Under Constantinople's Spell

Reviewed by Dorin Perie

City of Man’s Desire: A Novel of Constantinople, by Cornelia Golna, appeared some months ago, brought out by the small, independent-minded publishing company, Go-Bos Press. Before examining the content of the book, I feel bound as a critical reader to note that we are dealing here with an exceptional publication in the literary world. It is clear from the start that Cornelia Golna’s debut novel was an ambitious project, as the historical novel genre – of which, in my opinion, this book is an excellent example – is not only demanding but full of pitfalls. This may also be the reason why so few writers nowadays venture to enter its terrain, not to mention the relatively little interest the general reading public shows for it. This is especially the case if the novel deals with the history of places that for various reasons do not rank high in public opinion. And it holds doubly for the Balkans and their tumultuous history. As a writer you have to be very motivated indeed to embark on such an undertaking, knowing that you are going against all prevailing prejudices. In order to be successful, you must be prepared to put on a tight straightjacket. The historical novel offers relatively little room for unbridled imagination and boundless subjectivity if it wants to avoid degenerating into a pulp scenario. The crucial feature of a responsible historical novel, in contrast to other forms of literary fiction, is the believability of the framework in which the plot unfolds and of the characters involved in it. And it is here that Cornelia Golna excels.

Little by little, in the beginning chapters, the lost world of Constantinople at the start of the twentieth century comes to life, so that after a few dozen pages, the reader experiences it as a natural reality. The movements of the characters in the first part of the book seem aimed at giving a topographic description of the city. The reader is guided as it were by the characters through the quarters of the city in which they lead their daily lives. Thus emerges the image of a city that inspired the fascination of many and was the object of desire of its conquerors.

In 324 A.D., the Roman emperor Constantine made the city his capital. Because of strong Greek cultural predominance during the late empire and the wealth of the Greek cities of Asia Minor, the center of power had moved gradually eastward. At that time, the notion of two worlds within the borders of the empire did not exist. The various divisions of the empire were the result of measures taken to combat internal instability or withstand the pressures of violent attacks from the outside. The effect of this shift was that Rome declined and Constantinople prospered. Almost a thousand years would pass before the first signs of the city’s tragic fate were revealed. The Crusades can be considered the first meeting between the two by then very different cultures, which had crystalized within the same European tradition. The fourth Crusade, with the capture of the city in 1204 by the Crusaders under the leadership of the Republic of Venice, was the prelude to the complete decline of Byzantine power. The Ottomans sealed the fate of the pillar of Eastern Christendom with the conquest of the city in 1453. Thus the separation of the two worlds became complete, for the pearl of the East became the seat of mighty Islam, which immediately took over and assimilated its symbols of power – with all the pomp and magnificence that went with them.

All the layers of this momentous history come to life in Cornelia Golna’s book, as do the various ethnic groups with their traditions and religions, who at the beginning of the twentieth century lived in relative harmony alongside each other in this metropolis. The reader becomes witness to a cosmopolitan world which in fact finds itself on the verge of its demise, for the small human drama which is the book’s plot is closely interwoven with the great drama of the fall of the Ottoman Empire, whose fate is ultimately sealed with the dethronement of the last sultan, Abdul Hamid II, in 1909, during the revolution of the Young Turks.

The main character in the story is the young Greek girl Theodora Vlachos, the daughter of one of the many Greek families that lived in the city. In that environment of Greek merchants, who together with the Armenians and the Jews formed the empire’s middle class, traditional Greek cultural values were fostered and passed on, albeit in a petty bourgeois manner, which the author describes from time to time with the necessary irony. You could say that the time span of a little more than a year covered in the book is the period in which Theodora crosses the threshold into adulthood and concurrently the period in which the first steps were taken toward the emancipation and modernization of Turkey. Of course, this process could not take place without bringing up life’s great questions, which incite doubts in the young woman. Nor could the modernization of the empire take place without clashes between the wisdom that comes from tradition on the one hand, with its mystical aspects, and rational thinking on the other, with its axiomatic-deductive approach, which takes on a dogmatic value for its proponents.

The representative of the new thinking and thus the champion of the modernization of the empire is to be found in the person of the fanatic, uncompromising Young Turk, Murad. Through the contribution to the plot of the Russian adventurers, the brother and sister Vladimir and Natalya Petrov, as well as the Western intellectuals John Townsend and Nils Pettersson, the cast of characters seems to represent all the forces present in the declining years of the old capital of the Turkish Empire. Cornelia Golna’s Constantinople is not only a city on the dividing line separating the feudal-traditional way of life, in which, thanks to privileges granted by the sultan, there was room for the different cultures and religions, and modernization in the form of the introduction of a secularized, democratic system. It soon becomes clear that the ideal of the nation-state, for which the Young Turks fought, left little room for the rich variety of cultures that had made up Constantinople throughout its long history.

