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Cargando... De brugpor Geert Mak
Información de la obraThe Bridge: A Journey Between Orient and Occident por Geert Mak
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. De Brug was the 2007 Boekenweek gift, and it's written to the typical Boekenweek length of around 100 pages. Unusually, it was released simultaneously in both Dutch and Turkish versions. Over the course of a year, Mak got to know some of the vendors, beggars, anglers and others who spend their working lives on Istanbul's Galata Bridge, the 1km long link over the Golden Horn. He tells their stories, sensitively but undramatically, and interweaves them with insights into the complicated history of the city and the way the bridge fits into that, dipping into the works of both Turkish and Western writers along the way. Amongst other things, he tries to analyse the reactions of the people he meets to the Danish cartoons scandal and the murder of Theo van Gogh, which happened during the course of his field-work. His conclusion is that it's all got more to do with notions of honour and self-respect than with directly religious feelings. Not the definitive book on Istanbul, of course, and it doesn't claim to be, but a nice introduction that goes a bit further under the skins of the locals than you would be likely to get as a casual tourist. This book tells the story of a bridge in Istanbul. Not only of the bridge itself, but also of the people who try to make a living on it, one way or the other. One sells cigarettes, another books. There's a tea-seller. They all have in common, that they are very poor and all they have left is their pride. The history of the town of Istanbul and partially of Turkey are mentioned too. The point of view is more or less of the people who tell their stories to the writer. Poverty, revenge, struggle to survive, women's rights, it all passes. One theme more elaborated than the other. I was not very impressed. To me it were stories, for some reason I found it hard to get into the book. I read it till the end, because I wanted to know if it would get better, but no. The book didn't touch me, apart from the telling about the history of Turkey. That were nice elements, I would have liked more of that, instead of all the stories of people on the bridge. Then I would have known more about Turkey, a country we were thought almost nothing about. I think that is a subject for further reading. The Dutch author Geert Mak has written several books about history and sociology of cities and rural communities. De brug is a portrait of the Galata bridge in Istanbul, describing the history of life and business of the people of Istanbul on the bridge. The book is not very inspiring. The long literature list at the end of the book suggests that it was inspired more by reading than by actual experience of the place. It was published in March 2007, barely half a year after the Nobel Prize was awarded to the Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, whose work forms a much more authentic description of the city of Istanbul. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Pertenece a las series editorialesBoekenweekgeschenk (2007)
Istanbul’s Galata Bridge has spanned the Golden Horn since the sixth century AD, connecting the old city with the more Western districts to the north. But the bridge is a city in itself, peopled by merchants and petty thieves, tourists and fishermen, and at the same time a microcosmic reflection of Turkey as the link between Asia and Europe. Geert Mak introduces us to the woman who sells lottery tickets, the cigarette vendors, and the best pickpockets in Europe. He tells us about the pride of the cobbler and the tea-seller's homesickness. And he describes the role of honor in Turkish culture, the temptations of fundamentalism and violence, and the urge to survive, even in the face of despair. These stories of the bridge’s denizens are interwoven with vignettes illuminating moments in the history of Istanbul and Turkey and shedding light on Turkey’s relationship with Europe and the West, the Armenian question, the migration from the Turkish countryside to the city, and the demise of the Ottoman Empire. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)949.618History and Geography Europe Other parts Turkey and the Balkans Turkish Thrace; Istanbul IstanbulClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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De vaakst terugkerende verkopers zijn Ali Özbağriaçik, de zolenman, Mehmet İnce, de boekhandelaar, Önder Karabuga, de sigarettenjongen, Ömer İhtiyar, de oude sjouwer, en het bejaarde echtpaar Ayhan en Fatma. Met hen en anderen voert de auteur de dagelijkse en vaak intieme gesprekken over de gebeurtenissen op de brug en hun verleden dat meestal in een Turks dorpje begon en hun toekomst. Turken, Armenen en Koerden leven naast elkaar en door elkaar op de brug in hun eigen enclaves.
De beschreven Galatabrug is inmiddels alweer de vijfde op deze plek. Geert Mak ziet zo zijn kans schoon om niet alleen de actuele dagelijkse gang van zaken op de brug te bespreken. De elkaar opvolgende historische bruggen geven hem zo ook de gelegenheid om het interessante verleden van de wereldstad Istanboel en het Turkse Rijk te beschrijven. Hij gaat zelfs terug tot Byzantion, vandaar naar Constantinopel om voorlopig te eindigen in de huidige wereldstad Istanboel. Ondertussen is de geschiedenis van Turkije beknopt doch vlijmscherp beschreven.
De brug verbindt twee delen van het Europese deel, de wijken Eminönü en Galata. De huidige vijfde brug dateert uit 1994. De eerste brug op de plek van de Galatabrug werd gebouwd in 1845. Maar zelfs Leonardo da Vinci maakte reeds een ontwerp. En in 1453 legde sultan Mehmet II al eventjes tijdens zijn verovering van de stad een provisorische brug aan van 80 schepen. ( )