Kızıl Dansöz

by Richard Skinner, Ayşe Karsel Zaimoğlu (Translator)

Mata Hari birden ortaya çıkıyor, 'Günün Gözü', 'Yüce Güneş', sadece rahip ve tanrıların çıplak görebilecekleri kutsal Hint rakkasesi. Uzun ve ince, sihirli bir flütle ipnotize olmuş gibi kıvrılarak dans eden bir yılan gibi uysal. Esnek vücudu alevlerle bütünleşmiş, eğilip bükülüyor, sonra aniden dikleşiyor. Zarif bir hareketle takılarından kurtulup tülü çıkartıyor. Göğüslerini kapatan büstiyeri fırlatarak atıyor. Ve çıplak, gölgelerin arasında, vücudu bronz bir heykel gibi parlıyor. Kolları iki yana açık, parmak uçlarında yükseliyor, sağa sola yatıyor, kollarıyla havayı dövüyor, uzun dolgun saçları vakur geceyi kamçılıyor... Ve yere kapanıyor...
­ -Eduard Lepape, 14 Mart 1905­-

Gerçek adı Margaretha Zelle olan Mata Hari'nin Hindistan'da başlayıp, Paris'te sona eren, sahnelerin gösterişli dünyasından, küçük bir cezaevi hücresine uzanan, şehvet, acı, iniş çıkışlarla dolu hayatını konu alan ve savaş yıllarından kesitler sunan bu romanı bir solukta okuyacaksınız.

1917'de casusluk yaptığı iddiasıyla Paris'te tutuklanan Mata Hari'nin ölümü bugün bile tartışma yaratmaya devam ediyor. Aşk hayatı hala konuşuluyor. O gerçekten suçlu muydu, yoksa hayatı hafife olan, acılarını erkeklerin kollarında unutmaya çalışarak kendi yaşam mücadelesini veren yalnız bir kadın mıydı?

"Hayaller gümüştür kardeşim, ama hatıralar saf altındandır."
­ Mata Hari­

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Espionage, France, World War I

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Alexis Hall]

Another one of those books I have no idea why I bought ... and increasingly can't remember anything about. Probably not a pull quote there.

I think this was ... fine?

Basically, it's a fictionalised account of the life of Margaretha Geertruida (better known as Mati Hari) through the eyes of the people connected to her: her alcoholic husband, the friend of Picasso who painted her portrait, her maid, a Russian officer who falls in love with her, a prison doctor, and a member of the firing squad who executed her in 1917. The effect is deliberately enigmatic, as much obscuring and complicating its central figure as revealing or explaining her.

Which works - and suits the subject. But also made the book really ... kind of ... ephemeral? In my brain. It was there, and then it wasn't, and *shrug*.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a number of novels about Mata Hari published in the run up to the centenary of the first world war but I don't think any of them really brought her to life, probably because they all left me wondering what was the truth about her. Mata Hari was not a great spy, in fact it is doubtful if she was any kind of spy, just as she was indifferent dancer and femme fatale. What she was, was an extraordinarily good self-publicist. Compared to her today's reality TV celebrities with their makeup, clothing and perfume lines are rank amateurs. Mata Hari, or Margarette Zelle, a particularly uninteresting girl who married a colonial official in the Dutch East Indies, convinced her audience that she had been reared in Javanese temples since she was a child and had brought a whole new dance culture to Europe. Of course it was easier to fabricate things before the internet and Google, but even so it doesn't appear she ever convinced anyone who was seriously involved in dance, or the arts of any kind, to take her seriously.

Of course a novel doesn't have to be a slave to facts but Mr. Skinner, like most of the novelists who have chosen to write about 'Mata Hari' (the name of course is entirely bogus and means nothing in Javanese or any Indonesian language or dialect) does draw on the 'facts' as presented in rather inaccurate and antique biographies (the dates Skinner's sources range from 1930 to 1970 and are all equally free of any real archival sources or witness testimony). Let us be clear neither this nor any of the novels about Mata Hari are to be compared with Colum McCann's 'Dancer' about Nureyev. But then Mata Hari wasn't a Nureyev, a Fonteyn, Pavlova or even a Kschessinska.

I'll be honest that Mr. Skinner being the author of a book 'Writing a Novel' and working as head of the Faber Literary Academy did not win this novel any favours, but that is rank prejudice on my part. The novel read well, I reread it during the COVID lockdown but might not have done so without it. It was readable but not great, so give it, a probably to generous, three stars.

[Quiltgranny · Rating 1 out of 5]

What should have been a scintillating, riotous read turned into nothing more than a dreadful chore. Reading an outdated Sears catalog would have been more exciting than this.

