Undying Grass - Softcover

Kemal, Yashar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846559650 ISBN 13: 9781846559655

Publisher: The Harvill Press, 2015

Synopsis

The fitting and devastating finale of the acclaimed The Wind from the Plain trilogyTurkeys greatest novelist, Yashar Kemal was an unsurpassed storyteller who brought to life a world of staggering violence and hallucinatory beauty. Kemals books delve deeply into the entrenched social and historical conflicts that scar the Middle East. The Wind from the Plain trilogy is widely seen as his masterpiece, alongside the legendary Memed My Hawk.Three men are caught in a triangle of politics. Memidik, a young hunter, is obsessed by an urge to kill the tyrannous headman, Sefer, who has caused him so much pain and humiliation. Yet, each time he treis, he is overcome by fear. Then the accidental death of another man in the community fires him with renewed determination. Sefer, meanwhile, is sentenced to solitude and the local champion, Tashbash, is invested with mythical powers. The web of fantasy and intrigue spun around the villagers enmeshes them in plots of bravery and illusion in this extraordinary story of survival.

About this title

About the Author:

Yashar Kemal was born in 1923 in a village on the cotton-growing plains of Chukurova. He received a basic education in village schools before becoming an agricultural labourer and factory-worker. His championship of poor peasants lost him a succession of jobs, but he was eventually able to buy a typewriter and set himself up as a public letter-writer in the small town of Kadirli. After a spell as a journalist, he published a volume of short stories in 1952, and then, in 1955, his first novel Memed, My Hawk won the Varlik Prize for best novel of the year. His highly distinguished literary career has continued in this vein; his work has won countless prizes from all over the world and has been translated into several languages. Kemal was a member of the Central Committee of the banned Workers' Party, and in 1971 he was held in prison for 26 days before being released without charge. More recently, he has been placed on trial for action in support of Kurdish dissidents. Among the many international prizes and honours he has received in recognition of his gifts as a writer and his courageous fight for human rights, are the French Legion d'Honneur and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger. Kemal is Turkey's most influential living writer and, in the words of John Berger, "one of the modern world's great storytellers".

Language Notes:

Text: English, Turkish (translation)

About this edition

• Publisher: The Harvill Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1846559650
• ISBN 13: 9781846559655
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328