31 October 2023 Tuesday
Book Recommendation: The Story of the Unknown Island
The Story of the Unknown Island is one of the shortest books in the long story genre by Nobel Prize winning author Jose Saramago, but it is a book that has such an impact that it will go down in literary history. The book was published in Portuguese for the first time in 1997 “O conto da Ilha Desconhecida”. Today the book’s Turkish version is published by Kırmızı Kedi Yayınları, translation in Portuguese by Emrah İmre and drawings by Birol Bayram. The book centers on the story of a man who had the courage to search for an unknown island at a time when it was believed that there were no unknown islands left, and a woman who believed that such courage could change her life. Describing a journey enriched with metaphors, the book offers its readers an adventure that can be read in one breath but has a long-lasting effect.
At the beginning of the book, a man who wants to find an unknown island goes to the king's wish door and asks for a boat. Since the servants do not open the door, it is up to the cleaning lady to open it. When the cleaning lady opens the door, the man asks her to call the king. However, the king is so busy at the gift gate where he accepts his gifts that he does not pay any attention to the man's call. Afterwards, upon the man's insistent waiting, the king sends his servant to the wish door, but the man states that he can only tell his wish to the king. When the man does not leave the door for days, the king is forced to come to the wish door to avoid unrest. The king asks what he wants and gets the answer: a boat. When he asks why, the man says he wants a boat to find the unknown island. The king does not want to give it up, saying that all the islands have already been found and there is no unknown island left. However, the man resists and eventually the king gives him the boat. He goes to the port of the country with a card given to him by the king. Meanwhile, the cleaning lady leaves the palace and follows him. The man goes to the harbor master and buys a boat with the card given by the king. As soon as the harbor master shows the boat, the maid comes out from hiding, shouting with excitement. The man takes the woman on the boat as a cleaner and then goes to the boat to look for crew. But he can't find anyone. When the man returned to the boat with something to eat, the servant woman had made the boat sparkling clean. They eat together and chat. When night comes and it is time to go to bed, one of them lays down his bed on the port side of the boat and the other on the starboard side and they fall asleep. However, they wake up together. Then, together, they write the name "Unknown Island" on the side of the boat with white paint. Towards noon, they sail towards the unknown island with the Unknown Island boat.
