Customer Reviews

Death and the Dervish (Writings from an Unbound Europe)

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This book contains a lot. It is by no means easily read - it feels like the private reflections of a tormented man - but I've read few books, if any, that go deeper into some rather dark and unpleasant territory. Through the friendship of a man who has retreated from the world and one who has chosen to confront it, it explores the distance between ideals and reality.

One thing that struck me was the universality of the writing; despite being grounded in a very particular place and time, the ideas seemed in no way constrained by the society in which it was based. For this reason the discussion in these reviews on Selimovic's national affiliations - or lack of the same - took me by surprise. I lack the knowledge to contribute to this discussion, but the passage in pp.407-9 where Hassan likens the Bosnian people to Jemail read very much like an author's message.

Irrespective of this, I can't recommend the book enough. It offers some powerful insights into areas rarely explored successfully.

Human transformation is one of the great motifs of modern literature. A particularly important example of such transformation is the development of willpower in a character, such that he overcomes whatever potent inner forces had previously restrained his actions. Examples of this abound: think of such characters as Hamlet, Stephen Dedalus, and Raskolnikov.

"Death and the Dervish" describes one such personal revolution, told from the perspective of the narrator, Ahmed Nuruddin, a sheikh at a tekke (a Muslim monastery) in Turk-occupied Bosnia. Nuruddin is a simple, contempletive, and wise character, akin to Alyosha Karamazov, whose asceticism is shattered by the mysterious and unexplained arrest and execution of his brother. Through the novel, Nuruddin broods in regret, lamenting that he might have missed an opportunity to save his brother's life. Finally, in an existential revenge scene of monumental drama and terrifying meaning, Nuruddin overcomes the restraints of his ascetic psyche and avenges his brother's death. The book ends in an unpredictable yet inevitable moment of horror--a horror so beautiful and exquisite that I had to reread the final paragraphs several times before the chills left my back.

The profound message of "Death in the Dervish" is existential at a certain level, in that it strips the characters of essential meaning and allows them to define themselves. The non-existential underlying theme, however, which frighteningly explains many events of the twentieth century, is the notion that humans are inherently evil. Not good, as a theist would believe. Not neutral as an existentialist would argue. But evil. It is only our cowardice, our philosophical pusilanimity that restrains us from acting upon the evil that simmers in our minds and constantly threatens to erupt.

Selimovic weaves "Death and the Dervish" in simple and lavishly beautiful language, reminding me of Yukio Mishima and Rainer Maria Rilke. He also writes with constant psychological profundity, never letting the reader escape Nuruddin's own inner Odyssey.

It would be trite and limiting to call "Death and the Dervish" a "classic." It is a book that all people on earth should read, and a book that continues to move me long after having closed its cover.

After all of these reviews that I have just found here, there is no sense of talking about the characters of this great book, but I would like to write some things that maybe not all readers know. Mesa Selimovic was born in Tuzla, Bosnien and Herzegovina, same like me. My high-school name was Mesa Selimovic and I am very proud of it. The messages from "Dervis i smrt" are universal, but they are also the picture of bosnian tradition and society, and the most important fact - they represent the mirror of bosnian soul. If you want to learn something more about Bosnia, its people and history, than you should read this book. As a Bosnian I can't think of a better book. And I don't think that it's bad to say that Selimovic was Bosnian (according to Mazedonian reader ), because he was. It was not mentioned in the review was he a Croat, Muslim, or Serb, and it doesn't matter. I think that we after all that happened in my homeland at least have right to say that we are Bosnians without mentioning the nationality. Bosnia is home for all of us. Don't denial this right to Selimovic.

I think it is wrong to trivialize this book with arguements about Selimovic's nationality. It would be a shame, if we were defined simply by our race, ethnicity, or religion. I hope we all agree that is wrong to define (and confine) a person, or person's work, within the limits of political and geographical boundaries. Selimovic's novel was not meant to be a confirmation of Bosnian "greatness," merely because it was written by a Bosnian. I tend to believe that he had other, deeper, and more spiritual motives in his writing. I certainly gained much from reading this book, and I am a serb.

Few days ago I finished my fourth reading of this book and I experienced exactly the same mixed feelings I had after my first reading.I was sad to witness such a human tragedy and I was happy because in this book I found a real treausure of human mind. Even though located in the Balkans dark age the story still sends a universal human mesagge where philosophical exsistence of good and evil live in eternal confrontation. The final sentence (...death is nonsense,the same as life) rather than lament sounds to me as an invitation for reflection about our existentialism and values we blindly follow and promote today. Finally, with all respect to the people who translated the book I find myself extremely lucky being able to read this book in its original version in bosnian language which is obviouslu much more authentic and colourful. P.S. I would not like to open a political debate in this place but I found the Cyprys' reader final comment about Selimovic's "Serb's" background extremely offensive, inaccurate and inappropriate. By the way, the biographic data about Selimovic, that I as a Bosnian know , are completely different but I have no intention to place his genius in a shadow of political triviality.

I've had the great opportunity to read this book in the language it has been written in. All I can say is brilliant! This is the best book I've even read. To my opinion, it is a very realistic representation of the human being: both good and bad. Through out the book, I loved the main character, then I hated him, then I loved him again. And that is what I really liked about this book, it doesn't represent the main character as good or bad, it let's you decide if you are going to like the guy or not. The book doesn't make any judgements on any character. If you think about it, it simply tells about the events in the life of the main character (closely related to the life of the writer). But, that is not the only thing that makes the book so valuable, it is also the style it is written in. It is so beautiful. I definitely give this book the highest rating, and I recommend that you read it.

