Novel
Night and Day
Kecha va kunduz
Cho'lpon · 1936
Opening lines
Har yil bir keladigan bahor sevinchi yana ko‘ngillarni qitiqlay boshladi. Yana tabiatning dildiragan tanlariga iliq qon yugurdi…
The joy of spring, which comes once every year, began once more to tickle hearts. Once more warm blood ran through the shivering limbs of nature…
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from wikisource.org
Synopsis
Zebi, fifteen, the daughter of a pious and strict man, Razzoq so'fi, dreams in the spring of leaving the village and seeing the world. She is married as fourth wife to the mingboshi Akbarali, an ageing and gluttonous notable, in a house where the other women scheme against her. Around them, Miryoqub, a businessman of uncertain scruples, wonders about the future of his people and draws closer to the reformers.
Context
The first part was submitted in 1934 to a competition for Uzbek socialist prose; it won no prize there, but the jury recommended its publication, and the book appeared in 1936. It was meant to form a work in two books, the night and then the day: only the night appeared, and the manuscript of the sequel is said to have been destroyed after the arrest of its author. The novel was banned, republished after his death in an expurgated version, and given in full after the end of the Soviet Union. An English version by Christopher Fort appeared in 2019.
Who it is for
In Uzbek, in English since 2019, with no French version. The first part of a diptych left unfinished, which can be read on its own.
Prizes and reception
Counted among the most admired novels of Uzbek literature, it has been adapted for the screen.
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