Sleeping in the Forest (Middle East Literature In Translation) by Sait Faik

Author:Sait Faik [Faik, Sait]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-02-28T00:28:00+00:00

"Davacıya göre bir muharebe"

Eftalikus' coffeehouse

Translated by Joseph S.Jacobson

A YOUNG MAN CAME UP TO ME.

"Hello," he said.

"Oh, hello," I replied.

Then he told me he'd wanted to meet me for a long time, but he had never found the opportunity. We started to walk. From the questions he asked me it was hard to tell whether he was sincere. If his questions were sincere, it was up to him to proceed with care; if not, it was up to me. And what, yes, what if he were making fun of me? It would be a good idea to humor him, then slip away at the first chance. But if he's serious, such sincerity must be attributed to his youth and inexperience. Somehow, some day, this feeling of admiration for you, born mainly of sentiment, will be wiped away and gone. And I shouldn't trust that alleged esteem too far. It would be better for both of us if this admiration continued. That's why I'm suspicious. Wouldn't it be a sign that we both don't make any progress?

Since the young man's avowed intention is to write, the likelihood of his pretending to be sincere in order to make fun of me is strong. But what can I do? I shouldn't appear too sharp or attentive either; this, too, would be a kind of conceit. The best thing to do, the best action to take against the possibility of his making fun of me, would be to lean toward familiarity, to appear to swallow it. A very sharp person could play the role of admirer with you to the bitter end. Let him play it; he won't win anything at it! If he's truly sincere, how fortunate. It could be. After all, at that age, without having the courage to approach them, you had looked on writers whom you now don't like at all, like people from another world.

Even now, aren't there European writers you can't help admiring? If you saw Gide, how could you not look on that octogenarian with admiration? And as for an opportunity to converse, who knows what inappropriate questions you might ask?

"I never imagined that I could sit with you in a coffeehouse of this sort?"

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. I swear he isn't scoffing. I think, if he's not kidding, should I?

"Your stories..."

In order to keep him from completing his sentence, which perhaps he would later regret, I have to put him on the defensive at once. Furthermore, the young man says he wants to be a critic. How he'll regret that! Let's change the direction.

"Do you write stories too?"

"I write poetry like everyone else at my age. I tried a story or two, but couldn't do it. I'm working more on criticism. I can say that there's no Turkish story published I don't know. But yours..."

"Look at that man across the street, he's blind from birth. Look, he's calling, `Mahmud Bey,*' to the other side. That means he knows that he

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