Sleeping in the Forest

I wanted to write a blog about the short stories that were assigned to the class that we did not get a chance to discuss in class. I think that these short stories probably were very thought provoking to most of you and probably even confusing. I probably should have introduced a little more background about these stories before you I had everyone read them. The stories are a little bit difficult to read on their own. There were 22 stories that were put together in sleeping in the forest and I picked the ones that interested me most for the class. Many of the stories in the novel ended unhappily, many critics think that reflects upon the author who put the stories together who died roughly around the age of 50 from alcoholism. The stories brought realistic accounts of everyday turkish people and put them in a fictional light, the author gave them a dream like feel. The stories in this book were very surreal and sought out true everyday issues that turkish people were facing. The stories were seen to have taken place after the fall of the Ottoman Empire from 1930-1940. It took me a couple times reading them to even begin to understand the concept that the storying was trying to portray. In the preface of the book it says:

"Sait Faik portrayed the predicaments, maladjustments, and disillusionments of
the man in the street, frequently himslef, living on the fringes of society."

World for Sale - I interpreted this to be the story of a turkish man who was struggling from the death of his wife and the illness of his son. He was facing hard times and did not have a lot of money so he had the tendency to gamble and steal. After his wife and child had passed and he had enough money to support himself, he no longer needed to steal to get by with life. However due to being caught up in the gambling and stealing he could not stop himself from continuing. When caught and asked why he was stealing all he said is that he was going to buy the world with the money. This story demonstrated the life of a young man who was greedy and never fully satisfied with what he had.

Such a Story- When I first read this story I compared it to being a dillusional 'alice in wonderland' type story except for this was definately not wonderland. It presents a young man who is wandering the streets of towns in turkey that runs into different kinds of people who all have many differnt problems. I interpreted every situation he ran into to reflect upon his life. First he runs into someone who is facing alcohol issues. Next one that is experiencing homelessness. The next man was with a woman who was cheating on her husband. Finally after he gets home and is able to tell all of these stories to the one person he wanted to confide in the whole story he is to exhausted to and wanders off to somewhere else.

Barba Antimos - Tells a story about an artist who was very skillful and built gorgeous architecture. His artwork told a story and reflected the pain he went through in his life. It compares his art to classical works. His works represent the old beauty of turkey and looks down upon modern architecture that has recently taken away from the beauty of turkey. His artwork tells such a story that being in its presence you can feel it.