Where to start? It seems impossible to critique Madonna in a Fur Coat, without focusing on the book’s author Sabahattin Ali. A statue of Ali was erected decades ago in Ardino, Turkey the town of his birth. The author continues to be commemorated in a string of ceremonies held in the northwestern province of Kırklareli more than 70 years since his unsuccessful attempt to flee the country. This is the novelist who refused to celebrate the traditional male/female roles that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s current president seems hell-bent on honoring.
Ali continues to be read in Turkish, particularly by the country’s youth. Within Turkey Madonna in a Fur Coat outsells any works by Orhan Pamuk and Elif Shafak, Turkey’s internationally recognized authors. It has been available in English since 2016.
The book celebrates the interior life of 25-year-old man, Raif Efendi, and his attraction to a 27-year-old woman, Maria Puder, a singer and painter who has rejected gender determined stereotypes.
Structurally, the book is presented in a straightforward manner. The narrator, a native of Havran, journeys to Berlin, in hopes of learning about the soap trade, but first he must learn German. He is hired as a clerk and works alongside a mysteriously berated older man, whom he befriends. When the older man dies he entrusts a notebook to the young narrator. The bulk of the book is the life story of this elderly man, Raif Efendi.
The author of Madonna in a Fur Coat, Sabahattin Ali was murdered by a smuggler Ali Ertekin, who accompanied him to the Bulgarian border with Turkey and then battered him to death with a shovel in a fit of patriotic anger. Ali was 41. Unable to obtain a passport, he couldn’t legally re-enter his own country.
Throughout his life and his teaching career, Ali ran into difficulties for his political critiques, including his berating of Ataturk and his introduction of diverse ideas in his teaching career.
About skayoliver
The blog name "flaneuse" refers to my peripatetic lifestyle and the cultural gadfly nature of my posts. I've toyed with several other names: "I Beg to Differ" is one I like. Also "Walking Around." (But since half my year is spent in Phoenix, AZ, "hiking around" or "driving around" might be more accurate.) Anyway, I'm an ex-journalist, film reviewer and public relations specialist who is well-read, is a bit of a know-it-all and would like to communicate her observations, her critical reviews and her experiences of living in two very different cities: Portland, Oregon and Phoenix, Arizona. Welcome aboard!
Flaneuse 
Review: “Madonna in a Fur Coat,” by Sabahattin Ali
Where to start? It seems impossible to critique Madonna in a Fur Coat, without focusing on the book’s author Sabahattin Ali. A statue of Ali was erected decades ago in Ardino, Turkey the town of his birth. The author continues to be commemorated in a string of ceremonies held in the northwestern province of Kırklareli more than 70 years since his unsuccessful attempt to flee the country. This is the novelist who refused to celebrate the traditional male/female roles that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s current president seems hell-bent on honoring.
Ali continues to be read in Turkish, particularly by the country’s youth. Within Turkey Madonna in a Fur Coat outsells any works by Orhan Pamuk and Elif Shafak, Turkey’s internationally recognized authors. It has been available in English since 2016.
The book celebrates the interior life of 25-year-old man, Raif Efendi, and his attraction to a 27-year-old woman, Maria Puder, a singer and painter who has rejected gender determined stereotypes.
Structurally, the book is presented in a straightforward manner. The narrator, a native of Havran, journeys to Berlin, in hopes of learning about the soap trade, but first he must learn German. He is hired as a clerk and works alongside a mysteriously berated older man, whom he befriends. When the older man dies he entrusts a notebook to the young narrator. The bulk of the book is the life story of this elderly man, Raif Efendi.
The author of Madonna in a Fur Coat, Sabahattin Ali was murdered by a smuggler Ali Ertekin, who accompanied him to the Bulgarian border with Turkey and then battered him to death with a shovel in a fit of patriotic anger. Ali was 41. Unable to obtain a passport, he couldn’t legally re-enter his own country.
Throughout his life and his teaching career, Ali ran into difficulties for his political critiques, including his berating of Ataturk and his introduction of diverse ideas in his teaching career.
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About skayoliver
The blog name "flaneuse" refers to my peripatetic lifestyle and the cultural gadfly nature of my posts. I've toyed with several other names: "I Beg to Differ" is one I like. Also "Walking Around." (But since half my year is spent in Phoenix, AZ, "hiking around" or "driving around" might be more accurate.) Anyway, I'm an ex-journalist, film reviewer and public relations specialist who is well-read, is a bit of a know-it-all and would like to communicate her observations, her critical reviews and her experiences of living in two very different cities: Portland, Oregon and Phoenix, Arizona. Welcome aboard!