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280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
People engaged in computing the estate of a dead man who, only a couple of days ago, was as alive as they are now, have a peculiar look. They represent victorious life, which goes its own way and has its own necessities. But, victors of a pretty poor sort, their only merit consists in their having outlived the dead. They remind one of looters, but looters who are sure to go scot free and who know that the rightful owner can never return and catch them. Not that they are quite that, of course, but somehow they give you that feeling.
Here were offenders both great and small, from the lad who had lifted a bunch of grapes or a fig from a counter, to swindlers and burglars; the innocent were here, and the falsely accused, the weak-witted and the betrayed, or people brought here by mistake from Istanbul and from all over the Empire…
There were men with many murders to their account and others with records of prison escapes who were therefore already in irons here, even before their trial and conviction. They clanked their chains provocatively, with furious curses on all iron and on the man who first thought of fetters.
اذا أردت ان تعرف ماهية دولة ما ، وكيفية قيادتها ، وكيف هو مستقبلها ، حاول ان ترى وتعرف كم يوجد فى سجون تلك الدولة من الرجال الشرفاء والابرياء ، وكم يوجد من مجرميها واشرارها الذين ينعمون بالحرية . سيكون هذا افضل دليل لك
"É uma verdadeira cidade de presos e guardas (...)
Por aqui passam e aqui encalham todos aqueles que, dia após dia, ficam presos e encarcerados nesta extensa e populosa metrópole, por terem culpa ou por serem suspeitos de a ter.
(...) aqui se junta uma colorida multidão e o pátio, sempre cheio, esvazia-se e enche-se, sem cessar.
Há pequenos e grandes delinquentes (...) há inocentes e falsamente acusados, dementes e perdidos, infelizes trazidos para aqui por engano, da cidade e de todos os cantos do país. A grande maioria dos presos vem de Constantinopla, uma verdadeira seleção dos piores do piorio que rastejam pelas docas e ruas da cidade imperial ou se escondem nas tocas da periferia."
(Páginas 11-12)
Ako hoćeš da znaš kakva je neka država i njena uprava, i kakva im je budućnost, gledaj samo da saznaš koliko u toj zemlji ima čestitih i nevinih ljudi po zatvorima, a koliko zlikovaca i prestupnika na slobodi. To će ti najbolje kazati.
I tu je kraj. Nema više ničeg. Samo grob među nevidljivim fratarskim grobovima, izgubljen poput pahuljice u visokom snegu što se širi kao okean i sve pretvara u hladnu pustinju bez imena i znaka. Nema više ni priče ni pričanja.