Sait Faik Abasiyanik, Turkey’s great short-story writer, has been described as having a Chekhov-like simplicity. It is the simplicity of the films of Abbas Kiarostami, deriving powerful truths from showing the essences of simpler times. The hearts of a range of disparate characters are effortlessly revealed in storytelling as essential and unobtrusive as archetypal fairy tales. Yearning is expressed through the repeated symbols of islands, sea and moon. Two men in love cannot express their feelings, and one of them wishes they could be together on the moon to say what cannot be said down on Earth. It’s heartbreaking and tender. A drunk man follows a woman and tells her his life story. Masterly storytelling, beautifully translated.
