I just downloaded the book from Anna’s Archive, and after a quick search, found this on page 853:
Adolescents attracted and interested him, and when the girls reached the age when they sat regularly at table he began to take notice both of their charms and their talents. None of them was exceptionally pretty; nor had they the graces of women of the world. But they provided him with the ideal ‘harem’. They were in his power, thanks to their youth and their dependence on him. He could groom them and mould them and guide them in the direction he wanted them to follow. He could use them as he chose – and when he no longer chose, could ‘wean’ them and launch them into marriage or into a career. For the girls themselves, so ambivalent a father-lover-schoolmaster relationship might create certain psychological stresses. But for Kemal it provided the family background he needed, one from which irksome ties of blood were missing, and in which wife and children became in effect one.
Hm. It seems that’s the paragraph doesn’t continue into (or come from) any broader explanation, which might be why it failed to make an impression on me back when I read it. I’ll have to look into the accusation for the sake of being able to have an informed opinion on it.
All the same, that is a legitimate source, and I can definitely confirm that that quote is in my copy, so the comment remains.
I just downloaded the book from Anna’s Archive, and after a quick search, found this on page 853:
Hm. It seems that’s the paragraph doesn’t continue into (or come from) any broader explanation, which might be why it failed to make an impression on me back when I read it. I’ll have to look into the accusation for the sake of being able to have an informed opinion on it.
All the same, that is a legitimate source, and I can definitely confirm that that quote is in my copy, so the comment remains.
It’s wild that Kinross seemed to think this was all OK because the girls were ugly.