The Backstreets is an astonishing novel by a preeminent contemporary Uyghur author who was disappeared by the Chinese state. Perhat Tursun follows an unnamed Uyghur man who comes to the capital of Xinjiang. Seeking to escape the pain and poverty of the countryside, he finds only cold stares and rejection. The publication of Perhat Tursun's The Backstreets, together with Darren Byler's illuminating introductions, is a landmark event in English-language world literature. Tursun's narration of the life of an Uyghur office worker in Ürümchi is unforgettable and quietly mindblowing. The style, mood, and scope are evocative of Camus (or maybe of an alternative Camus who wrote from an Algerian perspective), while still feeling utterly distinctive and unprecedented. A triumph.