Kurdshop – "The Book of the Year" is the fifth collection of stories by Hassan Mate, which consists of 13 stories. I am not going to dwell on all the stories, I am just going to talk about the ones that have impacted and enjoyed me and share my impressions with you in a few words.
When we evaluate the book as a whole, we can say that many of the stories’ themes are longing, missing, and alienation from the country. Of course, this theme takes its essence from the theme of diaspora literature, which Hassan Mate is one of the authors of the diaspora and this book is diaspora literature.
Some stories end with a surprise and astound the readers, but in some stories, the readers' hearts are still longing and waiting, but the story ends there. This is one of the styles of the postmodern story.
In some stories, the relationship between men and women is weak, and we can even say that the female characters have become very weak and remain in the shadow of men. The conflict between men and women is also described in some stories, which is one of the problems of modern life. In addition to the conflict between modern men and women, there is also the author's struggle with God, which has now become a classic story of Hassan Mate. We can interpret this situation as follows; because the writers of the oppressed nations do not come to terms with their rulers or cannot do anything with them, they rebel against God and fight with him.
The language of the book is completely successful, the language is standard, but in some parts (the story of Marwan Isa) informal language is used, but in general, it is the classical language of Hassan Mate. When we make a general comparison with the author's previous works, we can say that, except for a few stories, the others are weak and not as strong as Hassan Mate's stories and novels; some stories remain dull. We now discuss a few stories from the "The Book of the Year" and make some comments on them.
The Book of the Year
This story is the story of a story. In other words, it is a story within another. It begins in an era; the story of the story is from another era. But without realizing how we are moving from one era to the next, the two stories are masterfully woven into one to be read. The main story takes place in a country where one realizes that this country is not Kurdistan.
There is an association called X in this country that is organizing a literary prize. Someone from the association calls the author who will receive this year’s award. This is the beginning shortly. But the story inside is about the country’s situation 16 years ago. In fact, it is about the tragedy of ISIS, how they took over the Kurmanj Mountains and killed our character's father, Marwan Isa, in front of him and his aunt. Marwan Isa and his family are forced to cross the border and stay in a refugee camp in Dilok, where he starts begging.
"Time passed and now I learned to beg, I can say that I enjoyed begging...especially when older men and women put one hand in their pocket and the other on my head. That is why I felt the warmth of a parent's hand" (p 21).
With these words, we feel the heart of a pure child unaware of his pain. A child whose father is killed in front of his eyes and begs on a foreign city’s streets. This is the inevitability and reality of life. What struck me was that despite this tragedy, we do not see traces of trauma or bad mentality in our child’s character. He lives a life of poverty, strangeness, and exile. Strangely, one day a middle-aged man at the speaker's house gave him a book and some English money. Marwan Isa sells the book because he is illiterate and books mean nothing to a beggar child. But that book never left Marwan Isa.
After a while, Marwan Isa became rich and sponsored Group X to give the award, calling it the "My Aunt" award. This year's book is called "The Footsteps of the Wild Buffalo". When we read the story of Marwan Isa, we get a surprise. The person who receives the prize and the person who gave the book to Marwan Isa is the same, but they are not said to be the same and it does not spoil the magic of the story.
The language and tone of the story are very good and the author's narrative is very successful. In some parts, a dialect was used, but generally, a standard language was used.
Migration
This story, like the previous one, consists of two stories. There is a romantic scene at the beginning of the story, but with the sound and sight of the TV, that romantic atmosphere turns into a social trauma. At the insistence of her friend, Shaima goes back thirty-three years and talks about her first days at school. Shaima goes to school under pressure from her grandmother and even when she returns home she does not talk to anyone and cries. After the first day of school, her teacher tries to get her to adjust to school. Her teacher loves her and calls her, her daughter.
Every time her teacher hugs her, she smells a pleasant smell. The more enthusiastic Shaima becomes with her teacher, the more she goes to school. Until one day her teacher asked the students what other language they knew besides Turkish and asks the students to say something in their own language. Each says something in a language; German, English, French, and Dutch too. Shaima, also, tells her teacher, "I know a language too. I love you". The teacher asks, which language is this? When Shaima replies that it is Kurmanji (Kurdish), the teacher reacts: There is no such language.
