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The Book of Devices
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The Book of Devices
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This novella suits readers interested in imaginative historical fiction, Ottoman history, and stories that blend whimsy with thoughtful reflection on tradition and innovation.
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See more"First published in Turkish in 1996 as Kitab-Γ¨ul hiyel by Γ§IletiΓ°sim Publications, Istanbul"--Page facing title page.
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Description
Ihsan Oktay Anar's 1996 novella, The Book of Devices, is a skeleton key to the ever-inventive author's fictional world set in the Ottoman times. Here are the wonderful histories of the triumphs and tribulations of three Ottoman inventors, "as reported by the narrators of events and relators of traditions."
By turns humorous and touching, these interlinked stories are nutshells of vividly imagined past. While we follow Yafes Chelebi and his two successors in their search for the secret of perpetual motion, the crumbling empire undergoes drastic changes in the background and the city of their dreams, Istanbul, witnesses coup d'Γ©tats, Westernising reforms, and the advent of technological innovation.
Written in a unique idiom that is both a tender mimicry and witty parody of Ottoman bureaucratic prose, The Book of Devices is Anar at his imaginative best. One cannot help but wonder how a twenty-first-century author can dwell in the past with such ease and come back to the present, as in a Borgesian parable, with a cabinet of dreamy curiosities.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9786059389747
Publisher: Koc University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 20 May 2021
Country: TΓΌrkiye
Imprint: Koc University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 9.0mm
Width: 132.0mm
Height: 202.0mm
Weight: 164g
Pages: 144
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