Parle-leur de batailles, de rois et d'éléphants

by Mathias Énard, Johanna Pernot (Afterword), David Pilloix (Illustrator)

In 1506, Michelangelo – a young but already renowned sculptor – is invited by the sultan of Constantinople to design a bridge over the Golden Horn. The sultan has offered, alongside an enormous payment, the promise of immortality, since Leonardo da Vinci’s design was rejected: ‘You will surpass him in glory if you accept, for you will succeed where he has failed, and you will give the world a monument without equal.’ Michelangelo, after some hesitation, flees Rome and an irritated Pope Julius II – whose commission he leaves unfinished – and arrives in Constantinople for this truly epic project. Once there, he explores the beauty and wonder of the Ottoman Empire, sketching and describing his impressions along the way, and becomes immersed in cloak-and-dagger palace intrigues as he struggles to create what could be his greatest architectural master-work. Constructed from real historical fragments, Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants is a thrilling novella about why stories are told, why bridges are built, and how seemingly unmatched pieces, seen from the opposite sides of civilization, can mirror one another.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, France, Art, Historical, French Literature, Roman

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2010

About the author

Mathias Énard studied Persian and Arabic and spent long periods in the Middle East. A professor of Arabic at the University of Barcelona, he won the Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie and the Prix Edmée-de-La-Rochefoucauld for his first novel, La perfection du tir. He has been awarded many prizes for Zone, including the Prix du Livre Inter and the Prix Décembre.

Compass, which garnered Énard the renowned Prix Goncourt in 2015, traces the intimate connection between Western humanities and art history, and Islamic philosophy and culture. In one sentence that's over 500 pages long, Zone tells of the recent European past as a cascade of consequences of wars and conflicts.

Énard lives and works in Barcelona, where he teaches Arabic at the Universitat Autònoma. His latest publications include a poetry collection titled Dernière communication à la société proustienne de Barcelone (Final message to the Proust Society of Barcelona) and Le Banquet annuel de la confrérie des fossoyeurs, a long novel published in 2020.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are day people… And there are night people… The novella begins metaphorically…

Night does not communicate with the day, it burns up in it. Night is carried to the stake at dawn. And its people along with it – the drinkers, the poets, the lovers. We are a people of the banished, of the condemned.

Michelangelo – the hero of the tale – is invited to another land…

We can imagine the artist’s surprise, his little eyes opening wide. The Sultan of Constantinople. The Great Turk. He turns the letter over in his hands. Vellum is one of the softest materials there is.

In the story he goes there to draw a project of a bridge… 
And Mathias Énard does his own drawing here… In Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants he is drawing a sketch of Michelangelo’s imagined sojourn in the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Manuel deciphers the barbaric writing for the artist: There is no god but God, Mohammed is the prophet of God. 
“Here, Mohammed is the one you call Maometto, Maestro.”
The one Dante sends to the fifth circle of Hell, thinks Michelangelo, before resuming his contemplation of the building.

Some fragments of history really transpired and some of those happened only in our heads.

[Orsodimondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

LA PERFEZIONE DEL TRATTO


Il ponte delle chimere.

Lavora un poco alla tomba di Giulio II, il papa intransigente che dieci anni prima, ancora cardinale, guidò le truppe vaticane contro i giannizzeri di Bayazid nel Sud Italia. Ha incontrato uno dopo l’altro i due nemici, e ha offerto a uno un mausoleo e all’altro un ponte.



Mathias Énard vuole tendere un ponte tra Oriente e Occidente: tutta la sua opera, ogni suo sforzo, la sua intera vita sembra dedicata a questo impresa.
Ed ecco che questa volta mette in scena Michelangelo, proprio quel Michelangelo, il grande Michelangelo Buonarroti.
E lo porta addirittura a Costantinopoli, che era già stata Bisanzio, e sarebbe poi divenuta Istanbul, alla corte del sultano, per costruire il ponte che congiunga i due lati della città, le due rive del Bosforo, la sponda europea con quella asiatica.



Proprio Michelangelo che non fu architetto.
Proprio Michelangelo che forse accetta per vanità, o forse per vendetta, per uno sfregio a quel papa Giulio II che non lo pagava abbastanza, lo faceva aspettare, gli faceva sprecare tempo, lo teneva in anticamera.
Forse, invece, accetta per curiosità.
E anche sfida: a se stesso. E sfida a quel Leonardo da Vinci che lui disprezzava, e riteneva vecchio e senza anima, il cui disegno del ponte al sultano non era affatto piaciuto.



Mani, piedi, pieghe, nasi, profili, perfino il volto di Adamo sulla volta della Cappella Sistina, quell’Adamo a cui dio dà vita con due dita tese che non si toccano: tutto questo ricorda il soggiorno a Costantinopoli, assomiglia a quanto l’artista di Firenze vide e amò in terra d’Oriente.
Ma forse il ponte tra Oriente e Occidente Michelangelo non lo disegnò mai. Forse non gli capitò neppure che gli fosse richiesto. O forse sì, forse è tutto vero. E “per il resto non si sa”.
Mathias Énard continua a tentare la sua impresa, alternando la poesia alla narrazione, la favola alla lirica, l’intrigo alla magia, l’inquietudine alla fascinazione che si sprigiona sin dal magnetico titolo.



Non c’è nulla che apprezzi quanto i racconti di battaglie, gli intrighi degli dèi meravigliosi in cima all’Olimpo, le lotte fra angeli e demoni. In essi ode immagini; vede un eroe curvo sotto il peso della spada intento a decapitare la Gorgone, una goccia di sangue che stilla dalla ferita di un giovane cervo, gli elefanti di Annibale che piegano il ginocchio nella neve.

[Adina ( back from Vacay…slowly recovering) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 *

Review in Romana (English below)

Am ascultat cartea in romana pe aplicatia Echo. Cartea este tradusa de Cristian Fulas din franceza si naratorul este actorul Mihai Baranga.

" Gloata se cucerește dacă-i vorbești despre bătălii, regi, elefanți și ființe fantastice; despre fericirea ce va veni după moarte, dacă-i vorbești despre lumina vie ce le-a păzit nașterea, despre îngerii care roiesc în jurul lor, despre demonii care-i amenință și despre iubire, iubire, această promisiune a uitării și a îndestulări. Vorbește-le despre toate acestea, și te vor iubi; vor face din tine egalul unui zeu. Dar tu, tu vei ști, pentru că ești aici, în fața mea, tu, fracul tău urât mirositor pe care hazardul l-a pus în mâinile mele, tu vei ști că toate acestea nu sunt decât un văl parfumat, după care se ascunde nesfârșita durere a nopții."

