Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery: A Novel - Rilegato

Tahir, Baha

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0520200748 ISBN 13: 9780520200746

Casa editrice: Univ of California Pr, 1996

Riassunto

This brief, beautifically crafted novel introduces one of the finest contemporary Arab novelists to English-speaking audiences. In it, Bahaa' Taher, one of a group of Egyptian writers—including the Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz—noted for their revealing portraits of Egyptian life and society, tells the dramatic story of a young Muslim who, when his life is threatened, finds sanctuary in a community of Coptic monks. It is a tale of honor and of the terrible demands of blood vengeance; it probes the question of how a people or nation can become divided against itself.

Taher has a magical gift for evoking the village life of Upper Egypt—a vastly different setting than urban Cairo and a landscape that tourists usually glimpse only from the windows of trains and buses taking them to the Pharaonic sites. Here, where Christians and Muslims have coexisted peacefully for centuries, where the traditions of the Coptic Church are as powerful as those of the Muslims, Taher crafts an intricate and compelling tale of far-reaching implications. With a powerful narrative voice and a genius for capturing the complex nuances of human interaction, Taher brilliantly depicts the poignant drama of a traditional society caught up in the process of change.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

Bahaa' Taher, who lives in Geneva, has written three novels and several collections of short stories. This novel, his most recent, is the first to appear in English. Barbara Romaine teaches Arabic at the College of William and Mary.

Dalla seconda/terza di copertina:

"Taher is by far the best and most original contemporary Egyptian writer."—Muhammad Siddiq, University of California, Berkeley

"It is a compelling and fascinating book, written in a direct and terse style by a writer who paid attention to his world and saw its limitations clearly but who remembers it with nostalgia and affection."—Segno Sette

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Univ of California Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0520200748
• ISBN 13: 9780520200746
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 116