Quote:
Originally Posted by caleb72
(...)
3) The similarity in appearance between the two has a significance I can't put my finger on. Does it emphasise, perhaps, the struggle of a man of science when confronted by mysticism and superstition? Do we look at the struggle of the Turk and remember that Italians suffered from their own similar problem when Ptolemy's geocentric theories were challenged by Gallileo? Is this the connection? Our Venetian looks on with some superiority as a representative of the "they" - the Western scientific thought of which the Turk wants to gain approval. However, interestingly, Western scientific thought had its own mysticism vs science battle with the scientific revolution.
Hopefully, as I continue to read the story, I will have more to add/discuss.
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This could very well be the case. I am still looking into the state of art of the 17th century science of those two countries.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Billi
I've also read about a third of it. I actually liked the preface or at least didn't find anything wrong with it. The author quite boldly tolds the reader that this is not only a book of historical fiction but a political parabel - so maybe we don't only have to look at the history of Italy and the Otoman Empire but at the (then) present of Turkey.
Off-topic and not important for the value of the book (but at the moment the story is very slow going):
What I asked myself is if I would really recognise it when someone else looks exactly like me.
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It is said that every person has its double...... One always has a certain perpection of oneself that need't be the same view as others have.
As I am reading, I get the idea that this isn't as much a novel of historical fiction but a philosophical one. Identity and percertion seem to be important.