Nu a fost dragoste la prima auditie. Cred ca mi-a luat in jur de un sfert din ea pentru a ma decide ca imi place si ca merita sa o ascult pana la capat. Subiectul mi s-a parut un pic ciudat si pacing-ul cam incet. Mathias Énard este profesor de Araba in Barcelona, a trait destul de mult in Orientul Mijlociu si acest aspect se vede in operele lui. In Vorbește-le despre bătălii, regi și elefanți autorul re-creaza viata pictorului Michelangelo. Bazandu-se pe o invitatie reala primita din Constantinopol pentru a proiecta un pod peste Bosfor si alte cateva documente istorice, Enard isi imagineaza cum ar fi avut loc acea calatorie. Principalul punct forte al acestui mic roman este modul superb in care este redat orasul cu oamenii, mirosurile, placerile si neplacerile sale. Exista si o mica poveste de dragoste interesanta iar finalul cartii este destul de alert.

Review in English.

It wasn’t love at first sight/audition. I believe it took me more than a quarter of the novel to decide that I like it and it deserves to be listened to the end. The subject was a bit odd and the pacing too slow. Mathias Énard is a professor of Arabic in Barcelona, he lived for some time in The Middle East and those aspects are seen in his work. In Tell Them of Battles, Kings and Elephants (isn’t that a beautiful title?) the author re-imagines the life of Michelangelo. Based on a real invitation received from the sultan of Constantinople to design a bridge over the Golden Horn and on other historical documents, Enard imagines how that trip would have taken place. The main aspect I liked about this novel was the beautiful way the Turkish city is portrayed with its people, smells, pleasures and perils. A love story is also present and the ending of the small novel is quite alert.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michelangelo never traveled to Constantinople, but author and scholar Mathias Énard imagines that he did in the richly detailed novella Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants. Énard draws on the historically verified premise that Michelangelo was invited in 1506 to Constantinople by the Sultan Bayezid II, who wished to commission the design for a bridge over the Golden Horn, having already rejected a design proposed by Leonardo da Vinci. Wishing to surpass his elder and seduced by promises of eternal glory, Énard's Michelangelo makes the excursion, fleeing from Pope Julius II and an unfinished commission in Rome.

What this slim book lacks in word count it makes up for in atmosphere: lush and evocative, Énard's writing propels the reader into the past with a tonal confidence and authority that blurs the line between fact and fiction - and even after reading Énard's note at the end, you would be forgiven for still not knowing which is which. Even the physicality of the pages makes you feel like you're reading a historical document; with sparse, short chapters, occasional sketches, and an abundance of blank space, Énard easily earns his reader's trust and convincingly brings the past to life.

While I imagine that Énard is a tremendously gifted writer in French, Charlotte Mandell's translation is stunning and sensual. The novella opens with the following paragraph:

“Night does not communicate with the day. It burns up in it. Night is carried to the stake at dawn. And its people along with it—the drinkers, the poets, the lovers. We are a people of the banished, of the condemned. I do not know you. I know your Turkish friend; he is one of ours. Little by little he is vanishing from the world, swallowed up by the shadows and their mirages; we are brothers. I don't know what pain or what pleasure propelled him to us, to stardust, maybe opium, maybe wine, maybe love; maybe some obscure wound of the soul deep-hidden in the folds of memory.”

These words are narrated by an Andalusian singer that Michelangelo spends the night with, whose perspective occasionally resurfaces throughout the book. These chapters were consistently my favorites, but the chapters which focused on Michelangelo's time in Constantinople and his fraught relationship with the gay poet Mesihi I found almost equally as thrilling.

'Thrilling' almost feels like an inappropriate word to use while trying to sell a relatively plotless book, but it feels like an accurate way to describe the constant emotional and intellectual engagement I felt with this story. In only 144 pages, Énard tells a propulsive tale of art, ambition, and a clashing of two cultures that don't actually meet in a significant artistic way in 1506 - this book instead hinges on the glorious 'what if?' It's also a bracing portrayal of one of history's greatest artists - genius though he is, Énard's Michelangelo fears the carnal as much as he reveres the aesthetic of it, and this contradiction is navigated here with grace and tragedy.

Make no mistake: this is very much my kind of book. I'm sure a lot of readers will find it serviceable or even dull, but everything came together for me for the perfectly enchanting and emotionally satisfying read. I can't recommend it highly enough... but only if the premise intrigues you. This is the kind of book that I wanted to reread immediately upon finishing it, and I can confidently say I will be returning to it in the not too distant future.

[Maziyar Yf · Rating 2 out of 5]

کتاب با آن ها از جنگ ها ، شاه ها و فیل ها بگو نوشته ماتیاس انار نویسنده فرانسوی کتابی ایست در مورد حضور کوتاه مدت میکل آنژ نقاش ، مجسمه ساز و معمار بسیار مشهور فلورانسی در قسطنطنیه . آن گونه که نویسنده ماتیاس انار بیان کرده سبب حضور میکل آنژ در قسطنطنیه دعوت سلطان بایزید دوم جهت طراحی پلی بر روی شهر بوده است .
کتاب انار را می توان کاملا تخیلی دانست ، تحقیقی کوتاه در مورد میکل آنژ نشان می دهد که او بیشتر عمر خود را در شمال و مرکز ایتالیا و به ویژه میان فلورانس و رم بوده است . میکل آنژ در سال 1506 ، سالی که نویسنده ادعا کرده که در قسطنطنیه بوده در فلورانس سرگرم دو پروژه بسیار بزرگ یعنی مجسمه های آرامگاه پاپ ژولیوس دوم و طرح بتل د کاسینا بوده . بنابراین هیچ سند و مدرکی در باب حضور میکل آنژ در قسطنطنیه وجود ندارد .
نکته دیگری که انار به آن توجه نداشته تغییر نام شهر قسطنطنیه ( یعنی محل حضور امپراتور قسطنطن ) به اسلامبول یعنی شهر اسلام است . تغییر نامی که پس از فتح قسطنطنیه به دست سلطان محمد فاتح – پدر سلطان بایزید دوم که در کتاب انار ، او میکل آنژ را به شهر دعوت کرده صورت گرفته است . تا قرن بیستم و به قدرت رسیدن مصطفی کمال نام شهر اسلامبول بوده و سپس به استانبول فعلی تبدیل شده است .
اما با وجود همه این دلایل اگر قبول کنیم که یک پادشاه مسلمان از یک مسیحی برای طراحی و ساخت یک پل بسیار مهم دعوت کرده آنگاه چه ؟ از این نقطه است که کتاب ماتیاس انار شروع می شود ، یعنی پذیرش واقعه ای رخ نداده به عنوان یک حقیقت
جالب ترین قسمت کتاب را باید گشت و گذار میکل آنژ در قسطنطنیه قرن شانزدهم دانست . اناربا تکیه بر دانش خود تلاش کرده تا شرق را از نگاه یک نابغه توصیف کند . تلاشی که شور بختانه بدون نتیجه مانده است .

