A Fez of the Heart: Travels around Turkey in Search of a Hat
by Jeremy Seal
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jeremy SealEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1996-03
ISBN: 0156003937
Number of pages: 337
Publisher: Harcourt
Book Reviews of A Fez of the Heart: Travels around Turkey in Search of a Hat
Book Review: Mixed feelings
Summary: 2 Stars
I experienced a variety of emotions while reading this surprising book. My original enthusiasm and amusement soon gave way to startled dismay. For the first time in 13 years, I even felt fleeting doubts about the wisdom of having settled and raised my family here in Turkey. Now, however, as I go through the final mental digestion of this book, I realize that I was foolish to have taken the author's sophistic arguments so seriously.
"A Fez of the Heart" is written in the first person, yet readers are told next to nothing about its author, Jeremy Seal. After a time I found myself wondering why I should take him seriously at all. Could the author have calculated that by neglecting to discuss his credentials his credibility may actually increase? He is not a historian or a sociologist; but then again one certainly doesn't need a humanities PhD to write a travel book.
That said, this is not a book in the same deliciously hedonistic vein as "A Year in Provence." "A Fez of the Heart" is presumably serious travel history and satirical political commentary. Provocatively aggressive and deliciously politically incorrect it may be; but this work is also disappointingly one-sided. Crucial issues such as Islamic fundamentalism, Kurdish separatism, the semantics of Armenian mass murder and the status of the republic's modern Ataturk-born sociological and ideological paradoxes are genuinely important to the author, and he has made his own first step toward dealing with them. The sad fact is that, carried away by what he perceives as his irrefutable righteousness, Seal only weakens his positions by failing to anticipate and rebut obvious counterarguments. He supports his claims with the near-sighted research typical of one whose obstinacy prevents him from seeing more than one side of an issue.
As if that weren't enough, the author ultimately loses even more credibility through his chronic abuse of satire. He writes well and wittily, using a rowdy humor as the pretext behind which he presents his important and interesting topical agenda. But though he spares no one, not even himself, he too often sidesteps the substance of well-stated irony and goes for really cheap laughs. That's not to say that a serious book can't be funny or a funny book effective; but here is a belittling attempt to portray the complexly multicultural citizens of Turkey as mere tragi-comically de-fezzed simpletons. This is a grave mistake. In light of his criticisms and ridicule, Seal's occasional tone of sympathetic condescension is, at best, confusing.
Seal's book begs many questions and accuses the modern Turkish state of serious social, political, cultural and humanitarian infractions. That's fine. But because he neglects to offer a well-rounded and - most importantly - geo-politically contextual account of the country's fascinating history and political affairs, the author fails to validate his own arguments. Essentially he says, "This is what I think, and people who agree with me think I'm right." Seal becomes mired in specious rhetorical impotence and ultimately falls short of convincing anyone of anything - even himself, as he limpingly pursues his admittedly unifying fez-search theme to the very end. Though it could have been so much more, "A Fez of the Heart" unfortunately reads like a travel hit-and-run. Heather Ozaltun/Izmir, 2008
Summary of A Fez of the Heart: Travels around Turkey in Search of a Hat
Upon the orders of Kemal Ataturk, the fez replaced the turban as Turkey's national headdress. Outlawed completely in 1925, the turban is viewed as a symbol of Turkish backwardness. While living and teaching in Turkey for several years, Jeremy Seals developed an obsession for the fez, a hat he believes has come to symbolize the soul of the country. Through interviews with villagers and historical essays, Seals chronicles his journey through Turkey, to areas both metropolitan and remote, to find the heart of the country as embodied by its national head gear.Europe Books
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