However, looking at the current state of the world, it is rather difficult to find a sense in the massacres we are continuously confronted with. “The ability to see is a heavy burden”, she said during our interview. While confronting her readers (and herself) with appalling historic truths, Kaygusuz fights against forgetting and makes us see the crimes of humanity in a different light. Putting trauma into words might be one of the most difficult exercises we have to undertake in order to get to terms with our past. On this occasion, we talked about Sema Kaygusuz’s latest novel Barbarın Kahkahası and her earlier books, among them Yüzünde Bir Yer ( A Place on Your Face ). Full of positive energy, both women immediately engaged in a lively conversation. When Sema Kaygusuz came to Paris a month ago, I had the chance to meet her and her agent Yeşim Vesper in the café “Les Editeurs” not far from Odéon. And this is exactly what we all need right now. She might be one of the rare authors who succeed in creating a healthy balance between today’s destructive reality and the dreams for a better future. You wonder why? Because this Turkish writer not only tells Turkey’s tragic history in her novels, but also knows how to give her readers hope. One day after the latest Istanbul attack, this seems the right thing to do. Instead of this topic, I just decided to write a text about Sema Kaygusuz. There is no use in writing about the bloodshed we have to watch day after day on this planet. Words have long lost their power when it comes to expressing compassion about the human misery worldwide. Two heavy explosions took place at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport yesterday evening, leaving behind shadows of fear and the smell of death.
Once again, Turkey has turned into a country of traumatic memories overnight.
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