The Last Tram
By Nedim Gursel
1991
First Published
3.26
Average Rating
178
Number of Pages
In these stories, art, history, architecture, and contemporary politics feed into the swirling palette of colors with which the migrant experience is painted. Through dreams, memories, and an unforgettable host of characters—the lonely Mustafa who cares only for the fate of his beloved poplar tree back home on the Anatolian plain, the tragic Madame Suslova who recalls memories of a lover who squandered her money on the roulette tables of Istanbul, and the members of the Coci family who make their desperate way through the Fréjus Tunnel—readers experience the constant state of longing and displacement associated with immigration and exile.
Avg Rating
3.26
Number of Ratings
34
5 STARS
12%
4 STARS
32%
3 STARS
35%
2 STARS
12%
1 STARS
9%
goodreads
Author
Nedim Gursel
Author · 17 books
Nedim Gürsel was born in Gaziantep, Turkey, in 1951. He published his first novellas and essays in Turkish literary magazines in the late 60s. After the coup d’état in 1971, he had to testify in court for one of his articles. This led to his decision to temporarily reside in France. He studied Comparative Literature at the Sorbonne in Paris and completed his dissertation in 1979 on Nâzim Hikmet and Louis Aragon. Gürsel then returned to Turkey, but the military putsch of 1980 sent him back into exile in France. He first wrote articles and travel reports which were published in 'Le Monde', as well as in the Turkish newspapers 'Cumhuriyet' and 'Milliyet'. Today he teaches contemporary Turkish literature at the Sorbonne and directs the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