[Justo Martiañez · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 Estrellas

Que maravilla, que pequeña joya estaba ahí olvidada en los fondos de mi saca.

En 1506, Miguel Ángel sale de Roma, tras una de las múltiples broncas y malentendidos con el Papa Julio II, que tenía un carácter, al menos, tan fuerte como el de "El divino".

Está documentado que en esas fechas recibió una invitación por parte de la Sublime puerta, en la que a la sazón gobernaba el Sultán Bayaceto II, para participar en el proyecto de construcción de un puente entre Constantinopla y el barrio de Pera al otro lado de "El cuerno de Oro".

No se sabe si el inmortal florentino viajó a la corte otomana y si lo hizo, no han quedado registros que lo demuestren fehacientemente.

En cualquier caso, Enard nos regala este viaje. Una recreación maravillosa de este supuesto viaje a la corte de Constantinopla, que hacía poco más de medio siglo había caído en manos turcas. En esta ciudad entre dos continentes, todavía conviven elementos griegos, latinos y musulmanes con notable armonía, con la incorporación de nuevos pobladores como los judíos y musulmanes expulsados por los reyes Católicos de la Península ibérica. Miguel Ángel se admirará de la mezcla de culturas, se extasiará con la arquitectura, abordará el encargo a la manera de un genio, otra cosa es si lo conseguirá...

Tras "La agonía y el éxtasis"de Irving Stone, no pensaba que volvería a encontrar otro libro que reflejara de forma tan excepcional los conflictos internos, las pasiones, la genialidad del inmortal Miguel Ángel, pero este, creedme, lo consigue. No es tan exhaustivo como el de Stone (que abarca toda su vida), pero este soplo que nos regala es soberbio.

También aparece un personaje poco conocido pero trascendente en la cultura otomana, el poeta y calígrafo Mesihi de Pristina. Amores no correspondidos, complots, evocadoras estampas del Bósforo y de la corte otomana. Maravilloso, se lee en un suspiro.

Hacía tiempo que no me encontraba con una prosa tan bonita, sencilla y evocadora.

Tengo que seguir con el autor. "Brújula" que ganó el premio Goncourt, parece un buen candidato.

[Argos · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Savaşları, Kralları ve Filleri Anlat” ilginç bir kısa roman. Aslen Fransız olan yazar Doğu Dilleri Enstitüsü’nde Arapça ve Farsça eğitimi aldığı için Doğu kültürü ve tarihine çok hakim, bu nedenle ayrıntılı inceleme yapma şansı bulmuş ve kendi ifadesine göre belgelere dayanarak kitabın öyküsünü yazmış.

Romanında Haliç üzerine bir köprü yaptırmak isteyen II. Bayezid’in davetini kabul ederek, Konstantinopolis'e gelen ünlü helykeltraş ve ressam Michelangelo'nun İstanbul’da geçirdiği üç ayın hikayesini anlatıyor. Hikayenin doğruluğu kesin olarak bilinmemekle birlikte hem belgelere dayanması, hem de kurgusal olarak çok iyi olması, bir de anlatıcının yazarın kendisi olması gibi faktörlere bağlı olarak okuyucuya inandırıcı ve gerçekçi gelmekte.

Michelangelo’nun hayatının hiç bilinmeyen bir dönemi hakkında gerçek ve kurgu iç içe. Divan şairi Mesihi ile yaşadığı platonik aşk kitaba farklı bir boyut taşıyor. Batı-Doğu karşıtlığı yazarın sıklıkla vurguladığı bir husus. Sadece roman çok kısa gibi, içi biraz daha doldurulsa daha güzel bir eser çıkabilirdi bence.

Çok kolay ve sürükleyici bir okuma sağlamasında çevirinin rolü büyük. Öneririm.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is published by Fitzcarraldo Editions,

This book is published by one of the leading UK small presses, Fitzcarraldo Editions an independent publisher (their words) specialising in contemporary fiction and long-form essays ….. it focuses on ambitious, imaginative and innovative writing, both in translation and in the English language . Their novels are (my words) distinctively and beautifully styled, with plain, deep blue covers and a "French-flap" style, and are often complex and dense.

Perhaps none more so than “Compass” by Mathias Enard –originally published as “Bousolle” in French in 2015, it was translated by Charlotte Mandell and published by Fitzcarraldo in 2017 and went on to be longlisted for the 2018 Republic of Consciousness Prize and shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize.

I described that book as “a Sebald-esque meditation on the Middle East (particularly Syria, Iran and Turkey), on Orientalism, and the relationships and interactions of Westerners (archaeologists, writers, musicians, academics) with that area over the last few centuries.”, as “important but ultimately enjoyable” but at times turning into “some form of cultural essay or doctoral thesis.”.

This book although only just translated into English, also by Charlotte Mandell, was originally published 5 years before “Bousolle” and, while stylistically very different – an easy to read novella – is thematically very similar and in fact was clearly the literary precursor to the ideas that Enard explored in more (if at times excessive) detail in his later book.

The book draws on established historical fact, and some ambiguous archival evidence, to build a speculative fictional tale.

In the early 1500s, an out of work Leonardo da Vinci, was in contact with the Court of the Ottoman empire, about a possible job in the court and a number of engineering proposals, including bridge (in the form of a single parabolic arch) across the Golden Horn from Stambul to Pera/Galata. After rejecting da Vinci’s proposed bridge it is then believed that in 1506 the Ottoman Emperor’s court approached da Vinci’s rival Michelangelo for an alternative proposal. Michelangelo was then in dispute with the Pope over payment for his work.

The opening of this book deftly sketches out the above – but whereas history tells us that Michelangelo rejected the request due to his Christian faith, the book posits that he did in fact accept and spent a period in Istanbul designing the bridge.

There he: is befriended by the (real life) poet Mesihi (who was under the sponsorship of the Grand Vizier); is entranced by both the Byzantine and Ottoman architecture and design that he sees as well as the cosmopolitan nature of the City (where different faiths, races and nations mingle); is besotted with a singer – a refugee from the fall of Grenada and the end of Al-Andalus; frustrated by once again being at the economic mercy of a great and parsimonious ruler; narrowly escapes being killed in a place intrigue.