The scene in front of Shaima on TV is of the Kurdistan and Turkish prime ministers with Kurdistan and Turkish flags next to each other on their tables. At this moment, Shaima is happy and feels successful. She wonders if her teacher is still alive and sees these scenes. If her teacher had seen these scenes, Shaima would have avenged the wound that had not healed for thirty-three years. Revenge for the pain she suffered at that age when she did not know the name of her nation and people, and her country was only the Kochan village. But this is how Shaima found out that her teacher was racist. In this story, the author portrays the rulers as smelling good but their minds are dirty. For instance, there is a beautiful and fragrant teacher who is not so intelligent. By doing so, he has comforted both his own heart and the heart of his character.
Don't laugh, Sister
The story is a great fun all in all. Love, date, and first kiss. In this story, a character who has slept with a strange guy falls into a sea of happiness and tells another woman, but every time she says don't laugh, he does not let the reader get into the story's heart. The story gets interesting with this iteration. We can understand the phrase "don't laugh, sister" as if she is saying this out of shame and that woman's laughter is because her words remain unanswered.
Ankaboot (Spider)
The story takes its name from Surah Al-Ankabut, which tells of the miracles of the prophets. Our character goes to his village after 39 years, and he finds that the village has changed, nothing is the same, and the house where he was born has been destroyed after the death of his parents. But the village mosque is more prosperous than ever. Our character goes to his sister’s house. After a conversation full of longing, Haji Mukhtar, his sister's husband (who is also one of our characters), arrives. He describes Haji Mukhtar as "Now his cheeks are tender, his belly has grown, and his head is small...' (P.59) In the description and the rest of the story we understand why Haji Mukhtar is portrayed in this way, the smallness of his head is a sign of lack of thought.
Haji Mukhtar became a religious person and joined an Islamic organization, which acts like many sects and groups today in the name of religion, but it is interesting that Mullah Safari, the village mullah, is in charge of the organization. As a child, Mullah Safar would steal baby chicks from their nests and take them to Hicho's Armenian shop, telling him that he would kill them if they did not give him sugar and gum.
During the conversation, our character tells Haji Mukhtar that Noah lived for nine hundred and fifty years, citing the Torah as a source. When Haji Mukhtar heard the name of the Torah, he became angry and said, “Don't believe these disbelievers". By this, we understand that these so-called religious people have no knowledge of the Scriptures and the words of God. In the last paragraph, the author says many things that we can consider: "Dear Haji Mukhtar, by Allah, it does not occur to me that a person can live so many years, but the Holy Qur'an says the same thing. It is written clearly in Qur'an; but if you have to, you can also ask Mullah Safar". Mullah Safar is the one who used to kill little birds in front of the Armenian Hicho shop for a piece of bread and gum. (PP. 62-63)
The Word of God
This story, like the story of Ankabut, is written about ignorance. There is again a reference to the Torah in the story, and this time the people in authority are not aware of the words of God and the prophets. Our character is a writer who gets caught and blinded because he wrote a Torah verse in his book. This story gives its readers a sense of history, perhaps because of the type of torture or because of a similar subject matter that does not stand out in modern times. What changes the story different is that it turns out to be a dream.
Generally, it was a good story and enjoyable. But the dialogues between the authority figure and the prisoner were weak because someone who has been imprisoned and whose eyes have been blinded cannot attract the reader's attention if he speaks as if the situation is normal and nothing has happened.
My mother's eyes
This story, like many in this book, consists of two stories, a story within a story. It is a memorable story full of longing. There is both longing for the country and longing for the mother. Our character goes to the country and meets a woman who looks like her mother and buys her clothes because she looks like her. It is normal that a person feels like someone they see looks like one of their close relatives, but remembering one’s mother is a different matter. One cannot easily compare someone to her mother. However, this situation becomes normal since our character has not seen her mother in a long time.
Kupo
A fight between two children brings to mind a social situation. It is about the problem of society. When one's will is in the hands of others, no matter how strong and incredible you are, it will be useless. Kupo is a strong boy but a weak boy can beat him until his father permits him to beat him back. "I think it's a bad thing if one's laws, strength, and power are in the hands of others... even if that hand is the hand of one's father," the author concludes. A person who knows that his power is in the hands of another will only be a coward and nothing else! (P.90)