The way in which Cornelia Golna presents these contrasts and seeming paradoxes while never losing sight of the narrative, makes City of Man’s Desire an exceptionally successful historical novel. Written with love and respect, it is a story very sensitive to the human dimension, against the backdrop of a fascinating historical period. Moreover, the author builds up and balances the tension such that after the last page you find yourself somewhat reluctant to have to awaken from its spell.

Reviewer information:

Dorin Perie
Professor of Romanian studies, University of Amsterdam,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
d.perie@uva.nl

Purchase information for this book: Netherlands website (Bilingual site, English and Dutch) -- www.gobospress.biz

Also available via Google Print for $27.50.

Song of Redemption: King Hezekiah's Days

Lynn Austin continues her “Chronicles of the Kings” series about the life of King Hezekiah, with the second installment, Song of Redemption. Picking up immediately where Gods and Kings ended, it tells a story of Hezekiah’s first years as King of Judah. He learns again the true faith, from his grandfather Zechariah, and struggles with his own attitudes toward God, longing for the strong faith his grandfather has, even as he questions his own motives for his early decisions. Does he have enough faith to stop sending tribute money to Assyria (begun by his father), that God will deliver Judah from the Assyrians?

Biblical characters of whom we know little come to life here, especially Hezekiah’s cabinet members Shebna, Eliakim, and Eliakim’s father Hilkiah. Hephzibah also is back, with elements of her character foreshadowing what must happen later on: as the mother of Hezekiah’s successor son, Manasseh, Hephzibah is the one that must supply Manasseh with his pagan beliefs.

Song of Redemption also introduces a major secondary plot outside of Hezekiah’s story. A young Israelite woman, Jerusha, and her family show us the plight of the neighboring Israelites during Assyrian aggression, as well as the unimaginable brutality of the Assyrians. As the story progresses, the subplots become the main story, and we see more character growth in those around Hezekiah rather than in Hezekiah himself. Jerusha changes through her experiences. Conflict develops between Shebna and Eliakim, and Eliakim’s character is further developed.

Song of Redemption is an entertaining story with good action, conflict, and character growth. Throughout the story we experience the underlying message of forgiveness, the redemption promised to the characters as they turn to Yahweh, the heavenly Father who loves them and restores them.

The Scent of Lilacs: A Family in 1964

The Scent of Lilacs, a new novel by Ann H. Gabhart, looks at a family in 1964, in rural Kentucky. David Brooke is a some-time pastor who also runs the local newspaper, while raising his 13-year-old daughter Jocie. His wife ran off several years ago to California, taking their now 20-year-old daughter Tabitha. David’s Aunt Love, and Wes, the newspaper pressman who tells Jocie he’s from Jupiter, provide an extended family.

Tabitha soon arrives home, and life at the Brooke home is never the same, as various family secrets are revealed. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of David, Jocie, and Aunt Love, and along the way we learn more about tragic events in their past. Jocie in particular matures, as she learns to appreciate Aunt Love, who she always resented for her scripture-quoting discipline, and learns more about her family. Serious moral issues are brought forth, including out-of-wedlock children, adultery, and child abandonment. Yet throughout all the troubles, The Scent of Lilacs is told in a light-hearted way, with interesting, likeable characters in their ordinary lives in a small town.

With its more recent setting, The Scent of Lilacs has more of a nostalgic than historical feel, as a story that could happen today as well as then. The characters, and their relationships with each other, are more central than the background time period. Most importantly, the characters’ Christian faith brings them closer together through the experiences of the summer of ’64.

Pontius Pilate: A Roman Perspective of the Gospel Story

Paul Maier’s Pontius Pilate is an excellent companion novel to Flames of Rome, the “prequel” to the later story of the early church. Whereas Flames of Rome is geographically focused on Rome during the days of the Bible book of Acts, Pontius Pilate tells the gospel story – from Pontius Pilate’s Roman perspective. Beginning in A.D. 26, when Pilate was first given a promotion, Prefect of Judea (replacing Gratus), through Pilate’s later years, the story encompasses much of what happened in ancient Israel, integrated as a part of the overall Roman world.

Slow at times, Pontius Pilate is nonetheless very informative and well-documented, complete with chapter-by-chapter historical notes. As with Flames of Rome, Maier again brings a strong “documentary novel,” in which all the character names are valid and all known story points are presented factually. Yet also, the subject matter simply has too many gaps, and here Maier has developed a good narrative story of what might have happened. The dating of events is interesting as well, since the important New Testament events –When John the Baptist began his ministry, and especially the year of the crucifixion – are not even known today. Though some historians place the crucifixion earlier, no later than 30 A.D., in Pontius Pilate the event occurs in 33 A.D., with plenty of time for the story to build up towards the great, climactic event towards the end of Pilate’s Judean career.

