Novel
Blood and Sweat
Қан мен тер
Abdizhamil Nurpeisov · 1961
Synopsis
A fishing aul on the shore of the Aral Sea, during the First World War and then the civil war. The poor live there in hardship, against nature and against the bais, while the distant tremors of the events in Europe reach the shore. Elaman, an open and trusting man, gradually rises up against injustice, while his relative Dos learns to keep to the sidelines; around them, the secretive Tanirbergen and the proud Akbala, and a poverty that turns to anger, then to revolt.
Context
Begun in 1958, the cycle appeared in three books, in 1961, 1964 and 1970, translated into Russian as they came out under the titles Сумерки, Мытарства and Крушение. The Auezov Theatre in Almaty made a production from it, and a film appeared in 1978, from a screenplay by Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky. In France, Gallimard published the three books separately in Lily Denis's translation, from Yuri Kazakov's Russian adaptation, in 1967, 1969 and 1975; Catherine Fitzpatrick produced an English version in 2013.
Who it is for
A great historical fresco in three volumes, to be read for the world of the shore as it was before the sea dried up.
Prizes and reception
State Prize of the Soviet Union in 1974; a monument to the characters of the book stands in Aktobe, the first in the country devoted to heroes of a novel.