As Though She Were Sleeping - Rilegato

Elias Khoury

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0857050516 ISBN 13: 9780857050519

Casa editrice: MACLEHOSE PRESS, 2011

Riassunto

Beirut in the 1930s: a young woman has the gift of seeing the past in her dreams, and she can also predict the future. Over the course of three nights, Milia recalls her love affair with Mansour, between Beirut and Nazareth, and dreams of episodes in the lives of her family: of a grandmother who regains her virginity after the birth of her son; of the bizarre death of an uncle, who accidentally hangs himself by a church-bell rope; of her relationship with her mother. Dreams are a way to escape all forms of oppression, whether from family, religion or politics; Milia's visions are of a kind of Garden of Eden, of frangipani trees and orange blossom, and yet she foretells the political and social transformations to come: Jewish immigration to Palestine, the influence of foreign Christian missions and the Westernization of morality. As Though She Were Sleeping is a reminder of what life once was in the Middle East; Elias Khoury has again crafted a compelling and many-layered narrative of great sensuality.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

Elias Khoury is the author of twelve novels, four volumes of literary criticism and three plays. He was editor-in-chief of the cultural supplement of Beirut's daily newspaper, An-Nahar, and is Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University.

Humphrey Davies has been awarded the Banipal Prize for his translation of Khoury's Gate of the Sun, and the prize for Best Translation of 2007 by the Society of Authors for Alaa Al Aswany's The Yacoubian Building.

Dalla seconda/terza di copertina:

Meelya, a young Lebanese woman living in Nazareth with Mansour, her Palestinian husband, has always found refuge in sleep from events that threaten her or escape her comprehension. Past, present and future merge seamlessly in dreams so vivid as to eclipse her waking moments. And when Mansour's brother's death demands a move to Jaffa - an early flashpoint in tensions between Jewish settlers and displaced Palestinians - she withdraws further into her spiritual absence. Mansour fell for Meelya's beauty, but cannot fathom her ceaseless dreaming and restless wandering of Nazareth's streets. Expecting the birth of their son, he can only watch as she cuts loose from the physical world and, over three traumatic nights, dreams of episodes in the lives of her family - a grandmother who regains her virginity after childbirth, an uncle who accidentally hangs himself - and of the story of Youssef the Carpenter, Christ's foster father, who, unlike Abraham, could not save his son from the sacrificial altar. As Though She Were Sleeping follows the logic of dreams, weaving together stories whose meanings are gradually revealed, drawing the reader towards a conclusion that is powerfully symbolic of the ongoing troubles in the Middle East. Infusing his writing with the richness and beauty of Arabic poetry and evoking traditional patterns of oral narrative, Khoury has once again crafted a spellbinding and moving novel of great sensuality.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: MACLEHOSE PRESS
• Data di pubblicazione: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0857050516
• ISBN 13: 9780857050519
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 368