As a lost child in Turkey I found refuge on an imaginary mountain Elif Shafak
almost 5 years in The guardian
When I felt misplaced in my new world, the legends of Mount Qaf gave me a place of endless possibilities and uncensored words
I was born in France to Turkish parents. A small flat in a tower block, sunlight through the curtains pierced by swirls of cigarette smoke. The strong smell of Gauloises, Turkish and Syrian tobacco packaged with French style. Immigrants, students, workers … leftists, mostly. Reading Althusser and Fanon but not so much De Beauvoir, passionately arguing about the revolution they believed was soon to come. When I think about my first home that’s how I see it in my mind’s eye.
Shortly afterwards my parents broke up. My father stayed in France and my mother brought me to Turkey. To her, this was the motherland. To me, it was a new country. Some of my earliest memories are interlaced with a sense of placelessness. Continue reading...
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