Death and the Dervish

Sheikh Nuruddin is a dervish at a Sarajevo monastery in the eighteenth century during the Turkish occupation. When his brother is arrested, he descends into the Kafkaesque world of the Turkish authorities in order to find out what has happened. As he does so, he begins to question his relations with society as a whole and, eventually, his life choices in general. Hugely successful when published in the 1960s, Death and the Dervish appears here in its first English translation.

"If there is any alternative to the bleak despair that permeates Death and the Dervish, it could be found in the solidarity and love between members of a family and friends. This simple message is timely, and badly needed in Bosnia today." --World Literature Today

"A famous novel...that generates enormous power--worthy of comparison with Selimovic's great countryman and forerunner Ivo Andric." --Kirkus

"Speaks to contemporary readers with all the force of their twentieth-century sufferings and travails...a writer with a broad, tolerant orientation." --World Literature Today