An iraqi rhapsody by sinan antoon translated from arabic by rebecca c. The other is in the country of men, by hisham matar. Written by a young man in detention, the prose moves from prison life, to. Kafka and solzhenitsyn gave us the classics of living in european police states. Ijaam is the product of this editors imperfect work and contains signs of his. A manuscript found in baghdads directorate of general security recalls life under saddam husseins regime.
Such changes may be of any nature, including, but not limited to, the elimination of the school, programs, classes or activities. As an apparent gesture of mercy after a brutal regimen of torture, his captors provide him with a pen and paper to record his memoirs. An inventory of the general security headquarters in central baghdad reveals an obscure manuscript. An iraqi rhapsody, the novelist sinan antoon takes advantage of the orthographic ambiguities of arabic to explore themes of love, loss, identity and resistance in the face of political oppression. Buy sri vishnu sahasranama bhashyam book online at best prices in india on. Arabic is often written without dots, the meaning is inferred from the context. Gallatin bulletin new york university graduate school. Noted lebanese author elias khoury extolled antoons novel ijaam. Ijaam are the dots that indicate vowels in the arabic script. This is a stunning debut by a major young iraqi writerinexile. It focuses on the period from the 1970s to the 1990s, as these decades have seen significant and longlasting changes in many aspects of japanese society, in particular regarding japanese women. Hear an interview with sinan antoon on wnycs leonard lopate show pris the world democracy now. Since these dots can also clarify a words meaning, ijaam has come to mean.
Apr 12, 2012 see more ideas about literature, books and antonin artaud. Structurally, too, this novel is a gem despite its political overtones, however, ijaam works on an aesthetic level as well. New york university bulletin20102011 gallatin school of. In less than a hundred pages, antoon provides a moving portrait of life in saddams iraq. Ijaam offers insight into life under an oppressive political regime and how that oppression works. An iraqi rhapsody on kpfas voices of the middle east and north africa. Ijaam is the story of furat, a prisoner in an iraq reminiscent of the baathi era. Sinan antoon is an iraqiamerican author and his novel tells the story of an iraqi literature student under saddam hussein who is suddenly. This book collects some of the best of saadi youssefs most recent poems. Format pdf introduction and first 18 pages from ijaam. It does not only illuminate reality in iraq prior to the american invasion, but also the human experience in its insistence on resisting oppression and injustice. Poet and author sinan antoon discusses his book ijaam. What is truly unique about the novel are the implications of the title, and how the novella has been.
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