Castigation

Seven escaped mental patients—including reincarnations of Genghis Khan, Cleopatra, and Alexander the Great—trudge across a nameless landscape, pursued by an omnipresent snake and haunted by their past lives’ brutal transgressions. Led by a mysterious Emperor who promises deliverance to the Holy Land, these travelers are actually pilgrims of their own fractured histories, each confronting the violent, sensual, and deeply human moments that have defined their existence. Blending elements of Central Asian epic tradition with surrealist storytelling, Sultan Raev crafts a novel that is at once a scathing critique of power, a meditation on historical violence, and a darkly comic exploration of collective memory. The narrative weaves between present-day desert wanderings and vivid historical reconstructions, challenging readers’ understanding of identity, punishment, and spiritual transformation. Snakes slither through personal and collective histories; eclipses mark moments of existential revelation; and the line between madness and profound insight becomes provocatively blurred. Winner of Kazakhstan’s 2014 Novel of the Year, <i>Castigation</i> offers a stunning meditation on humanity’s capacity for both destruction and transcendence.

<b>Sultan Raev</b> is celebrated novelist, playwright, and former minister of culture of Kyrgyzstan. He is currently the head of the Turkic Writers’ Union, an international arts organization. This is his first novel to be published in English. <b>Shelley Fairweather-Vega</b> is a professional translator in Seattle specializing in the poetry and prose of contemporary Central Asia. She is the translator of many novels, including Hamid Ismailov’s <i>Gaia, Queen of Ants.</i>