The catalogue “Books from Turkey” consists of a collection of texts ...

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B O O K S F R O M T U R K E Y
ÖLÜ EKMEĞİ - BREAD FOR THE DEAD
BS-Ansisa, Russia, 1975, 164 pages, Novel
ISBN: 9789755090467
www.arkadas.com.tr
D U R S U N A K Ç A M
Dursun Akçam (1930, Ardahan-2003, Ankara) the Ankara Gazi Institute of Education
in 1958. He worked as a teacher, journalist, writer, and unionist. He served as the
second chairman of the Teachers Union of Turkey. He was arrested after the military
coup of March 12, 1971, and was sentenced to eight years and ten months in prison. He
was later acquitted on appeal in the Supreme Court. After the closing of the newspaper
Demokrat, which he helped to found in 1977, he went abroad due to the military coup
of September 12, 1980 and did not return home for ten years. His first article entitled
“Köyden Sesler” (“Voices from the Village”) was published in the journal Varlık in 1952.
His other works were published in many newspapers and journals. He won first prize in
the Milliyet Ali Naci Karacan Interview Competition in 1985 with his work Analarımız
(Our Mothers), the Golden Orange Award at the 12th Antalya Art Festival in 1976 with
his short story “Haley,” and received the Turkish Language Association’s Novel Award
in 1977 with his novel Kanlıdere’nin Kurtları (Wolves of Bloody River).
WORKS: Sevdam Ürktü (My Love Is Frightened), Ucu Ucuna Yaşam (Nearly Life),
Kanlı Derenin Kurtları (Wolves Of Bloody River), Maral (Asian Elk), Kafdağının Ardı
(Behind Kaf Mountain), Ölü Ekmeği (Bread for the Dead), Dağların Sultanı (The Sultan
Of The Mountains), Öğretmeni Kim Öptü? Generaller Birleşin ve Tüm Öyküler (Who
Kissed The Teacher? Generals Unite And Other Stories), Haley, Doğunun Çilesi (The
Ordeal of the East), Kan Çiçekleri (The Blood Flowers), Taş Çorbası (Stone Soup),
Kafkas Kızı (The Caucasian Girl)
Foreign Rights: Ölü Ekmeği/Bread for the Dead ( Bulgarian and Russian); Alaman
Ocağı/The German Guild (German)
Dursun Akcam is one of the masters of the Turkish literary
world and an important representative of Turkish literature
focussing on social reality. Ölü Ekmeği (Bread for the Dead)
is based on his observations on rural life and consists of ten
short stories: Ölü Ekmeği (Bread for the Dead), Seher Tayfası
(The Dawn Crew), Tezek Payı (A share of dried cow dung),
Kahraman (The Hero), Ölü Ölü Ekmeği (Bread for the Dead),
Pantol (Trousers), Kiraz (Cherry), Seher (The Dawn), Kurban
(The Victim), Bade (Wine), Yoğurt ve Oğlan Uşağı (Yoghurt and
the Boy Servant). Dursun Akcam writes with full awareness
of the social role played by literature and the writer, and acts
as an intermediary to reflect the expectations of the rural
population in which he grew up. Dursun Akcam internalises the
resources of the verbal culture in his works and in the words of
the literary critic Dogan Hizlan, “With his works, he taught us
that without understanding the realities of village life, without
visiting the remotest villages of Anatolia and living there, and
without digesting the East, it is impossible to understand and
perceive this country and its people.”