Book Review – Sacred Ignorance
14-11-2023
19:04
“You are as talented as you are beautiful, Mr. Akkuş.”
First of all, I would like to tell you the story of how I met Aşkın Zengin Akkuş . Because he has been one of the people I can't give up on since the day we met. At that time, I was just a woman who read her books and wrote humble reviews. I wasn't writing in magazines or anything, so he didn't even know me. One day when I was in Istanbul , a mutual friend of ours who knew about my dream of meeting him gave me his phone number. Even though he made encouraging words like "Call, write a message, since we're in touch, why not talk to me..." with a little gas, I was hesitant to call (yes, yes, I was hesitant, you read it right) and wrote a message. You know, young people like someone, somehow find their phone and write to them, and wait with excitement for the answer, hah, that's exactly how I started waiting for the answer. I didn't have to wait long. There was such a warm and sincere response...
As a matter of fact, we met, chatted, and my admiration for him increased even more. Of course, over time, it came to such a point in my life that; He became my friend to whom I could confide my troubles and share my secrets. When you are around him, it feels like you have moved from autumn to spring, your jaw hurts from laughing, your eyes and your heart are opened, and he makes a tremendous contribution to your soul with his knowledge.
Aşkın Zengin Akkuş, a graduate of economics, worked in the banking sector for a while. After working as a finance manager in a private company for a long time, he worked freelance as a risk management consultant. Saying that there is no age limit for education, he studied philosophy so that he would not become discouraged. He is currently studying sociology at Istanbul University. He has a structure that constantly reads, researches and tries to improve himself every day. But that doesn't mean he's ambitious. He has never been a slave to his ambitions for as long as he can remember. He is just determined and thus competes with himself by constantly producing. Besides, he has a daughter whom he calls his reason for gratitude.
He wrote his first book , ' Living as if', in a very intense environment. He was a finance manager in a private company at that time. He relieved the stress he experienced while working by writing and produced a book that was read with pleasure by the majority. In fact, he made the following statement in the interviews he gave at that time: "I relax my mind, which is tired with numbers, with words."
Regardless of the genre of the novels he writes, their constant heroes are women. Before starting to write, there is an intense research and reading marathon. Middle Ages, inquisition, Italy, mythology, holy books... That's why I specifically stated at the beginning of the article that she was a woman with a lot to tell.
His first book , ' Living as if ', was published by Truva Publications in 2012, and his other book, ' Zifiri Aydınlık', was published by Parafiks Publications in 2014. One of the two anthologies she is involved in is ' Women in the Dark ' , published by Bilgi Publishing House in 2018, for which Orkide Ünsür was the project director, and the other is the book ' Ghost Music', in 2019, for which Özlem Ertan was the project director. 'Women in the Dark' He contributed to the book 'Temple of Virgins' and to ' Ghost Music ' with his stories ' Sandima ' .
When Dark Istanbul Publications said hello to the publishing life in 2021, Aşkın Zengin Akkuş took responsibility as the editor-in-chief. The book ' Sacred Ignorance' , which is the subject of this article today by comparing Medieval Italy with 2018 Istanbul, also took its place on the shelves in 2021 with the Dark Istanbul label. Another book published by Dark Istanbul is " My Father's Shadow", which tells the story of a strong woman's life struggle. He also appeared in Dark anthologies with three of his stories; ' Temple Bouncers, the Devil-Winged Angel and the "Inverted" Face' . As I just mentioned, today I will tell you about Sacred Ignorance .
Türkan, who has a doctorate in sociology at Boğaziçi University, focuses on Muhammed Salih Hodja, who exploited people's religious feelings and prepared amulets and cast spells for them in exchange for money, in order to contribute to his thesis topic, and examines where ignorance has brought people and how this ignorance is used by religious merchants. For this reason, he has been living in Fatih, one of the suburbs of Fatih, for a while. On his way back, he meets 14-year-old Hanife, the second wife of the cinci teacher. He gives Hanife a book called 'The Last Village', thinking that it will help her. By doing this, he hopes to save the girl from the nightmare she is in, called living. Here, the author accomplishes a difficult task magnificently and begins to write a book within a book. When Hanife begins to secretly read the book, we get lost between the pages of the Last Village book. The Last Village, set in Medieval Italy, tells the story of the salvation of women and girls who were tormented and tormented by clerics who practiced inhumane practices under the guise of religion and lived in prosperity while the people were poor. As Hanife reads the book, she realizes the similarities between her own experiences and the lives of women living in the Middle Ages and begins to question whether she can find her own Last Village .
Aşkın Zengin Akkuş has created two magnificent worlds, one about Medieval Italy and the other about today's (2018) Istanbul-Fatih. In medieval Italy, the Inquisition accuses innocent people of witchcraft just because they have a beautiful face or a mole on their body, women start life 1-0 as a loser, priests torture little girls in various ways, and make them slaves for their sex and sexual perversions... Sounds familiar, right? ? You're sick to your stomach... Then, I won't go into today's part of the book and alienate you from the clergy. Let's spread this book from hand to hand... Who knows, maybe we will cause someone to read the book and gain the courage to change their life. Maybe we can help those in need find the Last Village or set off towards the village...
Selin Bak
Writer