Quotes from Abdulrazak Gurnah

Before maps the world was limitless. It was maps that gave it shape and made it seem like territory, like something that could be possessed, not just laid waste and plundered. Maps made places on the edges of the imagination seem graspable and placable. And later when it became necessary, geography became biology in order to construct a hierarchy in which to place the people who lived in their inaccessibility and

I have always had an interest in furniture. At the very least, it weighs us down and keeps us on the ground, and prevents us from clambering up trees and howling naked as the terror of our useless lives overcomes us. It keeps us from wandering aimlessly in pathless wildernesses, plotting cannibalism in forest clearings and dripping caves.

bir daha hiç geri gelmemek üzere yitip gitmiÅŸ bir mutluluÄŸu olduÄŸu gibi koruyabileceÄŸine, zaman ak???n? durdurabileceÄŸine, her ÅŸeyin eskisi gibi olabileceÄŸine inan?yordu.

That is what stories can do, they can push the feeble disorders we live with out of sight.

Yet I lay in bed that night imagining what it would be like not to feel such an alien in England, to be able to live with someone to whom I could speak casually about things without having to give long explanations, what it would be like not to live in England at all, but here, in a crowd, rather than always being and feeling on the edges of everything.

Su ölüye hediyedir. Ölünün ruhu hayata susam??l?kla kavrulur ve an?lar?n suyundan içmeyi arzular ama yaln?zca unutulman?n suyundan içebilir.

Bu anlams?z dünya kargaÅŸa dolu ve ben de kaybolanlardan biriyim.

Umudu k?r?lm?? insana baÅŸka kim hayat?n hat?ras?n? geri verebilir ki, söyle?

Hayat böyledir, tam da bizi hapseden nesnelere faydas?z bir ÅŸekilde sar?l?r?z.

New maps were made, complete maps, so that every inch was accounted for, and everyone now knew who they were, or at least who they belonged to. Those maps, how they transformed everything.

they lodge themselves in the infinite corners of recall, and then return in their full regalia in ones and twos and threes, each little bunch stepping forward to corrode the heart with venom again and again.

memory of her grief

and what might be intended as simple curiosity may feel like a demand for a confession.

I could not help it. I began to sob. For the father I had never known, and for his desperate escapade which had filled everyone else with pain. But mainly I sobbed for myself, for the shambles I had made of my life, for what I had already lost and for what I feared I was still to lose.

If the posters and the campaigns and demonstrations were a guide, any injustice in the world seemed to be theirs to claim, accompanied by frivolities that were like a celebration of disorder. They were fortunate people who desired to own even the suffering of others.

People like Uncle Hashim can say things like that, even if they are true. They can store them for years, hold on to them and let them harden and solidify, until the moment arrives when they can be delivered as they had been intended to, to crush a bone or bruise the heart.

Abdulrazak Gurnah

AÅŸk?n baÅŸlang?c? ÅŸükretmektir. Sonras? maÅŸukun kapasitesine, yani faziletine baÄŸl?d?r." (DoÄŸruluk Kitab?)

Baz? kitaplardan hiç ayr?lmad?m çünkü beni hiç s?kmad?lar.

Kimse bana dünyan?n çirkin yüzünü görmeyi ögretmemiÅŸti ve ben her ÅŸeyi aptal gibi görüyor, hiçbir ÅŸeyi anlam?yordum.

DuyulmuÅŸ ezgiler güzeldir, duyulmam??lar? daha güzeldir.

I like stubborn, wily survivors, and wish I could be one myself. So the next day I walked to his office, to extend my appreciation of his doggedness and to wish him a joyful time of it.

GöndermediÄŸim mektuplar? defterde tuttum, böylece defter yaln?zl?k ve keyifsizlik anlar?m?n topland??? bir yere dönüÅŸtü.

All the children of the powerful were being groomed to be powerful