Mavi Boncuk |
Graphic Novel | Le Père Turc À La Recherche de Mustafa Kemal
Written by: Loulou Dedola [1]
A sensitive evocation of Atatürk's life
Afife, Turkish intellectual based in Izmir, goes to find his cousin in the province, in a deindustrialized city. During this short stay, she meets her 15-year-old grandnephew, Mehmet, an orphan without landmarks caught in a dangerous spiral between delinquency and religious radicalism. Realizing that Mehmet does not know anything about the history of her country of origin, she offers to accompany her on her next study trip: an investigation into the life of Mustafa Kemal, the eminent leader. progressive Turk better known as "Atatürk". By getting to know his aunt, Mehmet will gradually discover this character ... Perhaps he will become the father he never had? Her cousin Ayse will not know that Afife lied that she was on a college trip, and would not know anything about her dramatic health. If passing days can help Mehmet open the eyes to the world through the destiny of a great man with modernist values, she will be happy, simply.
This romanticized account of the life of Mustafa Kemal, a great figure in contemporary Turkish history, sheds light on the fascinating beginnings of a very progressive vision of the democratic life of this great country on the borders of Europe. The author chooses to portray the narrator as a modern, independent, modern woman who accompanies a young boy influenced by Islamist propaganda. A boy in need of reference, in contact with fundamentalist manipulators, but nevertheless captivated by the story that this woman makes him discover. The intentions of Loulou Dedola are noble, combining a lesson in history with the course of a young man close to rocking into religious radicalism. The boy seems the perfect illustration of a youth without landmarks, wearing fashionable clothes, but eager to reject all the values of the society where he grew up. The album is full of good intentions, very public, drawing by Lellio Bonnacorso completing the story in a dynamic semi-realistic style close to the animation. Completing its history with the current Turkish political context, the author seems to want to explain that the retreat of human rights is possible even in the most enlightened and innovative countries. In the person of Afife, it is a woman full of experience that reminds us.
Jeu d'Ombres Volume 1: Gazi!(2016-2017)[*], The Turkish Father (2018) are two comics published by Glénat that mark this passion.
Loulou Dédola is a writer and singer of the Lyon group RCP. Songwriter, he lives and performs in Africa, including Lagos, Nigeria. It blends into the population by learning Broken English or Pidgin (mix of English and different African dialects) and even succeeds in infiltrating Nigerian criminal networks. This period of his life will inspire the script of his first feature film 419 African Mafia, and his first eponymous comic concocted with the designer Lelio Bonaccorso. For "Special Investigation" he conducts a hidden camera investigation of the powerful networks of Nigerian human traffickers. It will be an international TV success. In 2019, he returned to Africa and Nigeria paying tribute to Fela Kuti in a graphic novel entitled Fela Back To Lagos. His new novel to be published by Les Arènes in the Equinoxe collection marks a return to the dark side of this character with vague contours ...
[2]Glénat |
Created in 1969 by Jacques Glénat, Glénat is a French publishing house specializing in comics, manga, comics and fine books (sea, mountains, gastronomy, heritage and youth).