Young Wafaa’s struggle to come to terms with her own sexuality and her romantic infatuation Set in middle-class urban Egypt, the story chronicles Him." So begins this wonderfully exuberant novel of quixotic adolescent longing and And while he was standing on a step ladder in the hall,Ĭhanging a light bulb in the faint light coming through the window, I decided to love Never surrendering, he is sustained by his city and its people. Society before the upheavals of the late twentieth century, Saeed’s novel depictsĪ sensitive and loving child assailed by the cruelty of life. Leaving a wound in his heart that will not heal. After enriching the boy’s life immensely, all three meet tragic fates, Only in stolen moments with his beloved older sister and with friends in the streets.Ĭlosest to his heart are three girls, encountered by chance: a Muslim, a Christian,Īnd a Jew. With an older brother who persecutes him with mindless sadism, the child finds happiness Burdened with chores from an early age, and afflicted In these crowded streets, among rich and poor, educated and illiterate, pious and Jews, Aramaeans, Turkmens, Yazidis, and Syriacs mingle in the ancient souks and alleyways. Mosul, Iraq, in the 1940s is a teeming, multiethnic city where Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, To one of the Arab world’s influential writers. Selim’s fluid translation introduces an English audience Written by Zaydan, an accomplished historian whose books continue to be read widely Tree of Pearls, originally published in 1914, is the last in a famous series of historical novels Subverted gender roles offer readers a richly detailed glimpse of the cultural milieu War, political intrigue, murder, and a female ruler who was born a slave combineįor an irresistible story, while Zaydan’s keen observations on royal politics and The rise of the Mamluke Dynasty through the adventures of Tree of Pearls and RuknĪl- Din Baybars, a young Mamluke commander who eventually triumphs as the ruler ofĮgypt. In this eponymous novel, Zaydan charts the fall of the Ayyubid Dynasty and One element of a much larger story of the unsettled political climate of thirteenth-centuryĮgypt. The only woman in the medieval Arab world to rule in her own name. Shajar al-Durr, known as Tree of Pearls, was one of the most famous Arab queens and The original poetry was produced while also reflecting the uniqueness of the poet’s Masterful translation remains faithful to the cultural and historical context in which The sensual with the sacred, and the common with the extraordinary. Poet, Haddad juxtaposes classical and modern symbols, and mixes the old with the new, The selected poems reveal Haddad’s playful yet profound meditations. This classical work of Arabian love while liberating it from its puritanical dimension Own needs and desires and not afraid to articulate them. Haddad portrays Layla as a daring woman aware of her Revels in the foibles of oral transmission, weaving a small side cast of characters The central poem, Chronicles of Majnun Layla, recasts the seventh-century myth into a contemporary, postmodern narrative that Of poems from his oeuvre, stretching over forty years. Chronicles of Majnun Layla and Selected Poems brings together in one volume Haddad’s seminal work and a considerable selection
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