I Will Never See the World Again

Ahmet Altan is a writer and a journalist in Turkey who managed to offend Erdogan. He and his brother Mehmet were arrested after the failed coup in 2016 and charged with aiding the coup and were sentenced to life in prison. Mehmet recently was released when the Supreme Court said the charges were ridiculous, but Ahmet remains in prison. From there he wrote I Will Never See the World Again, a prison diary in the form of essays that speak of his experiences in learning to be free while imprisoned.

There is a great history of prison literature. “Don Quixote” and “Pilgrim’s Progress” were written in prison. While he has been writing these essays that describe his first year or so in prison, he has also been creating stories. He show more speaks of it as a form of schizophrenia, the people who live in his imagination and himself. This book is very much about cleaving the mind from the body, allowing the mind to travel the world, be with those he loved, and enjoy the pleasure of life while his body remains trapped in the prison.

I Will Never See the World Again is beautifully written. From the first chapter describing his arrest and his realization that he could separate himself from what was being done to him to the end where he describes the totality of being a writer, Altan writes with confidence and spirit. He is not broken by prison and remains, in his essence, a free man. “I am writing this in a prison cell. But I am not in prison. I am a writer. I am neither where I am nor where I am not. You can imprison me but you cannot keep me here. Because, like all writers, I have magic. I can pass through your walls with ease,” he writes. And he does.

I requested this book several months back and it was somewhat surreal to read it while the American president is bowing down to the Turkish dictator and aiding in the genocide of Kurds. I had hoped the July 2016 coup would succeed. Sadly, it did not and Erdogan used it to silence his critics, casting a wide net. Many people are advocating for Ahmet Altan’s release. If he is released, there will be more grace in the world.

I received an e-galley of I Will Never See the World Again from the publisher through Edelweiss.

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/10/23/9781590519929/ show less

What an amazingly powerful book. Turkish writer, Ahmet Altan is imprisoned by Erdogans oppressive regime for the slimmest of reasons. This is his experience from the time he is taken until he finds out his sentence is for life. It covers his feelings, but also discussions with his two cell mates on religion, descriptions of his cell, and his love of books, words, authors. It is poignant, forthright, hopeful and despairing. His words were smuggled out of prison, with the hope that the regime will realize they can lock up writers, but not their words, ideas.

"Forgetting is the greatest source of freedom a person can have. The prison, the cell, the walls, the doors, the locks, the problems and the people---everything and everyone placing show more limits on my life and telling me 'you cannot go beyond' is erased and gone."

"I grew up in a house full of books. My childhood was spent among them. Books were the wood sprites in a forest the essence of which I couldn't quite grasp, one that looked quite complex and boring to me. I liked the fairies bright charm, their air of mystery, their promising smiles more than the forest itself."

"I am writing this in a prison cell.
You can imprison me but you cannot keep me here.
Because like all writers, I have magic. I can pass through your walls with ease."

Incredibly touching, but also shows the resilience of the human spirit. show less

Ahmet Altan is a novelist and sometimes journalist who made remarks on tv deemed to be "subliminal messages" on the eve of a failed coup in Turkey in 2016. He was sentenced to life in prison with no evidence ever produced. While incarcerated he wrote essays which were smuggled out of the prison by his lawyer. Two were published in newspapers abroad. The essays were published as this memoir while he was still incarcerated. In April 2021 he was released by the Supreme Court of Appeals. The book has not been published in Turkey.

The essays are beautifully written and reflect not only on his situation but on the nature of God, literature, and the art of writing. There are many literary references, although most are paraphrased as the author show more did not have access to the books and was relying on memory. There is nothing gruesome here, he was never tortured; nor is it a polemic. I highly recommend this book. show less

Altan's style is kind of laid back and lacking in melodrama but his memoir is nonetheless unforgettable in its matter-of-fact recounting of the horrors and absurdities of the Erdogan "administration" and its meting out of (in)justice.

Ahmet Altan was imprisoned for no good reason. This book is a collection of essays and short pieces, some of which describe how he landed in prison, and others give an idea of what prison life is like for someone who should never have been sent there. Altan is a wise man, and there is much to value in this book. There is a happy ending, though not one told here - in 2021, Altan was released from prison.

I had never heard of the author before and saw it was quite a short read so I thought why not give it a try. The book is way better than I initially thought it would be. It collects a handful of essays the author wrote in a prison in Turkey. He got arrested because of the coup that happened in Turkey a few years ago.

Some quotes of this book I really liked:

"The policeman next to me lit a cigarette, then held the packet out to me. I shook my head no, smiling. "I only smoke," I said, "when I am nervous."

"My life will pass fighting invisible battles between two walls; I will survive hanging on to the branches of my own mind, at the edge of the abyss, and not giving in to the disorientating inebriety of weakness, even for a moment."

"I didn't show more only feel what he felt, however. Like Suskind's protagonist who steals others' scents, I took the young teacher's (fellow inmate) adventures and filled them with my own emotions to weave myself a dream cloak from his memories, a cloak in which I could wrap myself up and hide."

"A smell completely unknown to me made him think of "absolute happiness." The smell of frozen seaweed, an isolated village, a walk in the snow, walking away from life...All those could lead to happiness. How could Brodsky and the village teacher, two people entirely unlike each other, roam around in different depths of life, take dissimilar paths and arrive at the same word, "happiness"? I wanted to understand this."

This book is full of these wonderful thoughts and observations. If any of these quotes are to your liking then please read this gem of a book! It will be worth your time! show less

I had never heard of the author before and saw it was quite a short read so I thought why not give it a try. The book is way better than I initially thought it would be. It collects a handful of essays the author wrote in a prison in Turkey. He got arrested because of the coup that happened in Turkey a few years ago.

Some quotes of this book I really liked:

"The policeman next to me lit a cigarette, then held the packet out to me. I shook my head no, smiling. "I only smoke," I said, "when I am nervous."

"My life will pass fighting invisible battles between two walls; I will survive hanging on to the branches of my own mind, at the edge of the abyss, and not giving in to the disorientating inebriety of weakness, even for a moment."

"I didn't show more only feel what he felt, however. Like Suskind's protagonist who steals others' scents, I took the young teacher's (fellow inmate) adventures and filled them with my own emotions to weave myself a dream cloak from his memories, a cloak in which I could wrap myself up and hide."

"A smell completely unknown to me made him think of "absolute happiness." The smell of frozen seaweed, an isolated village, a walk in the snow, walking away from life...All those could lead to happiness. How could Brodsky and the village teacher, two people entirely unlike each other, roam around in different depths of life, take dissimilar paths and arrive at the same word, "happiness"? I wanted to understand this."

This book is full of these wonderful thoughts and observations. If any of these quotes are to your liking then please read this gem of a book! It will be worth your time! show less