Returning to Italy – an epilogue points out that in 1509 the Constantinople Earthquake would have obliterated the traces of Michelangelo’s bridge and therefore the impression that he made on Istanbul – but the book implicitly argues that the reverse is not true and that his trip to Istanbul made an indelible impression on his future work.

The five silver anklets around the slim leg, the dress with its orangery tint, the golden shoulder and the beauty spot and the base of the neck will show up in a corner of the Sistine chapel a few years later. In painting as in architecture, the work of Michelangelo Buonarroti will own much to Istanbul. His gaze is transformed by the city and otherness: scenes, colours, forms will permeate his work for the rest of his life. The cupola of St Peter is inspired by Santa Sophia and Bayezid’s mosque: the library of the Medicis is inspired by the Sultan’s which he visits with Manuel: the statues in the chapel of the Medicis and even the Moises for Julius II bear the imprint of attitudes and characters he met her, in Constantinople.

This theme of intermingling of the Orient and the Occidental in art is of course explored in much greater depth in Compass.

Interestingly – whereas Compass was, in my view, both too erudite and excessively detailed – I almost felt the opposite with this book. Even from my limited knowledge of historical and present day Istanbul, I felt there were some thematic links which were omitted from the tale.

For example I was surprised not to see a reference to events in the Fall of Constantinople in 1453: in particular the notorious sea chain, a crucial part of the Cities defences which was dragged across the entrance to the Golden Horn to prevent sea attack on the Northern shore (the famous land walls protecting against a land attack); how the chain failed in 1453 after the audacious manoeuvre by the Ottoman army to drag their boats across land and down into the Golden Horn; how the first Ottoman "bridge" across the Golden Horn was the pontoon of boats that was built in the final stages of the siege.

Also given the author’s key underlying theme – the bridge of East and West – to concentrate on a bridge across the Golden Horn, rather than another of Da Vinci’s proposals (a bridge across the Bosphorus Straits), one even Da Vinci identified as linking Europe and Asia – seems a strange decision, albeit necessary if taking Michelangelo as subject.

Nevertheless this was an enjoyable, stimulating and evocative read.

[Trudie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This probably deserves more than the 3-star rating I have given it. I came to view this as a quaint picturesque type endeavour, more artistic feeling than plot. Open any page and you will be well rewarded with some elegant and delicate prose, some lovely impression of 16th century Constantinople and the workings of Michelangelo but ( and here I lower my voice to a whisper ) it was just a teensy-weensy bit ... dull ?

It was certainly a nice palate cleanser between more substantial novels.

[Michał Michalski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Myślę, że słowo "cacuszko" najlepiej pasuje do tej powieści. Pięknie, ale zwięźle napisana historia, która gdyby tylko naprawdę się wydarzyła, byłaby jeszcze wspanialsza i uczono by o niej w szkołach. Co zabawne, bo i tak uczą o niej w szkołach, choć francuskich, jest tam bowiem lekturą obowiązkową (sic!). To historia bowiem o prawdziwych ludziach i rzeczach niedokonanych, które jednak mogłyby się przecież wydarzyć i gdyby się wydarzyły, byłyby nie mniej ciekawe. To historia o wydarzeniach, których byśmy po prostu sobie życzyli w rzeczywistości. Tak napisać fikcję historyczną, to jednak ogromna sztuka.

Polecam wam na rozjaśnienie dwóch-trzech jesiennych wieczorów, bo tyle właśnie wam ta lektura zajmie.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Constantinople is a very sweet prison. The city is balanced between east and west as he himself is between Bayezid and the Pope, between Mesihi's tenderness and the burning memory of a dazzling singer.

A delicious swirl of a novel that is suggestive and allusive rather than pinned down and finished neatly. Concepts of bridging and connection, of time and memory, love and cruelty, art and money weave together as fiction mixes with history. Michelangelo really did receive an invitation from the Sultan to go to Constantinople to build a bridge but he never took it up, just as one of his most famous images is of 'two extended fingers that don't touch each other'.

This is largely about the gorgeous writing, the intellectual ferment of ideas and stunning images - and about how things that are culturally constructed as being almost opposites might actually be more comparable and close: a singer who might be male or female; Michelangelo, one of the canon of supreme western artists, knotting his head up in a turban; the tolerance of Muslim Constantinople populated by Christians, Jews, Latins, Greeks; the way a Turkish character shies away from a brutal public execution while Michelangelo insists on a front row place; the way power and authority makes slaves of all those dependent on it to live.

Condensed and full of depth, this is quick to read but offers up much to think about.

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beauty comes from abandoning the refuge of the old forms for the uncertainty of the present.

This is an exercise, a bagatelle, a longing glance at the history of art perhaps a teleology of East and West? The last point is dubious, worse, it is a distraction. During the early 16C Michelangelo was invited to Constantinople to design a bridge. Mathias Enard has given us febrile visions of what such might have been involved. Ottoman images stand in relief to Renaissance ordering. (interesting the artist's predilection for lists) The images are indeed opulent but the actors are but wisps, dialogue is fleeting except for the recited verse. I found this intriguing but it ultimately only whets the appetite to read Compass again.

[Antonomasia · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5] This historical novel presents East and West as equal, equivalent, and with at least as many similarities as differences - for, as anyone who's encountered the Ottomans on an Early Modern Europe curriculum will know, that's pretty much how it was in the 16th century, before the Industrial Revolution, European colonialism and petropolitics. It's a valuable perspective to show 21st-century readers, but if you've heard it plenty of times before (since A-Levels in the 1990s in my case), its presentation here doesn't make for the freshest historical fiction. (And not too many of those who could do with a new way of looking at the Muslim world will be picking up literary novellas, especially in translation from small presses.)

In Mathias Énard's work, the Mediterranean is a cultural and historical unit in which Southern Europe is strongly connected to the Near East and North Africa. To an extent he follows his French compatriot, the historian Fernand Braudel, who wrote extensively about the Med, but Énard's scholarship in Middle Eastern languages, and residence in the area and in Spain increase his emphasis on the non-European, portion of the region.

Battles, Kings and Elephants was first published in French in 2010, and seems just as, if not more relevant, nine years later in English. It tells of an imagined visit by Michelangelo to Constantinople in 1506; he has been commissioned by Sultan Bayezid II to design a bridge that will span the Golden Horn waterway* - a project for which Leonardo da Vinci has previously provided an unsatisfactory plan. The work and location is intimidating, but he's feeling out of favour at home (especially with the papal court), and there's a lot of money to be made - the same factors and emotions playing these days on Westerners who take jobs in Dubai.

