Resumo de The Day Lasts More Than A Hundred Years

Eight railroad workers and their families reside in a hamlet at the Boranly-Borannyi junction in the Sarozek steppe in Kazakhastan. Yedigei?s wife, Ukubala, arrives at her husband?s midnight post and mournfully announces the death of his close friend and colleague, the elderly Kazangap. Yedigei, from now on the senior worker at the junction, decides that his deceased friend shall be buried at the Ana-Beiit cemetery, a day?s travel from the junction.¶ Next day the funeral procession sets out, led by Yedigei atop his legendary camel Karanar. Kazangap?s aloof and conceited son, Sabitzhan, joins the procession reluctantly. During the preparations and in the course of the journey, Yedigei recollects episodes of his and his co-workers? lives. Entwined in his memories are legends from ancient times in the Sarozek, such as stories about the cruelty of Genghis Khan, the Mongolian chief whose armies drove through Kazakhastan in the 12th century on their way to conquer Europe, and the brutality of the Juan-Juan tribes who invaded the Sarozek, killing and looting the inhabitants and enslaving young men by turning them into mankurts in an atrocious process that destroyed their memories. According to this legend, the mother of one of the mankurts, Naiman-Ana, attempted to save her son but he did not recognize her and, at the order of his captor, killed her with an arrow. The site of her burial was named Ana-Beiit and became the highly esteemed burial ground at which Yedigei plans to bury Kazangap.¶ Central to the book?s plot is the tragic story of Abutalip, a school teacher who was persecuted by Soviet officials. During World War II he had been a prisoner of war, but escaped the Germans and joined the Jugoslav Partisans. After the war he was charged in a Soviet court for disobeying Stalin?s order that Soviet captives must commit suicide. Although he was acquitted, having heroically fought the Germans after joining the Partisans, he was unable to stay at a steady job due to official persecutions. Abutalip, his wife Zaripa and their children established their home at the Boranly-Borannyi junction where they joined the workers in their hard toil. Abutalip dedicated his spare time to educate his and Yedigei?s children and so the two families became close friends. At nights Abutalip spent his time documenting local folklore, intending to leave his writings as future heritage for his and Yedigei?s children. To his misfortune, an overambitious official named Tansykbaev confiscated Abutalip?s writings and had him imprisoned. Prolonged separation from his family, harsh investigations and pressure to extradite his prisoner-of-war companions who together with him had escaped the Germans and joined the Partisans, caused Abutalip to commit suicide. Tansykbaev?s personal motives, hoping to be promoted by unveiling a counterrevolutionary plot, are described in a chapter that Aitmatov added to the book after the collapse of the Soviet regime (the original book waspublished in 1980). ¶Parallel to the main plot, an emergency condition is proclaimed at a missile launching base close to the Ana-Beiit cemetery, due to a dramatic event that has occurred in a joint Soviet-American project in outer space. Unexpected contact between astronauts who participated in the project and intelligent inabitants extraneous to our solar system appears to threaten the political systems on Earth. Approach to the cemetery is barred and Yedigei is forced to choose another site in the Sarozek steppe to bury Kazangap. He demands that the other men promise to bury him near his friend in due time. The book ends with Yedigei pressuring the government to clear Abutalip of all accusations and rehabilitate his name for the sake of his widow sons.¶Another book by the same author: Jamila (http://www.shvoong.com/books/romance/476137-jamila/)

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