Poorly organized, flat, and I still don’t know anything about this woman after slugging my way through this awful book. Oh wait, I know what she looked liked when they arrested her-the actual mug shot photograph is there.

[Dawn (& Ron) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have always had a fascination with Mata Hari and was so excited when this book first came out in 2002, that I bought the hard cover. I so looked forward to getting beneath the myth and discovering the real woman. This looked like it would deliver and be a read I would relish.

It was going to show us how Margaretha Zelle became Mata Hari. How her marriage to an army Captain, her time in Indonesia, the tragedy and dissolution of this marriage, all lead to her reinventing herself and becoming the sought after enigmatic dancer, courtesan and spy. Instead the author manages to make a compelling life and mystery boring, something I didn't think was possible. His narrative jumps all over the place, making it confusing for the reader, and dwells on describing subjects and events for far too long. Some of these subjects having very little to do with her. He rarely shows us her motivations or thoughts, it is through other people that we learn of her. This could have been done as a way of keeping that air of mystery around her but in this case it wasn't done well and just never came together for me. Granted, I read this in 2003. I have very few notes to go by and the details have long since faded, leaving me primarily with a feeling of disappointment. Sadly, this one just didn't work for me. Here's hoping that by the 100th anniversary of her execution, in 5 years, that that novel will be found.

[Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of someone who is arguably one of the most interesting people of her era. An exotic dancer separated from her abusive husband, Mata Hari sets out to Paris to find her path. She ends up a secret agent as the Great War breaks out, and plays both sides and manipulates men as she's been manipulated. It's very interesting to see the games that she plays, and how she excels in a world well before the propagation of feminist thought.

Written from the first person perspective of Mata Hari, her husband, and other characters, some minor; such as her maid. The writing is simple, and paints a vivid picture of the time.

[Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oddly enough, despite poor reviews, I really enjoyed this. Yes, it's a fictionalised account on a nonfictional event, but I still liked it. I really enjoyed the first half/first two thirds of this book. After that, I do feel that it started to get bogged down, but I think the 'account' of the nun and soldier did bring it back up to speed.

I'm okay with fictionalised accounts of events, so long as they're advertised as such- and this one is. I like to look at them as historical events from another person's perspectives. So long as the reader remains aware of this, then it's fine to enjoy the book and get what you can out of it.

[Eliza · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not entirely sure I got this book at all. I spent most of the first half of the book literally trying to figure out if the main character was wearing underwear. If she was a successful spy/seductress, more power to her, because I spent the second half of the book trying to figure out exactly which guy she was talking to.

I know there is very little fact out there about Mata Hari's life from which to draw a fictionalized account, but this was a little too gently-handled for me. I needed a little bit more specific plot.

[Sally · Rating 1 out of 5]

While Mata Harti is a facinating person to read about, Richard Skinner wrote this as if it were a diary that no one would read. I find the writing so uninaginative it is like a middle schooler wrote it. I question his editor's skill...

[Jennyfer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but somewhat disjointed, and the random chapters on historical 'artefects' were at times more interesting than the narrative itself.

[Ines Hasselberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book extremely interesting and terribly engaging. It was a wonderful read. It intersperses accounts of people who come to engage with mata hari at some point in their lives, with notes on particular events or developments that were of importance in that period. The accounts are mostly from men, which annoyed me at first but which actually reflects how her story has mostly been framed through the male gaze, and how she remains utterly misunderstood. Ultimately this ‘a life’ of mata hari, not ‘the life’ of mata hari (notice the subtitle). A life of mata hari as accounted for by those who met her. Notice here also i use the word ‘met’, because what becomes apparent as well is how little and how superficially these people knew her. What i like best about the book is that it accounts for all this. Instead of a highly fictionalized (is that a word?) account you get the fragments that are available, the voices and perspectives. As you finish the last pages, mata hari remains as elusive as before, but prevails the loneliness, mysteriousness and exoticism that surrounds her.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5: I wanted to like this more than I did. It is a work of fiction based on real life events, but there are several interlude chapters where the author seems to be giving real historical information outside of the narrative about Mata Hari. It felt like he wanted to write a non-fiction book but couldn't quite make it happen. And the last third of the book felt really disjointed, like large parts of the story were omitted.

[JournalsTLY]

Life story of an exotic dancer.

Perhaps more illuminating are the side stories of the chaos during the early 1900s; and with detailed accounts of the assassination that kicked off the Great War ( WW1) - Zeppelins flying airships , the misuse and consumption of absinthe ( Van Gogh among them ) that alarmed French and other health experts.

[Catherine Boardman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm .... I bought this because I had just returned from Leuwarden, Mata Hari's birthplace and was interested in her. I confess that having read the book I'm not any closer to knowing who she was or what she did.

