Rereading this novel, we have again reached Chapter XII where again Ekrem Saracoglu puts on an act for Luisa Carmen Cajal y Gomez. However, I find that I have already summarized the main points in Governor Saracoglu. He discusses not the issues but himself:
"'Your father should be home soon. His work is done.'
"He sighed, trusting it wasn't too theatrically. 'Mine, of course, will get rougher.'" (p. 578)
The sigh, obviously, is theatrical. The object of the exercise is to win Luisa's admiration for this hard-working governor. Even when she has accused him of promoting the war to advance his career:
"...he remembered to maintain his rueful half-smile." (p. 580)
Everything is an act, not an honest performance of duty. The question, as he sees it, is not whether the war was right but whether Ekrem Saracoglu was right. All that I can advise is to reread these passages about Saracoglu and see what you think. He strikes me as false all the way through and it seems to me that that is how his creator intended us to see him but not every reader agrees.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I still think you are too hard on Gov. Saracoglu. Moreover, I think Donna Luisa was more amused than not by his role playing.
And the governor was right, once the war with the Domain ended, his work would increase, both as a diplomat restoring normal relations with Ythri and as administrator working to integrate the territories ceded by the Domain to the Empire as efficiently and painlessly as possible.
Ad astra! Sean
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