THE SEA-CROSSED FISHERMAN

by Yashar Kemal ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1985

Set within the ""inscrutable, magic"" city of Instanbul, a richly peopled, sad and fiery tale by the accomplished Turkish author, who here mingles the curious fates of two men--victims, really--who are bent on ""making a hell of the lovely world around them."" One young man dies, driven by his own legend, and an older fisherman strains beyond ""that cesspit,"" the once-Golden Horn, away from sin to dreams of love and light. Like I.B. Singer's, Kemal's dialogue bubbles in the folk idiom of back quarters and cards, where poor men, petty crooks, and other small-fry manufacture fables, gobbling legends bloated by gossip and screaming headlines. Alternately joyful and raging, Fisher Selim is a puzzle. He's a pimp? A miser? Is it true he married a mermaid? And why, when the boy Zeynel shot dead a smalltime gangster named Ihsan, did Selim simply spit at Zeynel and walk away? And why would Zeynel, the mistreated orphan boy, have killed Ihsan? Then, in fits and starts, Zeynel, running from the police-who seem to sprout like dragon's teeth--disappears into splendid legend. With an adoring small boy tagging along, Zeynel zigzags through Istanbul with bags of stolen money, buying clothes and eating fine food. While Zeynei on the run remains unnoticed and unmolested, the Zeynel in the headlines ""was hard at it, killing, robbing, raping, etc., making the whole of Istanbul tremble."" And as Zeynel shrinks and expands within his press legend, Fisher Selim tortures himself with dreams and the wonders he's seen: a city shimmering from the sea; the golden-haired woman and the house he built for her; the one mighty swordfish left in the sea--and his friends, the dolphins, ""arteries of the sea."" (But dolphin oil could make one rich; dolphins will be murdered, squealing like babies.) Succumbing to visions of murdering men and dolphins, Selim will, alas, find a use for a gun. In the dark bitter life he has been left, he will find at the close, freedom in a bright clear world of sea and celebrating creatures. A mini-epic tale of the edge of darkness and light; of an ancient city's corruption and beauty; of humans walled in by greed, and blind to pristine verities as old as time and sparkling at the horizon. In short: one of Kemal's most moving and subtle novels.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Braziller

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1985

Categories: FICTION