Fana al-Malunالفناء الملعون

Translated to Arabic, ''The Damned Yard'', a novel by Yugoslav novelist, poet, and writer of short stories and Nobel laureate, Ivo Andric (1892-1975).

The novel is written in 1954. Ćamil, a wealthy young man of Smyrna living in the last years of the Ottoman Empire, is fascinated by the story of Džem, ill-fated brother of the Sultan Bajazet, who ruled Turkey in the fifteenth century. Ćamil, in his isolation, comes to believe that he is Džem, and that he shares his evil destiny: he is born to be a victim of the State. Because of his stories about Džem’s ambitions to overthrow his brother, Ćamil is arrested under suspicion of plotting against the Sultan. He is taken to a prison in Istanbul, where he tells his story, to Petar, a monk.(Description from Ivo Andrić Foundation website)