Description
A Tuareg youth ventures into trackless desert on a life-threatening quest to find the father he remembers only as a shadow from his childhood, but the spirit world frustrates and tests his resolve. For a time, he is rewarded with the Eden of a lost oasis, but eventually, as new settlers crowd in, its destiny mimics the rise of human civilization. The Libyan Tuareg author Ibrahim al-Koni, who has earned a reputation as a major figure in Arabic literature with his many novels and collections of short stories, has used Tuareg folklore about Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of the underworld, to craft a novel that is both a lyrical evocation of the desert's beauty and a chilling narrative in which thirst, incest, patricide, animal metamorphosis, and human sacrifice are more than plot devices. In this novel, fantastic mythology becomes universal, specific, and modern.
The tale of one man's quest and survival in the Sahara Desert, set in the framework of Tuareg mythology
About the Author
Ibrahim al-Koni was born in Libya in 1948. A Tuareg who writes in Arabic, he spent his childhood in the desert and learned to read and write Arabic when he was twelve. He studied comparative literature at the Gorky Institute in Moscow and then worked as a journalist in Moscow and Warsaw. In 2010, he received the Arab Novel Award and dedicated the value of the prize to the children of the Tuareg tribes from which he originally hails. William Maynard Hutchins, the principal translator of Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy (AUC Press 1990 - 92), has taught English, philosophy, Arabic, and Islamic Studies in Lebanon, Ghana, Egypt, and France. His most recent book is Tawfiq al-Hakim: A Reader's Guide.
Reviews
"a true journey into the human psyche." - Cairo Magazine "The desert setting is al-Koni's strength: its expanse, desolation and mystery is powerfully evoked." - Margaret Obank, BANIPAL No. 23, Summer 2005
Book Information
ISBN 9789774166365
Author Ibrahim al-Koni
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint The American University in Cairo Press
Publisher The American University in Cairo Press
Weight(grams) 231g
The tale of one man's quest and survival in the Sahara Desert, set in the framework of Tuareg mythology
About the Author
Ibrahim al-Koni was born in Libya in 1948. A Tuareg who writes in Arabic, he spent his childhood in the desert and learned to read and write Arabic when he was twelve. He studied comparative literature at the Gorky Institute in Moscow and then worked as a journalist in Moscow and Warsaw. In 2010, he received the Arab Novel Award and dedicated the value of the prize to the children of the Tuareg tribes from which he originally hails. William Maynard Hutchins, the principal translator of Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy (AUC Press 1990 - 92), has taught English, philosophy, Arabic, and Islamic Studies in Lebanon, Ghana, Egypt, and France. His most recent book is Tawfiq al-Hakim: A Reader's Guide.
Reviews
"a true journey into the human psyche." - Cairo Magazine "The desert setting is al-Koni's strength: its expanse, desolation and mystery is powerfully evoked." - Margaret Obank, BANIPAL No. 23, Summer 2005
Book Information
ISBN 9789774166365
Author Ibrahim al-Koni
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint The American University in Cairo Press
Publisher The American University in Cairo Press
Weight(grams) 231g