Without going into the detail other reviewers have taken the trouble to do, I will just say that this book ranks among my top 3, easily, for the sheer power of its mood, analysis, philosophical strength and its expansive language. One will be hard-pressed to find a personality in literature more pressed and desperate and still - more perceptive - than Sheik Nurrudin. This is an unqualified masterpiece. My only regret is that I cannot read it in the original language. Thanks to God for giving us authors with the talent and skill of a Selimovic.

Imagine that justice flees your homeland. Imagine fair play the faint dream of centuries; a spiritual aspiration carried as low flame into ever-present darkness. What if tending this flame became an inescapable duty? What if you alone, held the last bit of light amidst bottomless evil?

And what of your loved ones? What if they were carried off to hopeless incarceration for the merest whiff of accidental knowledge,(obtained by proximity, not involvement)? If you lived in a place wholly unacquainted with anything resembling justice, if all was pervasively corrupt, diffident autocracy, would you, could you be . . .Courageous? Ethical? Forgiving?

Could you carry The Flame?

What if tables turned and you suddenly, inexplicably were granted powers you had assumed would always escape you? How would you use them?

"Death and the Dervish" is placed in 17th century Bosnia amidst the cruel, clumsy colonialism of an Ottoman "kasaba," provincial outpost of enervated empire. The story's events occur in the ethical vacuum invariably created by over-extended empire.

Not enough has been said about the spiritual nuance of Sheikh Ahmed, light of this sensitive novel and the wan keeper of a pale flame. His character is beautifully articulated, full of devotion to the loftiness and sorrow) born of a Muslim education, Sufi training and worldly experience. The Sheikh endures the greatest of human tests; unanticipated access to power. The price exacted is ultimate, but his inner contest is affirmingly universal.

The Sheikh is at his finest when facing the neglected avenues of public expression, a thing unknown to his lethargic town. The episode at the mosque after the Sheikh's brother is murdered in prison is stunning, close examination of human conscience and its furious power. Sheikh Ahmed's struggle is a persistant dialogue with his conscience as he holds deeply held interanal arguments directed at finding expression for the outrage he naturally shares with those around him. Unlike others, the Sheikh neither deflects nor suborns when faced the exertions of tyranny.

Should you wish for exquisite writing, a moving story that containins a view to Muslim belief as humane belief, this book is a excellent portrayal of man's struggle for justice; for The Lit Flame. "Death and the Dervish" broadens our understanding of what is not actually so foreign. . . I say this because the book's Muslim characters are European and are as such, keenly aware of the Christian West.

I will remain deeply attached to Sheikh Ahmed, missing the weight of his inner beauty. Author Mesa Selimovic has reached into the stream of human consciousness to find a good man caught in horrible circumstances. As the Sheik moves forward to face the temptations of power and the seductions of revenge, we are treated to the workings of an artfully-drawn psyche and its lonely power.

There but for grace . . . .

Filling in many university applications I have been asked many times to point my most favorite book. The answer has always been one of Selimovic's "Death and the Dervish" or Hesse's "Siddhartha". Indeed, the thought inspired by these two seemingly so different works of art is equally strong and, in my case, interconnected.

This masterpiece by this great writer (I deliberately omitted an adjective of the type "Bosnian" or "Serbian"; it is a shame that such arguments still exist even among the amazon.com reviews) is a story about a dervish (a Muslim monk) that starts his quest for the Self after being awakened from a long dogmatic existence by the brutal murder of his own brother. Selimovic once commented that the main idea of his book is to show how people often seek refuge in dogmatic systems (in this case religion. No offense to religion what so ever; am religious myself), but life itself often forces them to seek their own path in life. And it was this mystique pursuit for the Self that inspired a connection to Hesse's Siddhartha in my mind. It is Siddhartha that decides not to follow the Illustrious One, although he knows the teachings of The Buddha hold the secrets to the Eternal Truth; rather, he decides to seek for the truth himself. In this journey Siddhartha passes through several phases, all bearing great similarity with Ahmed's life, to finally find the Internal Truth. It is the greatness of Selimovic's novel "Death and the Dervish" that Ahmed does not find the Truth, but rather dies in a death so sad and chilly that it leaves the reader pondering over the meaning of life and the existence of this so called Eternal Truth.

While reading the reviews by other people I was stunned by the diversity of their perceptions of the book. That is the greatest attribute I can give to this novel; If you wish to think and read, you will undoubtedly enjoy this great reading and find in it a reflection of your own self. The comment of the publisher says that this is clearly no perfect work of art. Indeed, the form of the story is at times improper, but the message and strength of the story by far overpower all the negative sides.

I had the opportunity to read this novel as a part of my high school literature course back in my home country of Macedonia, in Macedonian-a language that can picture the shades of the rich (what's the word, Bosnian or Serbian?) language Selimovic used. Nonetheless, this English edition provides an opportunity no serious reader should miss. It will also give you a taste of the dark and incredibly rich history of Bosnia depicted in other great novels like Andric's "The Bridge on the Drina", a history that can teach us a lot about the ways of the century that is on the verge of its end.

This book left me speechless. It was In my mind I think a masterpiece. Not only was the subject matter profound, but the writting was perfect.