MEMED, MY HAWK

  Memed, My Hawk is the first novel of Yaşar Kemal which was written in 1955. Memed My Hawk is composed of four books that complete the series. This novel has been considered as the best Turkish-Language novel of all times for a long time.  This expression is still valid for some groups.

  Yaşar Kemal, is the first Turkish author that was nominated to Nobel Literature Award. He usually writes books about problems of villager, landlessness and problems that has occurred in the early ages of Republic in Turkey. Yaşar Kemal utilizes Turkish myths and legend and ethnic elements of Anatolian and middle-east culture frequently. Memed, My Hawk has translated into over 40 languages and has been presses over 150 times in other countries.

  Memed, My Hawk targets the landless villages that are being controlled and suffer under the pressure of “aga”s and landlords. Events pass in the early ages of Turkish Republic which has being wearily formed by the Turkish society. This novel is a rebellion story against landlords, poverty, misery and backwardness that Turkish villagers created. “Memed” is a symbol of struggle against the gentry and the overbearing classes and groups that stifle villagers and also the imposing dominance of Ottoman Empire.  

  Memed, My Hawk takes place in Adana, Çukurova that has large fertile lands.  There are a lot of small villages in Adana and a lot of landlords. Villagers have to go Çukurova at least one to save money but they usually turn back to their villages without the money they have expected.  Some villagers can’t even turn back because they get malaria because of the climate of Çukurova. In brief, villagers always suffer from poverty, hunger or sickness in either case.

  Memed is the main character of the book. He falls in love with one woman, called Hatçe.  Unfortunately, son of the landlord that controls the village (Değirmenoluk) wants to marry Hatçe. Because of that, Memed kidnaps Hatce and they hide a cave in forest. When Landlord supporters find Hatce in the cave, Memed has already gone.

  Memed takes the hills and becomes a part of irregular groups that travels mountains against the government. His first aim is marry to Hatçe one day.

  Day after day, Memed becomes an efficient, invincible bandit that is in the limelight of the villagers. Memed kills landlords, takes their money and share out to the landless villagers. He becomes the implacable enemy of landlords.

  Memed experiences a lot of events during the book, but I can’t mention all of them.  All in all, Memed, My Hawk is a great work for explaining the miserable situation of Turkish villagers and how they suffer from landlessness, ignorance and poverty.

  It is very effective for series to finish “nearly” all of the volumes with same sentences. We can understand how a successful author Yaşar Kemal is from his books to utilize religious, ethnic and virtuous elements of our culture that has shaped from this land. It is impossible to explain better the hopelessness of society and villagers. I absolutely recommend this book to everyone. 

 Also there is a movie called "Memed, My Hawk" which is filmed by Peter Ustinov in 1984. There is another movie called "Lion and the Hawk" with soundtracks by greek composer Manos Hacidakis. There is a sculpture of "Memed" in Turkey,Osmaniye, Hemite.Here is the picture:










Sources: http://www.edebiyatfakultesi.com/incememed.htm
http://www.edebiyatsorulari.com/ince-memed-roman-incelemesi
http://www.bulentsakca.com/etiket/ince-memed-romani-inceleme