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Quote by Elif Shafak

“The past is nothing but a shackle we need to get rid of. Such an excruciating burden. If only I could have no past - you know, if only I could be a nobody, start from point zero and just remain there forever. As light as a feather...”

Quote by Elif Shafak

Work

The Bastard of Istanbul

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Elif Shafak

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“- როგორი ვაჟკაცი უნდა იყო, რომ ერთ დილას, სარკეში ჩახედვისას საკუთარ თავს მკაფიოდ და გარკვევით დაუმარცვლო რამდენიმე სიტყვა: მე მაქვს შეცდომის დაშვების უფლება? ზუსტად ეს რამდენიმე სიტყვა... ვაჟკაცობა უნდა იმასაც, რომ შენს ცხოვრებას გვერდიდან შეხედო და იქ წესრიგი და ჰარმონია ვერ დაინახო.”

“At the last minute, he broke the rule and he looked. He was so rapt in his view of the light at the end of the tunnel, he got excited, tuned up, he got crazy nervous and for a second he wavered in his confidence and he looked! To confirm or affirm or just firm up,’ students laughing ‘his manly love for her and in that motion of divine stupidity, he killed her dead forever with a glance. Hades ripped her back into his den and that was, proverbially, that.’ A girl across from me says bitterly, ‘No second, second chance for Orpheus.’ ‘He was fucked,’ D continues, nodding. ‘Not because the gods were heartless, but because he fucked up. The guilt of that. Can you imagine? Spent the rest of his pathetic days wallowing, lamenting, composing (or was it decomposing?) heartbreaking tunes upon his lyre, dissolving in grief and music and art, never being the least bit happy or lovable. The saddest sap of all. How do we tell a story like that without being sappy? Oh woe! How do we shape into lines our most harrowing mistakes and losses without drenching them in sticky poetic sap?”