Within this narrative about a great Florentine artist abroad, Énard presents the usual details that make up a syllabus on the Ottomans: the Fall / Conquest of Constantinople; a big-name Sultan; Janissaries; a powerful vizier; religious tolerance contrasting with the increasing authoritarianism that would mark the Reformation and Counter-Reformation in Europe; far-reaching trade; enslavement, in particular of people from the Balkans and Central Asia, a few of whom managed to rise to high rank at court, but most of whom were labourers. There are similar points on Southern Europe, such as the Spanish Reconquista, Lorenzo de' Medici and the corrupt papacy of Julius II. And for all that he has an atmospheric writing style, the brevity of the book combined with the frequency of these references to the sort of items found on a 16-18 history curriculum meant it felt too often like historical fiction constructed on box-ticking.

The less well-known and fictional details are inevitably more interesting: characters such as hard-drinking court poet Mesihi of Prishtina, who befriends Michelangelo; the material from a real 16th-century Italian biography of the artist; from Michelangelo's "letters home" from Constantinople, and his diary in which he made lists of objects apparently encountered that day; apparent Constantinople influences in Michelangelo's subsequent work - and especially the "recently-discovered" primary documents that included an inventory of items the artist left behind in his room when he hurriedly left Constantinople.

I loved the two narratives' awareness of the sands of time. The main, omniscient third-person narration, which tells the bulk of the story and follows Michelangelo, comments on what has and has not survived in historical records. This is interpolated with short bursts of first person narrative: the voice of a beautiful, androgynous singer and dancer who beguiles Michelangelo. This narrator has a pessimistic certainty about what will not survive: it is the voice of one who has fled a diminished and then destroyed kingdom. Much of what they say feels right, existentially - although 500 years later, Michelangelo's fame is even greater than it was in his lifetime, belying "Nothing of your time here will remain. Traces, clues, an edifice. Like my vanished country, over there, at the other end of the sea."

The beautiful androgyne was, as a child, a refugee from Ferdinand and Isabella's 1492 conquest of Grenada: a refugee fleeing Europe for a more tolerant society in the Middle East, the mirror image of the contemporary flow of people. This is another of the ways in which the Ottomans - both in this book and in general historical accounts - are shown to be more civilised by late 20th-21st century standards than was Renaissance Western Europe, like the greater acceptance of male homosexuality and bisexuality, and educated men's disdain for watching public executions. However, Ottoman slavery is not glossed over; the enslaved people who are most prominent in the narrative are lucky and talented ones, but there are also scenes showing the auction of slaves who will be forced into manual labour and prostitution. Slaves in prestigious roles, such Mesihi and the singer, see Michelangelo as similar to themselves - and this is hardly whataboutism because the Renaissance artist, with next to no mass market for their work, was wholly dependent on the whims of royalty, nobility and prelates who had the power to order execution or assassination. The Ottoman characters seem to have more melancholy resignation to their fate, whilst Michelangelo champs at the bit - an individualist Western artist in the Romantic mould who feels strongly that he should not have to be so subject to other men, but also abjectly, and sometimes confusedly, god-fearing. The reckless romanticism displayed here from both Ottoman artists and Michelangelo is more commonly associated with Western art and culture of the 19th and 20th centuries, but was also visible in early modern France, in 15th-century vagabond-poet François Villon; one could perhaps draw parallels between Villon and Mesihi.

Most of the book meanders along in a dream-like state; whilst it critiques narratives of the heady, perfumed exoticism of the east, it can't quite help replicating them because it is about the opulent Ottoman court, full of characters whose lives depended on royal favour, who liked beautiful objects and intoxicants. This languid existence segues abruptly into an almost James-Bond-like dénoument, which brought to mind those historical detective series in which some famous person of the past plays investigator. The pacing felt skewed, but on the other hand, there was never any shortage of intrigue at 16th-century courts, and it was an era of sudden fleeings for everyone: from epidemic and war as well as from individual violence.

Whilst reading the novel, I considered looking for the biography of Michelangelo by his friend Ascanio Condivi, to which Énard refers, to check what was fact and what fiction. But I was then entirely taken in by the author's in-universe Afterword, as, due to his attention to detail, this research now seemed unnecessary. (I had to rewrite several paragraphs of this review once I realised my mistake, a few hours after posting an earlier version on Goodreads. Thanks to the early paragraphs of Eric Anderson's review, in particular this article, for saving me from more prolonged embarrassment.) Énard writes this Afterword as if it is factual, and, not having studied the 16th century for some years before 2010, and being sporadic at that time in what I kept up with, it seemed plausible that I simply hadn't heard of these documents. I hadn't previously heard of Michelangelo going to Constantinople to design a bridge, but then I'd never read a book-length biography of him, though I had at one point had to write down his name often enough that the memory of note-to-self becoming reflex is present every time I write it: Michelangelo like the French Michel, and not Michaelangelo. (I was slightly too old to have had this spelling drummed into me by Turtles comics.) Perhaps most bewitching of all in the novel itself is the relation of details of the Sistine Chapel paintings - work on which began a few years later - to the artist's sojourn in Constantinople: David's scimitar, a bunch of silver anklets, Adam's alleged resemblance to Mesihi. It is the sort of speculation one can imagine voiced by Andrew Graham-Dixon in a BBC art history documentary.

Perhaps Battles, Kings & Elephants is a fun, lighter story by an author of big serious novels putting his feet up for a while. Or perhaps it's saying something (not unlike the Jonathan Jones Guardian article linked above) about the way history can be slanted and interpreted to fit the needs of the time or the teller, or it's part of the author's critique of his own view of the Mediterranean as a region of interchange (and maybe of early 21st century history's emphasis on international trade).To add a further layer of research I still haven't done, it would probably be instructive to read more interviews with Énard, ones which touch on this book (rather than on Compass, as do the couple of English interviews I've seen. If the novel is longlisted for the International Booker, I will do that, and return to this post again. (I may also re-read it. Battles Kings & Elephants is a very short novel which many literary readers will consume in 1-3 sittings. I read much of it in small bits, often groggy from insomnia or insufficient sleep, and as a result I felt as if it dragged - so my impressions of its pacing may not be representative.)


In the other Énard novel I've read, Street of Thieves, (like Battles, Kings and Elephants, a short work with a predominantly linear narrative - as opposed to his experimental tomes Zone and Compass) I felt as if I may have learned something, and heard the voice of a character not often found elsewhere - a young Moroccan man in low-paid work, with a moderate stance on religion, and a fan of French thrillers. Whereas much of the material in Battles, Kings and Elephants may not offer enough novelty and excitement for readers who've studied the 16th century Ottomans and the Italian Renaissance: a longer novel which had more room for story and description, and less dependence on basic historical references, may have got past that problem. Although the question of potential for deeper meaning in its fiction may give something to think about.

