To Crush The Serpent - Yashar Kemal

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Résumé :
A staggering, shattering novel from Turkey's greatest novelistSince Halil was shot dead in his own home by his wife Esme's former suitor, the village has pointed the finger of guilt at the dead man's beautiful widow: she must have arranged the murder.

Biographie:
Yashar Kemal (1923 - 2015) was born on the cotton-growing plains of Chukurova, which feature in his The Wind from the Plain trilogy. 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 continued in this vein...

Sommaire:

A staggering, shattering novel from Turkey's greatest novelist

Since Halil was shot dead in his own home by his wife Esm?'s former suitor, the village has pointed the finger of guilt at the dead man's beautiful widow: she must have arranged the murder. The task of vengeance falls on Esm?'s little son, Hassan: year after year he is groomed for it, his devotion to his mother sapped with talk of the unavenged ghost of Halil and his father, doomed to roam the countryisde as a translucent red snake, an insect, a bird. Hassan hears tales against his mother. How long will her innocence protect her?

The stark tale of cruelty and vendetta is told in a narrative of relentless tension, reminiscent of Greek tragedy. it is one of Yashar Kemal's most beautiful and haunting novels.