Memed, My Hawk
SynopsisPlot
Memed, a high-spirited, kindhearted boy, grows up in a desperately poor mountain village whose inhabitants are kept in virtual slavery by the local landlord. Determined to escape from the life of toil and humiliation to which he has been born, he flees but is caught, tortured, and nearly killed. When at last he does get away, it is to set up as a roving brigand, celebrated in song, who could be a liberator to his people—unless, like the thistles that cover the mountain slopes of his native region, his character has taken an irremediably harsh and unforgiving form.
Story
About this book
Memed, My Hawk follows a boy growing up in a poor mountain village in southern Turkey, where a local landlord keeps the inhabitants bound to harsh labor and submission. Memed is spirited and kindhearted, but conditions leave little room for either. His first attempt to flee ends in capture, torture, and near death. A later escape takes him into the hills as a roving brigand.
The novel is set in a region of rocky slopes covered in thistles, where the terrain shapes daily life as much as any human authority. Kemal draws a parallel between that landscape and Memed's character, since both can be generous or cutting depending on what has been forced on them. Memed becomes a figure celebrated in song, and he could be a liberator to his village, yet whether his new life will harden him past recovery stays an open question.
Yashar Kemal wrote in Turkish and published this novel in 1955. It became one of the most widely translated works of Turkish fiction. The story reflects the landlord system that shaped rural Anatolian life well into the twentieth century, when control of land decided who worked and who gave orders.
