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.”

by Danilo Kiš (1965)

A semi-autobiographical story, Garden, Ashes is a recollection of Andy Scham, a young child living in Hungary during the World War II. Despite the ubiquitous shadows of Holocaust, Kiš’ masterful composition of vivid, precise minutiae of surrounding details and events, with an intense focus on the (eccentric) father, Eduard Scham, Garden, Ashes evokes the densely atmospheric writings of Bruno Schulz in The Street of Crocodiles.

by Danilo Kiš (1983)

A collection of metaphysical short stories set in various times and places, luminously darkened with the themes of fate and death’s impenetrability. With strong political undercurrents and recondite personal insights, Kiš’s reworked facts, Gnostic, Biblical, Koran myths and legends, political situations, rural folktales, depicting the delicate multitude and vicissitude of human life, perhaps with less faux vérité style than A Tomb for Boris Davidovich, yet with the same finely-crafted prose, subtle ironies and detachment that is both powerful and constrained.

by Danilo Kiš (1976)

A Tomb for Boris Davidovich consists of seven different yet casually interlinked short stories about revolutionaries, mostly centering around the Russian Revolution and its blind Stalinist totalitarianism that arbitrarily consumes its children. In its loose labyrinth of characters, loose deeds, occurences and details artfully described, readers find shadows of Borgesian influence. While the literary polemic with Borges is unmistakably deliberate with his faux documentary style (particularly A Universal History of Iniquity), Kiš’ lyrical mastery is all the more remarkably powerful in his detached yet delicate constructions of the grim subjects.

by Orhan Pamuk (1979)

Part meta-, part historical fiction, The White Castle is the story of the narrator (whose name is never revealed), a young Italian savant and his ambivalent relationship with his Turkish double. In 17th century, caught by the Ottoman fleet during his journey from Venice to Naples, the narrator was brought to Istanbul as a slave, yet his various skilled knowledge acquired him better treatment and fame. Summoned to medicate the ailing pasha (and suceeding), he was then dispensed to assist the Hoja — a master-teacher — who could easily pass for his twin.

by Mark Cousins (2004)

Taking his cue from H.R. Gombrich’s The Story of Art, Mark Cousins paints a broad sweep of film history, chronologically arranged from its conception in late 19th century, “silent” to “sound” and then “digital” in 21st century, focusing on those whose originality — “schema with variations” instead of Gombrich’s “schema with corrections” — he considered has altered the landmarks of film-making.

A Political History
by Hamid Reza Sadr (2006)

From the infamous introduction of cinema to Iran through the Iranian monarchy in the early twentieth century to the worldwide acclaimed post-revolutionary era, Sadr presents us with a highly readable history of Iranian cinema with its embedded and reflected social, political, cultural and economic contexts, lucidly written in a comprehensive book.

by Orhan Pamuk (1998)

In Istanbul, in the late 1590s, the Sultan secretly commissions a book to Enishte Effendi, instead of his head illustrator, Master Osman. Working with the most prominent miniaturists of the day: Elegant, Butterfly, Stork, and Olive, Enishte is to create a book that will display the Sultan’s prominence and power to the infidel Venetians — illustrated in the Frankish manner, i.e. using shadows, perspective, etc. to make the subjects recognisable and representational.

Non-Fiction 1922-1986
by Jorge Luis Borges

This is a collection of more than 150 non-fiction pieces (critical essays, movie & book reviews, prologues, introductions) grouped chronologically from his earlier (disowned) writings to the year of his death in 1986. Some of these pieces have also appeared in Labyrinths. Most are short, with longer pieces dedicated to certain subjects well-associated with Borges (The Thousand and One Night, time, dreams, labyrinth…).

The Evolutionary Legacy
by Mel Greaves (2000)

In an age where the media is full of unrealistic hyperbole of yet another breakthrough of “cancer cure”, this book offers you a comprehensive analysis of the disease with a lucidity that will engage both layman and specialist readers alike. Drawing from the ‘Darwinian medicine’ principle, Professor Greaves tells the historical and biological complexity of cancer with erudition and sensitive wit.