Karakterler

Ahmet Cemil

A young and idealistic poet, graduate of the Mülkiye Mektebi (School of Political Science). Following his father's death, he takes on the full responsibility of the household, and the glamorous literary life he had dreamed of his entire life suddenly turns into a harsh nightmare. While he forms bright literary plans—the symbols of his 'blue' (Mai) dreams—and defends innovative poetry within the 'Gencîne-i Edeb' circle, he faces heavy burdens such as poverty, the necessity of translating, and his sister's troubled marriage, which constitute the 'black' side of life. Spending his nights sleepless, translating cheap pulp novels, he only seeks refuge in his friend Hüseyin Nazmi's elegant Erenköy mansion when he is in dire straits. The purest emotion in his life is his secret, lyrical, yet—due to his poverty—unnamable great love for Hüseyin Nazmi's sister, Lamia. He struggles constantly amidst continuous downfalls and brief moments of hope.

Ahmet Şevki Efendi

He is the administrative officer of the Mir'at-ı Şuûn newspaper. He is a loving, plump old man who hides the cynicism of his years in the press life behind a soft exterior. While he abhors Raci and his sycophants, he has deep respect for Ahmet Cemil's talent and pure heart, and tries to back him up like a patron. He is at the center of the events at the establishment and is aware of many intrigues involving writers and owners. Although he is a remnant of a bohemian lifestyle, having spent his years at drinking tables and coffeehouses, he is one of Ahmet Cemil's sanctuaries due to his life experience.

Hüseyin Nazmi

Ahmet Cemil's close friend since school, Hüseyin Nazmi is a modern and elite youth from a wealthy family with a background in Mülkiye (School of Political Sciences). He writes poetry leading the new literature in publications such as Mir'at-ı Şuûn or Gencîne-i Edeb. With a career path headed toward the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and having never known financial hardship, he treats literature merely as a gentleman's aesthetic pleasure. He possesses a vast library filled with French classics and innovative literary movements. Unlike Ahmet Cemil, he does not care about the ridicule or gossip of the public or vulgar writers, brushing them off with an arrogant smile. While providing a sanctuary for his friend in his elegant mansion, his carefree life inevitably fuels the sense of misfortune in Ahmet Cemil's heart.

İkbal

Ahmet Cemil's only sister, five years his junior, elegant and delicately sensitive. Due to the family's poverty, she has witnessed her brother's sorrows and sacrifices closely and matured early. Despite experiencing deep sorrow in her forced and opportunistic marriage to Vehbi Bey, she swallows her pain and hides her tears so as not to upset her mother and brother. She carries a severe unhappiness within her fragile body.

Lamia

Hüseyin Nazmi's younger sister. Throughout the work, she is the secret muse whom Ahmet Cemil worships from afar. Her interactions with Ahmet Cemil since she was very young reflect her upbringing as a spoiled, free-spirited, and coy bourgeois girl. She is the female manifestation of wealth, lack of worries, and pure aesthetics (the 'Mai'). She plays the piano and grows up with European culture. Because Ahmet Cemil never considers himself worthy of her due to his poverty, he constantly feels a sense of inferiority in the love he harbors for her. Throughout the novel, she is the flesh-and-blood symbol of unreachable dreams for Ahmet Cemil.

Raci

A hack writer who works as a proofreader at the newspaper, imitates Divan literature, and is an enemy of new literary movements. He tries to hide his lack of literary talent by nitpicking errors in Arabic-Persian linguistic rules and seeks to satisfy his own sense of inferiority by belittling his rivals. He harbors a sickly envy toward anyone successful, especially Ahmet Cemil. He is completely degenerate not only in his literary life but also in his family life; he abandons his loving wife and young son in poverty, squandering his days in third-rate taverns on gambling and alcohol. He is a picture of disaster with both a rotten art and a rotting soul.

Vehbi Bey (Tevfik Efendi Zade)

He is the son of Tevfik Efendi, the newspaper manager; he uses his father's power to marry İkbal and descends upon Ahmet Cemil's life like a nightmare. While he initially portrays himself as a wealthy man who sorts things out, his true, crude, bossy, and wife-oppressing face emerges over time. With his plans to seize the printing house, he wants to bring Ahmet Cemil under his own domain; he is a purely proprietorial despot figure who never understands art or the world of feelings.