He describes his background, his interest in books and his parents’ disdain for him and how eventually he found some solace in drawing. Raif Efendi demands the notebook be burned, but our narrator pleads with Raif Efendi to allow him one night to read it.įrom an uncertain date in the 1930’s we are transported back to the early 1920’s in Raif Efendi’s notebook. During a long illness, the narrator brings the contents of Raif Efendi’s desk drawer home including a black notebook. As their friendship begins to develop, our narrator becomes more attached to Raif Efendi and more puzzled by his passiveness.
A visit to Raif Efendi’s home to deliver a translation allows our narrator the chance to see that Raif Efendi is no better off at home, constantly surrounded by disrespectful people who demean him while living off his labours. However, there are glimpses of a deeper life Raif Efendi sketches the boss in a moment of restrained anger, capturing his face perfectly with just a few expert lines. He keeps to himself, much to the frustration of our impatient narrator. Raif Efendi is the German translator, much put upon and used as a doormat by everyone. A chance encounter with an old school friend leads to a job in an Ankara company where he shares an office with Raif Efendi. We begin with the narrator who is unemployed and feeling down on his luck. Sabahattin Ali described the main idea of the novel as, “The world’s most simple, most pathetic, even most foolish man has a wonderful complicated soul that can surprise and amaze people! Why do we avoid understanding this and why do we think understanding the being and judging them from what they say is one of the easiest things?” A film is also being produced, with Turkish actress Beren Saat rumoured to have lost out to French actress Marion Cotillard for the role of Maria. It has also been published in German, French, Russian, Croatian, Arabic and Albanian with translations expected in Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Georgian soon.
In 2016, “Madonna in a Fur Coat” the English translation by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe was published by Penguin. Sales are reported to be 10-15,000 copies per month, keeping it on the bestseller lists in Turkey for years. In 1998 it was republished by Yapi Kredi Yayinlar and to date has sold over 1.6 million copies in 85 reprints. “ K ürk Mantolu Madonna” by Sabahattin Ali was first published in 48 parts in Hakikat newspaper in 1940, before being published in book form in 1943.
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