From Leaden Circles to Fluid Drops

"These days, when sexuality plays a leading role in cinema and literature, and censorship is a highly debated topic, I thought that the life story of Hussein Fazil would attract the reader's attention. After all, he built his poetry on the basis of sexuality, or more specifically, homosexuality, and his work, Defter-i Aşk (Love's Register) was the first book banned and confiscated in the Ottoman Empire on grounds of obscenity (1838). Yes, it would be intriguing. But to write about the life of such a poet in a novel without mentioning sexuality, without going into the bedroom, would, first and foremost, be a betrayal of that poet's memory; mentioning it, on the other hand, causes trouble for the author in Turkey."     

On March 22, 1975, Cemil Onur wrote these words in his journal in his mansion on Büyükada.

He had given up on writing the novel about the life of Hussein Fazil Bey of the Enderun, a project he had been working on for a long time. However, Selma Elmas—a former stripper, the "vamp" star of Turkish cinema, and a belly dancer who had recently entered his life—convinced him to change his mind.

From Leaden Circles to Fluid Drops is not merely the story of Fazil, nor of Cemil Onur and Selma Elmas, nor even of Turkish society—which has never quite managed to become a genuine Western nation. This novel recounts a chapter in humanity's never-ending struggle for freedom. This struggle is waged to emerge from darkness to light.