Search results for ""author anthony calderbank""
The American University in Cairo Press Munira's Bottle: A Saudi Arabian Novel
In Riyadh, against the events of the second Gulf War and Saddams invasion of Kuwait, we learn the story of Munirawith the gorgeous eyesand the unspeakable tragedy she suffers as her male nemesis wreaks revenge for an insult to his character and manhood. It is also the tale of many other women of Saudi Arabia who pass through the remand center where Munira works, victims and perpetrators of crimes, characters pained and tormented, trapped in cocoons of silence and fear. Munira records their stories on pieces of paper that she folds up and places in the mysterious bottle given to her long ago by her grandmother, a repository for the stories of the dead, that they might live again. This controversial novel looks at many of the issues that characterize the lives of women in modern Saudi society, including magic and envy, honor and revenge, and the strict moral code that dictates malefemale interaction. Yousef al-Mohaimeed is a rising star in international literature. Muniras Bottle is a rich and skillfully crafted story of a dysfunctional Saudi Arabian family. One of its strengths lies in its edgy characters: Munira, a sultry, self-centered, sexually repressed woman; Ibn al-Dahhal, the bold imposter who deceives and betrays her; and Muhammad, her perpetually angry and righteous brother, a catalyst who forces the events. Western readers will welcome it for its opening door into Arab lives and minds.Annie Proulx Mohaimeed writes in a lush style that evokes a writer he cites as an influence, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. [He] takes on some of the most divisive subjects in the Arab world.
£12.02
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC New Voices of Arabia: The Short Stories: An Anthology from Saudi Arabia
The formation of Saudi Arabia in 1932, with the unification of the two Kingdoms of the Hejaz and Nejd, not only unified parts of the Arabian peninsula which had until then remained disparate, loosely related ethnic and tribal groupings, but also led to the development of a distinct Saudi Arabian literature. In an era when Arab culture was challenging the traditional literary norms in which, for centuries, poetry had been dominant, the new Arab cultural space permitted aspirational writers in the new Saudi country to experiment and develop their skills with prose. The result was a flowering of short-story writing through the twentieth century. Ranging from the classical to the modern and highly experimental, this anthology brings together 40 short story writers representing different traditions and sensibilities. Whether exploring social reform or describing the alienation of the individual in a rapidly changing environment, replete with constraints and contradictions, the clash of traditions and modernity remains a constant theme recurring in most stories. This highly unusual book thus presents a remarkably illuminating insight into the complex and enigmatic setting which is Saudi Arabia today.
£130.00
