The Wounded Age and Eastern Tales

Edgü sketches the austere beauty and stark violence of Turkey’s mountainous east and its borderlands in this spare and poignant collection, his English-language debut. The minimalist title novella follows an unnamed journalist visiting the volatile region, who is determined to make a record of those who’ve been displaced to refugee camps after an unspecified war. With the help of his guide and interpreter, the journalist speaks to survivors, though he struggles to comprehend the apparently ceaseless and cyclical violence. A series titled “Eastern Tales” paints a picture of the region’s traditions. In the parable “Happiness,” a government appointee is sent to build houses in a village where people prefer to live in caves. Eventually, he comes to identify with the villagers and repairs their caves instead. The koan-like series “Minimal Tales” showcases the dark humor of people who know there is no meaning to their suffering, as a villager rhetorically asks the narrator of “Ruins”: “What business would God have on this mountaintop?” In brief, melancholy views of the bleak landscape, Edgü cuts to the heart of the matter, evoking powerful emotions with few words. This will transport readers. (Jan.)