Zulfu Livaneli’s “Last Island” pops up at Iranian bookstores

TEHRAN –(Iranart)- Turkish writer Zulfu Livaneli’s novel “The Last Island” has been published in Persian by Negah Publications in Tehran.

The book has been translated into Persian by Ilnaz Hoquqi. 

“The Last Island” was written in 2008, but to a large extent, the story foreshadows the events and aftermath of Istanbul’s bloody Taksim Square political protests of 2013.

The anonymous narrator of “The Last Island” calls this place, which he named “the last refuge, the last humanitarian corner.” 

It is almost a utopia. Everybody was doing as much as he could. However, this situation does not last long: the country’s settling on the island in order to spend the retirement of the president of the coup, this paradise will lack the peace of those living on the island.

The president is determined to save Son Ada (Last Island) from anarchy. He begins to manage the society that is content with the state of the island by doing whatever the majority’s votes indicate by the help of established boards, making the island’s wooded paths arranged according to park and garden traditions. Seemingly everything is in line with democratic traditions.

While the utopia turns into a complete dystopia, there are seagulls, especially those who rebel against this trend.

In this unique creative novel of Livaneli, the human structure faces authority.

Human nature and authority come face to face in Livaneli’s unparalleled, creative novel “The Last Island”. 

Livaneli is a writer, musician, screenwriter and politician born in Konya in 1946.  

He was so curious about music at a young age that learned to play baglama.

He went to prison as a result of the coup in 1971 due to his political stance, settled in Sweden in 1972. He released his first album in 1973 by studying music and philosophy during his time in Sweden.

He continued to compose for the movies in the following years by writing the music for “Bus” in 1976.

The artist has appeared in front of the camera for his first film “Iron Earth, Copper Sky”, which he wrote in 1987 and directed. 

He published his first book “Dictator and Clown” in 1993. This book, compiled from newspaper articles, was published as a book with the name published in the newspaper.

In 2017, he published his book “Restlessness” and his album named “One Generation to One Generation”.

source: Tehran Times