The known material presented, and expanded on, include Pilate’s confrontation with the Jews (early during his governorship) concerning the Roman soldiers’ icons (of Tiberius Caesar), and Pilate’s improvements to Jerusalem’s waterways – all of course minor things now compared to the crucifixion of Jesus, yet described by various writers including Josephus. Sprinkled throughout the narrative are references to Bible events: a mysterious star “about 30 years ago” and the late King Herod’s actions; the scandalous marriage of Herod Antipas to his brother Philip’s wife Herodias (who was also Antipas’s niece), and the rise of John the Baptist. The story moves inevitably forward, with Pilate himself acting in ways that seem of minor importance at the time, but would later have drastic consequences.

Predictably (after all, a book’s main character ought to be likeable), Maier presents Pilate in a more favorable light than do the historical documents of the time (i.e., Josephus and Philo, with their obvious pro-Jewish, anti-Roman bias). Maier’s Pilate is more of a pragmatic politician: a secular governor trying to do his job, to please his superiors by keeping order and peace in this very troublesome part of the empire. He is amazed time and again by the obstinacy and seemingly non-rational zeal of the Judean Jews, and the reader can relate to his frustrations.

Pontius Pilate by Paul Maier is an excellent companion book to Flames of Rome, and together the two books offer a very informative look at the Roman Empire during the 1st century. Pontius Pilate gives a great summary, in the historical fiction narrative style, for an entertaining as well as educational story.

Glimpses of Paradise: 1920s Los Angeles

Glimpses of Paradise, by James Scott Bell, is a stand-alone novel that brings more of Bell’s historical fiction: early 20th century Los Angeles and courtroom drama. (Click here for an interview with the author about this book) Starting in 1916 in rural Nebraska, the story follows the lives of two young people – Doyle Lawrence, son of a well-to-do lawyer; and Zee Miller, a wild preacher’s daughter. Through various circumstances during and after World War I, the two find themselves out in Los Angeles, where most of the story takes place. Zee pursues an acting career in the silent-film era of Hollywood, and Doyle bums his way to Los Angeles as a down-and-out doughboy.

“Kit Shannon” series fans will enjoy this book, which introduces the lawyer again: now in her early forties, widowed, and still practicing law. Yet she is clearly not the star of this book, but more in the background. The courtroom drama is also at a minimum in this book – a few scenes of a pre-trial hearing, but nothing more. As with the previous books, the author does a decent job of portraying the setting – in this case, early Hollywood, bootleggers and the general crime of the early 1920s, within the Los Angeles setting. Bell’s research in Christian Apologetics and history is well done, too, with some biographical information about evangelist R.A. Torrey. Torrey is the only historical character in this book (aside from brief references to well-known movie stars, never directly featured, such as Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford), yet Glimpses of Paradise brings forth interesting information about this man. The information on Torrey, though – including a brief biography at the end of the book – is generalized, without reference to his particular beliefs; no mention is made of his involvement with the Keswick movement (part of the Holiness movement, a precursor to modern-day Pentecostalism).

The main weakness in Glimpses of Paradise is perhaps that the main characters are not particularly likeable, especially at the beginning. We all know about the returning soldiers from war, including the ones that had trouble readjusting to society. Yet these typically included soldiers that came back without a leg (or other physical impairment) and/or those that lacked strong family support. Doyle returns physically unharmed, and has plenty of love and support from many family members. He isn’t exactly shell-shocked, but just seems to have an incredibly bad attitude (exhibited to some degree even before the war), as he callously rejects and runs away from his family. Zee Miller doesn’t seem any better – a selfish, self-centered brat who takes rebellion to a level not usually demonstrated by young women raised in small-town America before World War I.

For all these initial shortcomings, the story does improve later on. We soon forget the original setting and focus on the activities of both characters in Los Angeles. Some new, likeable characters, such as Molly, are introduced along the way. The author uses the characters Doyle and Zee to provide great contrast in character study, as we observe how they react to their circumstances. Indeed, both characters left to themselves are hopeless and sinful (as we all are), yet through the grace of God at least one character changes and grows. Still, both Doyle and Zee have to learn life the hard way.

Glimpses of Paradise is overall a nice addition to Christian historical fiction. It offers fans of Kit Shannon a follow-up, and for readers generally an interesting story about life in Los Angeles (and the depths of depravity) during the early 1920s.