[Nevanthri · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was terrible.I was really excited to read about Mata Hari but The Red Dancer was extremely disappointing.

[Philip Athans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and immersive look into the life of a clearly misunderstood woman caught up in a complex time. Recommended.

[Issy Festing · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intriguing account of Margaretha Geertruida Zelle who became Mata Hari, told through the voices of characters who came to know her. Was she a naive ingenue, a victim of love or a scheming spy? In the end she was a woman who wanted love, and was a pawn in a game with high stakes, she lost and paid with her life. Richard Skinner has managed the difficult task of filling in the gaps of our limited knowledge with care and sensitivity.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book despite its many negative reviews. While the jumpy narration did annoy me at times it didn't ruin the book for me. Another common complaint was that the author chose to randomly devote chapters to presenting the reader with a historical background. I actually enjoyed this form of storytelling. It made the book seem so much smoother to me and added depth that would have otherwise been lost. Now about the book! Mata Hari is one of the most intriguing and shadowy figures of the early 20th century. To this day people are debating wether she really was a spy or not. With that kind of ambiguity its very hard to write a biographical novel. I was thoroughly impressed by this novel. I didn't expect to like it because I usually tend to side with the majority when it comes to rating a book. However Richard Skinner surpassed me, giving me a well crafted portrait of one of history's most notorious women.

[Sandy M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less a novel and more a pastiche of cobbled-together vignettes, some more interesting than others. There was an explanation of the origin of the artistic movement known as "cubism", for example, that seemed like the proverbial square peg shoved into a round hole. Interesting trivia perhaps, but not really germaine to the story at hand. Many times I thought I had been transported to a print version of Wikipedia as I read about the history of absinthe, or the invention of the Zeppelin all the while wondering, "yes, but what does this have to do with Mata Hari?". In the end, not much, as it turned out. I can't say the book was completely awful, because I did learn some things, but unfortunately, they weren't the things I was hoping to learn about when I purchased the book.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Red Dancer is a fictional account of Mata Hari's life. The format is varying points of view of the people in her life. There are quotes, comments and reviews describing her incredible performances. Intermixed are chapters of historical accounts that happened during her lifetime. I enjoyed the novel in the beginning, but as I progressed through the book, it got a bit dry and tedious,
She was obviously used by men mentally and physically throughout her life, but she used them as well to fit her needs starting with her husband. It seems as though the story of Mata Mari is more myth than historic truth. I guess I was hoping for a more straightforward account of her life. On the other hand is anyone's life straightforward?

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Every other chapter is devoted to a brief history of something/someone that is (sometimes very loosely) tied into the following chapter about Mati Hari - some interesting, some not so much. The author doesn't even get into Mata Hari's time as a spy until the last few chapters of the book, and even then it is not very in depth. I read the book because I was interested in learning about Mata Hari's life as a spy, so I was disappointed.

[Evi S · Rating 1 out of 5]

1,5 stars for being informative enough and fast. I read the half and then i started skipping pages because even tho its fast, i didnt feel like reading it anymore but i didnt want to put it down, so.... If you want to read something about Mata Hari and you want it to be fast, reas this one, otherwise i wouldnt really reccomend it. Its like half DNF, bc i did finish it, but didnt at the same time. Overall, it wasnt thrilling

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fascinating subject but not a great novel, alas. I felt like I was reading one of those novelized biographies written for elementary school children. There's so much depth to be had from the story of Mata Hari's life, and so much leeway in a novelization, yet this still just skittered along the surface. I really want to read a real, well done bio of her.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember feeling like we didn't really get to know who "Mata Hari" was in this fictional depiction of her, but I later read a biography about her and really didn't learn much more so I would recommend this fun account. She will probably always be a mystery; a woman of many versions.

[Betsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an extremely disjointed narrative. I agree with another reviewer who enjoyed some of the trivia (absinthe, cubism, Zeppelins...) more than her story. I guess in the end I do have a picture of Mata Hari and the time in history but it was a difficult journey.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

i'm sure there are better books available on her life. very little reliable information.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story that could have been written better. Good enough that I am interested to find other stories about the Mata Hari to learn more about the actual person.

[Jenney · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked this book. it opened my eyes to mata hari. i always heard her name and never really knew who she was. very interesting.

[Laeroport · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. It took me a long time to get through this, and in the end, it was only okay. The narative style skipped from one person to another, which was sometimes confusing.

[Floyd Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for any novel that covers fin de siecle Europe. This will tell you all you want to know about Mata Hari.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author jumped around history a lot and at times I wasn't sure whom he was talking about and how that person even related to the story. If anything, this was a quick read.