Ibrahim al-Koni
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Born in 1948 to a nomadic Saharan family, Ibrahim Al-Koni is an award-winning Arabic-language novelist and has already published more than seventy volumes. A Tuareg whose mother tongue is Tamasheq, he was educated in Moscow and, after many years in Switzerland, now lives in Spain. He is one of the näytä lisää prime authorities on Tuareg culture and folklore. William M. Hutchins, Professor in the Philosophy and Religion Department at Appalachian State University, has translated numerous works of Arabic literature into English, including four novels by the Nobel Prize laureate Naguib Mahfouz. He has received two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts for literary translation, both for works by Ibrahim al-Koni. He was co-winner of the 2013 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation for A Land Without Jasmine by Wajdi al-Ahdal. näytä vähemmän
Image credit: Ibrahim al-Koni
Sarjat
Tekijän teokset
A Sleepless Eye: Aphorisms from the Sahara (Middle East Literature In Translation) (2014) 4 kappaletta
Animists 1 kappale
المجوس 1 kappale
الورم 1 kappale
Tajemnice pustyni 1 kappale
ملكوت طفلة الرب 1 kappale
المجوس : الجزء الأول 1 kappale
Associated Works
Merkitty avainsanalla
Yleistieto
- Kanoninen nimi
- al-Koni, Ibrahim
- Virallinen nimi
- ابراهيم الكوني
Ibrahim Kuni - Syntymäaika
- 1948
Ghadamis Oasis, Libya - Sukupuoli
- male
- Kansalaisuus
- Libya
- Asuinpaikat
- Moscow, Soviet Union
Warsaw, Poland - Koulutus
- Maxim Gorky Literature Institute
- Ammatit
- journalist
novelist
Jäseniä
Kirja-arvosteluja
Listat
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Tilastot
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- Jäseniä
- 377
- Suosituimmuussija
- #64,011
- Arvio (tähdet)
- 3.5
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- 15
- ISBN:t
- 74
- Kielet
- 9
- Kuinka monen suosikki
- 1
"Only through dust will the son of Adam be filled."
This little book was translated from Arabic, the author was born in the Fezzan region of Libya and grew up in the Sahara desert, only learning to read and write when he was 12. Al-Koni is of the Tuareg people, a Berber group who traditionally live a semi-nomadic life and are sometimes called “the blue people” because of the indigo dyed clothing they wear which stains their skin. He was a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize in 2015 (for his work in general).
This story, set presumably in the 1930s and 40s, is about Asouf, a shepherd who grows up in the desert isolation of Massak Satfak in the Hasawna Mountains, in Fezzan, the southern province of Libya. His job is also to be guardian of the Wadi Matkhandoush with its mysterious cave art that his parents tell him was made by the jinn. He also is the self appointed protector of the waddan (the moufflon) a breed of wild mountain sheep which can stand up to 110cm tall at the shoulder. According to the book, it is the oldest animal in the Sahara and came to extinction in Europe In the 17th century. The story comes to a climax when greedy men come to his part of the desert trying to find gazelle that they have shot almost to extinction and determined to find the mysterious waddan. This book reads like a Bedouin folk tale, blending mysticism, Sufism, Islam, the Old Testament, and traditional beliefs. It has a strong environmental message and paints a picture of life in the desert. I found it to be somewhat mysterious but a short, not unpleasant read.
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