Critics have compared Yashar Kemal with Tolstoy, Hardy, Steinbeck, Silone, Faulkner, and some other modern novelists, but he ultimately aspires to capture the spirit of the Homeric epic. At age 60, he stands as the most important figure of Turkish fiction in the 20th century….

The Lords of Akchasaz is a novel in the grand style, with a Homeric sweep and a powerful social conscience which is indeed reminiscent of Steinbeck…. Murder in the Ironsmiths Market is Part I. Part II, Yusufçuk Yusuf, has yet to appear in English. (p. 119)

Set in southern Anatolia's Chukurova Plain, which the author views as his Yoknapatawpha County, Murder in the Ironsmiths Market is the gripping story of two feudal lords locked in ancient enmity…. With intriguing novelistic skill, Kemal unfurls the drama of revenge—real and imaginary…. Blending stark realities with many elaborate dream sequences and myths, Yashar Kemal makes his...