[Dolatshahi · Rating 4 out of 5]

در دنیای قدیم دو شهر وجود داشتند که کمال آرزوی من در تجربه و زیست در آن‌ها بعنوان شهر هستند.
اول غرناطه یا گرانادا، عروس غربی آندلس
دوم کنستانتینوپل یا قسطنطنیه، عروس شرقی بیزانس
معمولا هر رمان، هیستوریکال فیکشن یا نوشته‌ها، اسناد و پژوهش‌های تاریخی در مورد این دو شهر باشه را با اشتیاق مطالعه می‌کنم.

این کتاب هم داستانی فیکشن را روایت میکنه که در آن قسطنطنیه‌ی طناز و مردمانش در زمان سلطان بایزید در چشمان هنرمندی فلورانسی خواهند نشست و ما تجربه ‌ی زیست آن‌ها را از منظر این هنرمند شاهد خواهیم بود و البته حس و حال و تجربیات درونی خود هنرمند.

نکته‌ی مهم دیگر این داستان علیرغم رخداد وقایع در قسطنطنیه، حضور زیبای دومین شهر مورد علاقه‌ی من یعنی غرناطه در این داستان هست که ورود و حضور و یاد غم‌انگیز سقوط این شهر یکی از لطیف‌ترین روایات این داستان را خواهد ساخت.

بر همین اساس این کتاب برای من خواندنی و بسیار خیال‌انگیز بود. امیدوارم که شما هم اگر چنین علاقه‌ای دارید از خوندنش لذت ببرید.

[Hugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been hearing great things about Énard for some time, but had never read him, and I chose to start with this one mostly because it is a short one. I found it an enjoyable and interesting book, which blends historical fact and fiction.

The plot has some elements of truth, but most of it is fictional - in 1506 Michelangelo was invited to design a bridge over the Golden Horn for the Sultan, after a previous design by Leonardo da Vinci was rejected, but the project never came to fruition and there is no evidence that the real Michelangelo ever visited Turkey. This book imagines what might have happened had he accepted, and met another real character, the poet Mesihi of Prishtina. Énard's recreation of 16th century Turkey and the effect it would have had on a European new to it is impressive and lively.

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Vom găsi frumusețea în bătălii groaznice, curajul, în lașitatea oamenilor, totul va intra în legendă."

[João Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carta e Projecto da Ponte de Leonardo da Vinci apresentado ao Sultão Bayazid II

O livro “Fala-lhes de Batalhas, de Reis e de Elefantes” foi escrito pelo francês Mathias Énard (n. 1972), publicado originalmente em 2010 e recebeu o Prémio Goncourt des Lycéens (2010) e o Prémio do Livro em Poitou-Charentes (2011)
O romance começa com Miguel Ângelo a desembarcar no porto de Constantinopla (actual Istambul – Turquia), a 13 de Maio de 1506, a convite do Sultão Bayazid.
Miguel Ângelo está em litígio com o papa Júlio II e o convite mais não é do que uma fuga de Roma.
Bayazid concede-lhe a tarefa de “projectar, desenhar e iniciar a construção de uma ponte entre Constantinopla e Peras, o subúrbio setentrional”, que atravesse uma zona denominada o “Corno de Ouro”.
A singularidade desse pedido reside no facto de Leonardo da Vinci já ter desenhado a referida ponte e o Sultão Bayazid a ter liminarmente rejeitado. “Se aceitardes ireis ultrapassá-lo em glória, porque triunfareis onde ele fracassou e dareis ao mundo um monumento sem igual, como o vosso David.” – é com esta frase que Miguel Ângelo é definitivamente convencido, e também pela rivalidade com o detestável e vendido Leonardo da Vinci.
Assistirmos ao processo criativo do artista, que inicialmente “não tem qualquer ideia”, interiorizando apenas que a “obra tem que ser única, tem que ser uma obra-prima de graciosidade”, dominada pelas proporções, porque a “arquitectura é a arte do equilíbrio e da harmonia, é simplesmente deslumbrante". No final Miguel Ângelo “é modelado pela sua obra.”
A verdade histórica sobre estes acontecimentos acaba por ser irrelevante, porque de uma forma brilhante Mathias Enard também escreve sobre a paixão, o amor, o ciúme e a morte, num contexto de relacionamentos platónicos e ambíguos entre as personagens.
“Fala-lhes de Batalhas, de Reis e de Elefantes” é uma verdadeira preciosidade literária, numa linguagem simples e elegante, fruto também da tradução de Pedro Tamen.
Admirável.

“Do resto não se sabe nada.”

[محمد خالد شريف · Rating 3 out of 5]

"أنا لا أفتش عن الحب، بل عن المواساة؛ عن الطمأنينة في التعويض عن كُل تلك الأوطان التي ��خسرها منذ لحظة خروجنا من أرحام أمهاتنا، والتي نستبدلها بالحكايات، كما الأطفال النهمون فضولاً بعيونهم الواسعة والمسمرة على الحكواتي.
في الحقيقة، ليس هناك سوى العذاب؛ وسوى أننا نُحاول أن ننسى في أحضان الغرباء بأننا سنختفي قريباً من الوجود."

ما يُميز هذا العمل هو إعادة كتابة التاريخ بشكل روائي وسلس على يد "ماتياس إينارد"، الذي يروي لنا حكاية "مايكل أنجلو" عندما طُلب منه من قبل سلطان القسطنطينية أن يُصمم جسراً، فنُتابع تلك الرحلة التي يخوضها "مايكل" في أحضان السلطة التركية/العثمانية، والمعالم لتلك الحقبة الزمنية، وكيف رأى "مايكل" من وجهة نظره الاختلافات الجلية والمُستترة بين المسلمين والمسيحيين، أُخذ بالأجواء العثمانية، من رقص وغناء، وأكل، وخمر، ويقوم من غفوته مُتسغفراً ربه أنه أذنب!

الحكاية أيضاً عن الفن، والبناء، وكيفية التلقي المُختلفة لهم، هناك شاعر ومُترجم غيور كان لهم أدوار فعالة أيضاً، وستجد نفسك مُستغرقاً في الرواية القصيرة، وانتهت الحكاية بأثرها اللطيف عليك.

رواية لطيفة، وجميلة، وستجعلني أنظر لأعمال "ماتياس إينارد" بشكل أكبر.

