Life’s Good, Brother
Nâzim Hikmet

Translated from the Turkish By Mutlu Konuk Blasing

Set in 1925 in Izmir, Turkey, protagonist-narrator, Ahmet, a Communist Party member who shares many biographical details with Hikmet himself, is hiding out in a stone cottage. Ahmet is being pursued by the secret police as he sets up an underground printing press. Using a cinematic technique, Hikmet experiments with the fluidity of time and memory, flashing back to his/Ahmet’s earlier years in Turkey and Russia and forward to the years and experiences to come. Present events and memory freely mix and merge, capturing everyday exigencies as well as the passionate undercurrents of Hikmet’s tumultuous life.

“One of the first and most important ‘European’ novels written in Turkey: its horizons are not limited to the national issues of Turkey, it explores the basic values of life, and its heroes live cosmopolitan lives.”
—Orhan Pamuk

“A man’s never-ending search for life’s truths and loves...Humorous...exciting...profound.”
—James Burt, ForeWord Reviews

Nâzim Hikmet (1902-1963) is “one of the essential poets of the twentieth century” (Edward Hirsch). Life's Good, Brother has been translated into more than fifteen languages. This first English version is by Mutlu Konuk Blasing, the co-translator (with Randy Blasing) of Hikmet’s poetry and the author of the biography Nazim Hikmet: The Life and Times of Turkey's World Poet.

Paperback / $17.95 (Can $19.00) / ISBN 978-0-89255-418-8 / 191 pages / Fiction