Books blogTurkmenistanA dictator's guide to the universeWhat would aliens make of Turkmenistan if they discovered a copy of Saparmurat Niyazov's panoptical Ruhnama?Two years ago in a McDonald's in Moscow I asked a man from Ashgabat about some of the bizarre stories circulating about his homeland:
"Is it true that gold teeth are banned in Turkmenistan?" "Complete bullshit." "I heard that beards are banned too..." "Don't believe what you read on the internet. Read More...
The Blue Mosque in Istanbul at sunset. Photograph: Herbert Spichtinger/zefa/CorbisThe Blue Mosque in Istanbul at sunset. Photograph: Herbert Spichtinger/zefa/CorbisFiction in translationTanpinar’s The Time Regulation Institute is a brilliant comic novel from 1962 about life in a Turkey forced to adopt western ways. Pankaj Mishra signals the dangers of a one-size-fits-all notion of modernityOrhan Pamuk has called Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar (1901-62) the greatest Turkish novelist of the 20th century. From the evidence of The Time Regulation Institute – and Huzur (A Mind at Peace) – Tanpinar may have a strong claim to this distinction. Read More...
Albert Leornes Greene, better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including "Take Me to the River", "Tired of Being Alone", "I'm Still in Love with You", "Love and Happiness", and his signature song, "Let's Stay Together". After an incident in which his girlfriend died by suicide, Green became an ordained pastor and turned to gospel music. Read More...
