Summary

Jelal’s “The Story of Those Who Cannot Tell Stories” introduces the concept of people who cannot gain people’s attention. He describes different people and their facial expressions when they try to tell a story but are ignored or cut off. These people, with completely different backgrounds and experiences, have expressions which resemble one another. “It seems these faces are suffused with the letters that their stories are composed of, as if they carried the signs of silence, dejection, even defeat” (235). He decides that his new goal is to “attempt penetrating the hidden poetry in a countenance” during his writings (235).

“Riddles in Faces” opens with Galip sitting down to continue reading Jelal’s writings, though less optimistically. He reviews his clues, noting that the newest article in the Milliyet...