Dialogue Session: The Three Daughters of Eve
Dialogue Session: The Three Daughters of Eve
West of the East Side
It wasn't Istanbul. It wasn't Oxford either. Midtown had to do for tighter schedules and other commitments. It was a Turkish restaurant though. A sort of East in the West. West of the East side.
My dialoguemate was journalist Laura Cantekin. Half Turkish, she suggested we read a book by a Turkish author. She picked Elif Shafak. We went for one of hers that Laura hadn't read yet so we'd be on more similar footing familiarity-wise, The Three Daughters of Eve. And it was a good one.
The conversation was better. Laura killed it. Almost out of the gate she blew my mind with one of those things that's so obvious after you see it. The protagonist as the embodiment of the real subject of the book. I had initially said I was a bit lost. But once we had this analogy our dialogue cruised along at a rapid clip. It was like things fell into place. The book made so much more sense. I kept saying if that's the frame then this and this and then this probably means this but then what about this.
We talked about boldness. Stepping boldly. The opposite of mousing. We saw a character arc of powerless to powerful. Of passive to active. Of stepping out into dangerous uncertainty. The role of women in Türkiye in the past, present, and most importantly, the future.
In these posts I always want to avoid spoilers. I always want to ensure our interpretations don't influence your own in case you read and digest the same book. So what I'll leave you with are my unexplored questions. What we didn't talk about, but I wanted to, things like experimentation, and the art of teaching.
In the book, the protagonist, Peri's favorite Oxford professor is fond of social experimentation. In the first half it's sort of mentioned casually. Later it becomes more central to the plot. What is Shafak trying to say about social experimentation? More simply is she pro or con? And what does her stance on this have to do with how she see Türkiye?
On the same topic of her favorite professor Azur, he is an iconoclastic teacher. He has a style like no other. Some of the classroom scenes are vivid and protracted. I see them as euphoric, almost David dancing in front of the Arc. What does Shafak want readers to takeaway? Does teaching need a shake up? Is more of this passion and approach called for? If so, why?
Book: I loved. I'd recommend but only if you're going to really digest it. Especially if you get to do it with a brilliant Turkish journo.
Restaurant: The food was great. The raqi probably was too but it's not really my thing. I'd definitely go back.
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