books @ cc.

by Meša Selimović (1966)

Set in Sarajevo circa 18th century, Death and the Dervish is a first-person narrative account by the dervish of the title, Ahmed Nurrudin. A spiritual leader of a tekke, Ahmed — whose name is apparently given (his real name is never revealed, as are all characters in the book except for Hassan) — considers himself unworthy of the title Sheikh and Nuruddin, a man at an “ugly age… young enough to have dreams, but too old to fulfill any of them.”