[Eylül Görmüş · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Onlar çocuk; savaşları ve kralları, atları, şeytanları, filleri ve melekleri anlat onlara ama aşk ve benzeri şeyleri anlatmayı da unutma." 🤍

Bu enfes cümleyle başlıyor Mathias Enard'ın romanı. Daha önce kendisinin Pusula romanını okuyup epeyce sevmiştim, hâl böyle olunca Savaşları, Kralları ve Filleri Anlat Onlara da sonunda yeni kapağıyla yeniden basılınca kapıverdim.

Sene 1506. Michelangelo, II. Bayezid'in davetiyle İstanbul'da. Haliç'e yapılacak köprü için Leonardo da Vinci'nin projesini reddeden padişah, bir proje de ondan istiyor. Bu ziyaretin gerçekleşip gerçekleşmediği meçhul, çoğu kaynakta sanatçının o dönemki Papa ile arası kötü olduğu ve maddi sorunlar yaşadığı için kabul etmeyi düşündüğü ancak sonrasında sorun çözülünce vazgeçtiği söyleniyor ancak son dönemde Osmanlı arşivlerinde Michelangelo'ya atfedilen Haliç için bir köprü projesi ve odasında bıraktığı eşyaların dökümü keşfedilmiş.

Sonuçta elimizde kesin bir bilgi yok ama Enard bu ziyaretin gerçekleştiğini hayal ediyor ve romanını bunun üzerine kuruyor. Ana kahraman Michelangelo belki ama kitabın çok akılda kalıcı başka kahramanları da var, bir tanesi Divan şairi Mesihî. Bana sorarsanız o yapılamayan köprü ile bizzat İstanbul da bu romanın baş kahramanlarından.

Şahane yazılmış bir metin bu, masal gibi, söylence gibi, şiir gibi. Michelangelo'nun zihnine girmiş gibi yazıyor Enard, şehirle kurduğu ilişkiyi muazzam anlatıyor. Ağırlıklı olarak kullandığı şimdiki zaman kipine ara ara -di'li geçmiş zaman katıyor, zamanı eğip büküyor, müthiş akışkan, kıvrak ve duygusu çok güçlü bir hikaye çıkarıyor ortaya.

İlk cümlesinden son cümlesine kadar çok haz alarak okudum. Leziz son cümlesini de koyup öyle bitireyim madem: "İstanbul'dan ona buğulu bir ışık, buruklukla karışık ince bir sızı, uzak bir müzik, yumuşak şekiller, zamanla paslanan hazlar, şiddetin, kaybetmenin acısı: Hayatın tutmaya izin vermediği ellerin terk edilişi, artık okşanamayacak yüzler, hâlâ kurulamayan köprüler kaldı."

[Tijana]

Kad se sve sabere i izbace beline između ultrakratkih poglavlja (kao u Svili, ali ovde je više trik a manje potreba), ovo nije roman već novela od šezdesetak strana, za prijatno čitanje u komadu. Kao svaka dobra novela, okreće se oko jednog događaja - šta bi bilo da je Mikelanđelo otišao u Carigrad da sultanu sagradi most preko Bosfora, i zašto bi taj poduhvat propao. Autor piše besprekorno&savršeno, svaka rečenica je na svom mestu, uglačana do smrti, samo... pa, iskreno, ko je čitao "Most na Žepi", njemu "Pričaj im..." može da bude eventualno simpatična varijacija na temu, koju je autor bogatio malo Mikelanđelovim likom, malo suptilnom erotikom, i sve tako ovim-onim zanimljivim, ali na svakih nekoliko strana morala sam da otresam glavom ne bih li oterala misao "kod Andrića je sve ovo mnogo bolje" a onda je siroti autor pomenuo Džema u nekoj digresiji i ode mast u propast.
Čitajte ovu knjigu, nećete se pokajati, ali još bolje - pročitajte (opet) Most na Žepi.

[Eric Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I hadn’t read some articles in the past (such as ‘Bridging the gap: the east-west divide in art’), I’d have entirely believed the central story of Mathias Enard’s new novel. It’s true that Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were invited by Turkish rulers in Constantinople to design a bridge over the Golden Horn, but neither ever journeyed to this Eastern superpower. However, “Tell Them of Battles, Kings and Elephants” imagines Michelangelo travelling to work for the sultan in the summer of 1506. He’s embittered by Pope Julius II failing to deliver timely payments for commissions and enlivened by the thought of surpassing the talent of his rival Leonardo da Vinci whose design was rejected. During this stolen season, Michelangelo comes into contact with Muslim culture and people outside of his staunch Christian beliefs. An encounter with a mesmerising androgynous dancer also prompts him to adopt a more fluid attitude towards sexuality and gender. It’s a brilliantly told fantastical tale that plays on ideas concerning history and the power of story-telling.

Read my full review of Tell Them of Battles, Kings and Elephants by Mathias Enard on LonesomeReader

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short novella (there is a LOT of white space in these 144 pages) can and probably SHOULD be read in a single sitting - the fact that due to other obligations I had to spread it over 3 days undoubtedly weakened its effect, but it remains an intriguing and powerful 'what if' derived from scattered historical artifacts.

[Jola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Jerrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a unique fictionalization of Michelangelo’s trip to Istanbul to design a bridge for the city. Apparently, construction was begun on the bridge, but it was significantly damaged by an earthquake and never finished. The writing is immersive, drawing the reader deeply into the mind and emotions of the various characters. Not a lot happens, but I still enjoyed reading this brief, beautiful book nevertheless.

[Ace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written (possible) history of Michelangelo visiting the city of Constantinople in 1503 to design a bridge for the Sultan. This story is pulled together from scant documents found in Ottoman archives regarding sketches Michelangelo drew of a bridge, which was never built. I loved getting to know Michelangelo in all of his stinky-ness and personal and professional insecurities.

[Lavinia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dragă Goodreads,
Pentru anul viitor îți doresc să implementezi odată sistemul ăla cu jumătate de stea. Milioane de oameni îți vor fi mulțumitori.

Altfel, cartea: captivantă, scurtă, istorică. Intrigi, pasiune, poeți, artiști, bătălii, regi și elefanți.

