The insanity of our violent political reality is still defining Ahmet Altan’s brilliant, smuggled-out-of-prison memoir “I Will Never See the World Again.”
Three years ago, the novelist and journalist was imprisoned for crimes that included sending “subliminal messages” opposing the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan’s regime has purged at least 169,000 government workers for their perceived political views and jailed thousands of citizens, including more than 100 journalists and authors.
For a moment, the title of Altan’s book seemed joyously wrong, after the writer was abruptly released last week. But then, just as suddenly, as Erdogan prepared for a state visit with his “friend” Donald Trump, Turkish police again imprisoned the writer.
Since then, Erdogan has touched down in the land of the free and the home of the brave where, in 2017, members of his security detail beat protesters in American streets.
How to make sense of it?
For now, we have Altan’s cri de coeur, its slim 208 pages shines as a timeless testament to the art and power of writing amid Orwellian repression.
Altan’s admirably translated book sweeps readers into a prose river shaped by three currents, beginning with two suspenseful sentences:
“I woke up. The doorbell was ringing.”
Thus do the police come for Altan. The first current carries us along through that night’s grim ride to prison and the trials that followed, where bored judges evolve the “subliminal messaging” accusations into legalese of subversion and treachery with a sentence of life without parole.
Altan introduces us to the fellow human beings he meets in a prison where flowers are forbidden but casual cruelty flourishes among the guards, functionaries and doctors who follow their orders with indifference.
Altan, who has published nine novels, confronts the essential duality of writing and his own plight of persecution.
