Description
Book SynopsisEssays showcasing Ali and Nino as particularly topical for today's readers both in and out of the classroom, and providing a number of diverse approaches to it. Ali and Nino is a novel published in German in 1937 under the alias "Kurban Said," a love story between a Muslim man and a Christian woman set in Baku, Azerbaijan, during World War I and the country's brief independence. Itwas a major success, translated into several other languages, but was forgotten by the end of World War II. Recent research by the journalist Tom Reiss has revealed the identity of the author as Lev/Leo Nussimbaum (1905-1942), aJewish man born in Baku who converted to Islam, worked as a journalist in Berlin, and died forgotten in exile. Reiss's discovery has spurred new interest in the novel, as has the fact that the book prefigures today's perceived conflicts between East and West or Islam and Christianity, but also suggests a more peaceful model of intercultural living in multiethnic Baku's melting pot of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The present volume collects twelve newessays on different aspects of the text by scholars from a variety of disciplines and cultural backgrounds. It is intended to showcase the suitability of Ali and Nino for inclusion in a curriculum focused on German, world literature, or area studies, and to suggest a variety of approaches to the novel while also appealing to its fans. Contributors: Sara Abdoullah-Zadeh, Cori Crane, Chase Dimock, Christine Rapp Dombrowski, Elizabeth WeberEdwards, Anja Haensch, Kamaal Haque, Lisabeth Hock, Ruchama Johnston-Bloom, Carl Niekerk, Elke Pfitzinger, Soraya Saatchi, Daniel Schreiner, Azade Seyhan. Carl Niekerk is Professor of German with affiliate appointmentsin French, Comparative and World Literature, and Jewish Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Cori Crane is Associate Professor of the Practice and Director of the Language Program in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature at Duke University.
Trade Review[T]he contributors [to this volume] productively upset the notion of a traditional literary canon, which still lingers in the discipline of German Studies. . . . An intriguing aspect of this volume is the approach to the readings and the way these readings were framed in each chapter: namely, as springboards for further analysis and debate. . . . The volume will be a great resource for German Studies professionals and students alike. -- Ervin Malakaj * STUDIES IN 20TH- AND 21ST-CENTURY LITERATURE *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Ali and Nino as World Literature - Carl Niekerk Notes on Editions of and References to Ali and Nino Introduction: Ali and Nino as World Literature - Cori Crane Ali and Nino: The Novel as/of Cultural Translation - Azade Seyhan Crossing Borders, Crossing Disciplines: Ali and Nino in the Twenty-First Century - Lisabeth M. Hock Crossing Borders, Crossing Disciplines: Ali and Nino in the Twenty-First Century - Soraya Saatchi Glowing Rubies and Persian Daggers: The Role of the Persian Poetry in Ali and Nino - Christine Rapp Dombrowski Gendered Stereotypes and Cross-Cultural Moral Values through the Eyes of Kurban Said - Sara Abdoullah-Zadeh Orientalist Itineraries: Cultural Hegemony, Gender, Race, and Relition in Ali and Nino - Anja Haensch Gendered Conflicts in Muslim and Christian Cultures: Honor (and Shame) in Ali and Nino - Elizabeth Weber Edwards Love and Politics: Retelling History in Ali and Nino and Artush and Zaur - Daniel Schreiner "Herr Professor, Please: We'd Rather Stay in Asia": Ali Khan Shirvanshir and the Spaces of Baku - Kamaal Haque The Female Body and the Seduction of Modernity in Ali and Nino - Chase Dimock Seeing the Unseen: Symbolic Writing in Ali and Nino - Elke Pfitzinger Ali and Nino and Jewish Questions - Ruchama Johnston-Bloom Between Orientalism and Occidentalism: Culture, Identity, and the "Clash of Civilizations" in Ali and Nino - Carl Niekerk Works Cited Notes on the Contributors Index
