City of Man's Desire: A Novel of Constantinople

Constantinople 1908: the cosmopolitan capital of the Ottoman Empire teeters on the brink of upheaval. Turks dream of liberty while the subject peoples yearn for freedom – not necessarily the same thing. Far from the turmoil of Constantinople, in the Anatolian hinterland, archeologists are excavating......more

Constantinople 1908: the cosmopolitan capital of the Ottoman Empire teeters on the brink of upheaval. Turks dream of liberty while the subject peoples yearn for freedom – not necessarily the same thing. Far from the turmoil of Constantinople, in the Anatolian hinterland, archeologists are excavating an ancient city. There they uncover a past that seems to hold within it a warning for the present.

The Greek girl Theodora Vlachos has other things on her mind. Her existence, centering on her family and thwarted infatuations, oppresses her and she longs to escape. Then the flamboyant Russian exile Natalya Petrovna and her brother Vlad enter her life. Their disturbing presence, coinciding with the dramatic events of the Young Turk Revolution, draws Theodora into a new, often volatile world. And there is John Townsend, the American professor, a dreamer and lover of classical civilization, overtaken by his past just as he thinks to have found peace in this city he has come to love. There is also the Poet, who has the words to say it all, but prefers to remain aloof in his house overlooking the Bosphorus.

Revolutions take people by surprise; they raise hopes by promising change. City of Man’s Desire tells the story of several individuals, how their lives intertwine as they struggle to understand and adapt to a new reality, which, despite the designs of men, follows its own unpredictable course.(less)

Cornelia Golna is the author of City of Man’s Desire, a Novel of Constantinople (2004) and Tainted Heroes (2017).

In her own words:

Appropriating my parents’ nostalgia for their world, a world I did not know: perhaps this has been the enduring theme of my life.

I was......more

Cornelia Golna is the author of City of Man’s Desire, a Novel of Constantinople (2004) and Tainted Heroes (2017).

In her own words:

Appropriating my parents’ nostalgia for their world, a world I did not know: perhaps this has been the enduring theme of my life.

I was born in Bucharest, Romania. My mother was Romanian. My father came from Greece. My parents managed to leave Romania, thus avoiding my father’s imprisonment by the communists, when I was 7 months old. They struggled to survive in post-civil-war Greece for four years until they were able to immigrate to America, where I grew up and was educated.

In my mid-twenties, I decided to go out into the world and seek my fortune. With $1000 in my pocket, I flew to Europe. My plan was to get to

Cornelia Golna is the author of City of Man’s Desire, a Novel of Constantinople (2004) and Tainted Heroes (2017).

In her own words:

Appropriating my parents’ nostalgia for their world, a world I did not know: perhaps this has been the enduring theme of my life.

I was born in Bucharest, Romania. My mother was Romanian. My father came from Greece. My parents managed to leave Romania, thus avoiding my father’s imprisonment by the communists, when I was 7 months old. They struggled to survive in post-civil-war Greece for four years until they were able to immigrate to America, where I grew up and was educated.

In my mid-twenties, I decided to go out into the world and seek my fortune. With $1000 in my pocket, I flew to Europe. My plan was to get to Romania, to see the land of my birth, and to Greece, the land of my earliest memories. In time, I reached both goals.

In Romania I encountered totalitarianism for the first time. It was an eye-opening and mind-expanding experience. Many aspects were intimidating, not to say frightening, but most of all it was totally different from the life I had known. I relearned my mother’s language and met many fascinating people. I saw how people adapted to constricting circumstances yet struggled to preserve something of their individuality, their dignity, in the process. There I also learned about Balkan hospitality and the role of cunning in survival. Already more than a quarter century has passed since the fall of communism, yet even today I believe that my initial visit to Romania was the most profound experience of my life. I also met my husband then, Jan Willem Bos, a Dutchman studying Romanian literature, who brought me to Holland, where we have lived ever since. When my parents retired, they moved back to Greece. I have since relearned enough Greek too to be able to be able to gossip with my neighbors and to chat a bit about daily topics. For more than 35 years we have been visiting both my parents’ homelands on a regular basis. These prolonged stays in the Balkans have enriched me. They have fed my love for both my countries of origin and stimulated my imagination. My two novels are the result of this experience. (less)