3.5*

[Senga krew_w_piach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jestem oczarowana.
Mathias Enard niespodziewanie zafundował mi cudowną ucieczkę od rzeczywistości, a musicie mi uwierzyć, że bardzo tego potrzebowałam. W czasach, w których nie da się żyć, opowieści, które przenoszą czytelniczkę do innego świata, tak że kiedy patrzy przez okno nie widzi polskiego blokowiska w listopadzie, tylko uliczki szesnastowiecznego Konstantynopola zmiękczone ciepłymi refleksami zachodzącego słońca, są na wagę złota.
W zasadzie, to nawet trudno pisać mi tę recenzję, bo nadal trochę tam jestem i boje się, że kiedy spróbuję zamknąć w słowa swoje odczucia, zejdę na ziemię i czar pryśnie. Jednocześnie nie chcę czekać z tą opinią aż emocje opadną, bo muszę wam szybko napisać, że każdx z was zasługuje na to, żeby czytać tę książkę NATYCHMIAST.

„Opowiedz im…” zdaje się spełniać wszystkie wymagania powieści przygodowej – jest podróż, miłość, intrygi, niebezpieczeństwo – chociaż akcja płynie niespiesznie i nienachalnie, być może jest to jedna z mniej ekscytujących przygód opisanych w literaturze. Jednocześnie język Enarda jest tak magnetyczny i wciągający, że nie chciałam odkładać czytnika nawet na chwilę. Bardzo żywe, plastyczne opisy wypełniają wyobraźnię obrazami i nagle siedzisz i googlujesz słowa takie jak astragal, gorges czy sarrankolin, żeby mieć pewność, że nie umknął ci żaden szczegół. Napięcie zastępuje niezwykła, sensualna atmosfera, afirmująca piękno, zmysłowość, twórczość i zachwyt. Są tu piękne frazy, do wzdychania i obracania na języku I dużo list - „szaleństwo katalogowania” at it’s best - kocham to!
Jest to też powieść historyczna, zawiera bowiem mnóstwo faktów, czerpie ze źródeł, bohaterowie istnieli naprawdę i w ogóle nie obchodzi mnie, że cała historia wizyty Michała Anioła w Konstantynopolu w roku pańskim 1506 została zmyślona – ja uwierzyłam absolutnie w każde słowo.

Wbrew pozorom Enard nie opowiada o bitwach, królach i słoniach, ale o miłości, sztuce, przyjaźni, religii, męskości, władzy i pożądaniu, łamiąc przy tym wiele stereotypów i pokazując szesnastowieczny świat z nieoczywistej perspektywy.
I jest to absolutnie wspaniałe. Czytajcie!

[cypt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Graži poetiška knygelė apie nieką. Kas būtų buvę, jei Michelangelo būtų nuvažiavęs į Konstantinopolį pastatyt sultonui tilto? Kas būtų buvę jei jis būtų pamatęs Rytų Kul'tūrą? Kas būtų buvę jei jis būtų susižavėjęs gražia šokėja kuris gal net yra vyras????? Kas būtų buvę jei būtų daug gėręs? Kas būtų buvę jei jam būtų buvę sunku statyti tą tiltą?

Ta alternatyvioji istorija kaip ir įdomus žanras, bet kiek skaitau, tiek neįdomu. Įdomu buvo tik "Inglourious Basterds" ir "Django Unchained". Bet "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" jau nebe. Gal įdomu tik tada, kai ta taip ir nenutikusi istorija kelia graudulį? Nu arba juoką, kaip kokios blevyzgos prie vyno. Bet vat Didžiojo Miano istorijos nedaro nei to, nei ano.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m always impressed when an author knows the limits of a plot. So it is with Mathias Énard’s Tell Them of Battles, Kings & Elephants. My New Directions Books edition ended after 141 pages of comfortably spaced lines. Five or ten pages less, Tell Them of Battles. . . would have been too short; five or ten pages more, it would have been too long. Énard controls his plot throughout those 141 pages, and his discipline leads to a compelling if brief novel.

Tell Them of Battles. . . ’s strongpoint is Énard’s portrait of Michelangelo as a brilliant craftsman and artist, jealous of his more famous and accomplished elder, burdened by expectations and money worries, and at his center a locked-in, literally and figuratively frigid man, able to create beauty but not physically love beauty. ”Although he loves this skin against his shoulder, the smooth shiver of foreign hair on his neck, its spicy perfume, the magic has stopped working. Pleasure leaves him unmoved. / He would like to be opened up, so the passion inside could be set free. / He would fly away and burn, like the phoenix.”

That Énard imagines Michelangelo as an historical character and sets this imagined historical character in an imagined sixteenth century Constantinople creates shelf appeal for Tell Them of Battles. . . , but Énard’s characterization would have been equally powerful if he had written about Mikie from the ‘hood and set his story in 2019. Certainly historical verisimilitude increases the power of Tell Them of Battles. . . , but any historical accuracy and even verisimilitude strikes me as almost irrelevant to the power of Énard’s richly imagined Michelangelo.

Here’s an afterthought: Imagine that you’re talking with a literary friend. Yes, talking, in person, with your mouths moving, to an IRL literary friend. No, not just talking to yourself. The two of you are discussing historical fiction. Do you emphasize historical or fiction? I emphasize fiction.

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 3 out of 5]

*sigh*
3.5 *
Parašytas šis trumputis istorinis romanas (labiau novella) tikrai meistriškai. Nuostabi kalba, puikios metaforos, etc., žodžiu, tikra literatūra. Tačiau kartais taip jau nutinka...supranti - MENAS ;), bet jokie šiurpuliukai per nugarą nebėga...lieki visiškai nepaliestas/a kūrinio, abejingas/a, net nuobodžiauji...
O čia dar ir Artimieji Ryai, 1500-ųjų Konstantinopolis, Michelangelo...taip viliojo...žadėjo...Deja, likau nesužavėta, nesuvyliota...
*sigh*

Garsusis Florencijos skulptorius Michelangelo kvečiamas sukurti tilto projektą per Aukso ragą tuometiniame Konstantinopolyje (Stambulas). Verčiamas aplinkybių jis priima šį viliojantį ir daug žadantį iššūkį...

Iš tikro, 1501- iais Osmanų sultonato užsakymu Leonardo da Vinci sukūrė šio tilto projektą, kuris, beje, buvo atmesas. Nors internete prie šio projekto sušmėžuoja ir Michelangelo vardas. "/

Autorius, didelis archyvų mėgėjas, prisipažįsta ilgai kapstęsis po sultonato korespondenciją, po Michelangelo ir kt. archyvnius dokumentus...Ar būta kokių užuominų, iš kurių jam gimė šios knygos idėja? Gal? Tačiau dauguma kritikų mano, kad tai tik literatūrinė fantazija.

Tai pasakojimas apie Rytus - Vakarus ir (ne)pastatytus tiltus tarp jų, apie valdžią/jėgą, apie aistrą...

Tik dar viena smulki detalė. Kaip čia ''Baltos lankos'' supainiojo tuos viršelius?
*sigh*