DISCOVERIES

“BY creating myths, by conjuring up worlds of dreams, one can withstand the great suffering of the world and attain love, friendship, beauty, and even, perhaps, immortality.” So writes Yashar Kemal in his new introduction to “Memed,” first published in 1961 when Kemal was 25 and Memed, who captivated the author for 35 years and three more novels, was 21.

Captivating he remains, with his spiky brown hair and big hazel eyes: “Every now and then a tiny spark would light them up and then die, a sharp, piercing spark, to be feared like the spark that flickers briefly in the eye of a tiger ready to pounce and tear its prey.”

Memed’s spark comes from pain. When he is 11, Memed (whose father has died), runs away from the evil Abdi Agha, who torments the poor families in his village. But the boy is caught and sent back to work in the fields full of thistles. At 18, he resolves to elope with his childhood love, Hatche, whom the agha has betrothed to his nephew. The lovers are caught, Hatche is sent to jail and Memed becomes a brigand.

The Taurus Mountains are the dramatic backdrop to this timeless story. It is a landscape of thorns and flowers and spluttering water. Thistle, crocus and asphodel; mornings, work, soup and men with moss-green eyes fill the pages.