Sad: Bulevar Books, 2017. 637 pages. ISBN-10: 8686431194. The Trilogy Dževad Karahasan’s 550 page trilogy, entitled Stories from the Ashes, takes us back to the year 469, day 16 of Sha‘ban (March 14, 1077), according to the Islamic lunar calendar.1 Although the novel reaches into the distant past, it is, like most of Karahasan’s work, both contemporary and timeless. In the first part of the book, entitled “The Seed of Death,” Karahasan writes a story set in Isfahan, the capital of the Seljuq Empire, when Islam had only just penetrated Persian culture. At that time (1119), the Order of Solomon’s Temple (or the Templars) was founded as part of the Crusades. The main protagonist is Omar Khayyam, a court astronomer with an observatory built especially for him to do research. Mirhond, a highly respected man in the city, is dying. His son, Feridun, calls on his friend Omar to help save his dying father. Regrettably, it is to no avail, for Mirhond dies. Feridun demands an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his father’s death. Omar takes part in the investigation, and concludes that Mirhond was poisoned. Still, he tries to convince the mourning son that it would be better to remember his father as he was, rather than potentially compromising his reputation through investigations. It emerges that Hind, one of the wives of the deceased, poisoned Mirhond by accidentally feeding him rotten rabbit meat. To further complicate the situation, Omar falls passionately in love with Hind and Mirhond’s oldest daughter Sukajna, and agonizes over how to deal with the situation. In this part of the trilogy, Karahasan gives us nothing less than [End Page 233] a masterpiece on the power of suspicion, which can be linked to the origin of many contemporary world problems, such as religious and political terrorism, as well as secret organizations, conspiracy theories, and the like. The second part of the novel, “The Solace of the Night Sky,” begins on a positive note. We learn of Omar Khayyam’s happiness in his new home with his young wife, Sukajna, and their baby daughter, Leila. Yet soon, calamity begins to rear its head in the distance. Intrigues at the court and social tensions threaten the empire from within, while Crusaders and Mongols become a danger from the outside. The Sultan, however, refuses to establish a secret service to tackle these threats, which turns out to be a fatal mistake. Omar’s account of his life is told years later, after the empire has already collapsed. A terrorist organization, led by one of Omar’s former companions, fills the whole region with fear. Omar’s life crumbles after the death of his beloved child and wife. With epic power, keeping the astuteness and helplessness of his protagonists in mind, Karahasan depicts how looming religious fundamentalism gradually undoes a prosperous era shaped by intellectual diversity and tolerance. Omar Khayyam’s sadness dominates in the third part of the trilogy, “The Smell of Fear.” Omar spends his last years in Nishapur, a city in the Khorasan Province in northeastern Iran (in fact, the region where the real poet and mathematician upon whom the character is based resided). Now old and frail, he spends his days in anguish and silence, isolated from people and their friendship. His grief for his beloved daughter and wife never fades. Unexpectedly, Omar befriends a young Bosnian man named Vukac, a Crusader from Jerusalem. Vukac becomes Omar’s loyal friend and caregiver. He manages to restore the old man’s love of life and desire to read, as well as share stories from his rich and tempestuous life in Nishapur. The young man helps Omar confront the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death, and to understand what led to the tragic outcome—a story that he had been...