Magazine of Modern Arab Literature

Publisher / Editor MARGARET OBANK

Assistant Editor SAMUEL SHIMON

Contributing Editors

KHALED MATTAWA SAADI YOUSSEF A K EL JANABI AMJAD NASSER PETER CLARK FADHIL AL-AZZAWI MONA ZAKI SARGON BOULUS

Consulting Editors

NAGUIB MAHFOUZ

ETEL ADNAN

MOHAMMED BENNIS GAMAL EL-GHITANI MARILYN HACKER HISHAM SHARABI ERDMUTE HELLER HERBERT MASON KHALED AL-KARAKI ROGER ALLEN MOHAMMAD ALI FARHAT SAIF AL-RAHBI HILMY SALEM YASIR SULEIMAN

Editorial Assistant DESSY PONTIKOS

Copy Editor DEBORAH HORTON

Layout BEN BRANAGAN

Front Cover KADHIM AL-KHALIFA

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EXETER EX2 7LW ISSN: 1461-5363 Banipal takes its name from Ashurbanipal, last great king of Assyria and patron of the arts, whose outstanding achievement was to assemble in Nineveh, from all over his empire, the first systematically organised library in the ancient Middle East. The thousands of clay tablets of Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian writings included the famous Mesopotamian epics of the Creation, the Flood, and Gilgamesh, many folk tales, fables, proverbs, prayers and omen texts.

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BANIPAL is published three times a year – Spring, Summer and Autumn. Translators are acknowledged on each piece. The source language of the work is noted only when it is not Arabic.

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Summer 2003 banipal

3 EDITORIAL

CONTENTS No 17, Summer 2003

FEATURE ON NOVELIST RABEE JABER 4 Faisal Darraj: The Voice of Writing and the Dawn of History 7 Rabee Jaber: excerpt from the novel Youssef the Englishman 11 Anton Shammas: The Ropes of Rabee Jaber 14 Hartmut Fähndrich Through Many Looking Glasses

16 Bassam Frangieh: Qassim Haddad – Resignation and Revolution 18 Nirvana Tanoukhi introduces novelist Alawiyya Subuh 19 Alawiyya Subuh: Excerpt from the novel Mariam of the Stories 24 Maisoon Saqr: Poem A Mad Man Who does not Love Me

FEATURE ON WRITERS AND POETS FROM IRAQ 29 Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: Poem Song of Rain 31 Saadi Youssef: Poem Spring Showers 32 Hussain al-Mozany: Excerpt from Mansur, or the Allure of the Occident 35 Hussain al-Mozany: tribute to Jean Dammo 36 Abdul Wahab al-Bayati: Poem The Birth and Death of Aisha 36 Bassam Frangieh on Al-Bayati: Journey of Birth and Death 38 Fadhil al-Sultani: Poem What Shall I do with this War? 39 Mahmoud al-Braikan: Seven poems 40 Kadhim Jihad on al-Braikan: The poet of long and heroic silence 41 Samuel Shimon: Six poems 42 Janan Jassim Hillawi: Short Story Evening Descended like a Bird 46 Hashem Shafiq: Seven poems 48 Samira al-Mana: Short Story The Soul 50 Haifa Zangana: Short Story Parallel Lives 52 Abdul Sattar Nasser: Short Story Goodbye, Hippopotamus 54 Kadhim Jihad on Iraqi LIterature: A multi-millennial continuity 55 Kadhim Jihad: Two poems 56 Muhsin al-Ramli: Excerpt from the novel Scattered Crumbs 60 Salah Niazi: Excerpt from the poem The Runaway President 62 Shakir Mustafa introduces novelist Abdul Rahman Majeed al-Rubaie 63 Abdul Rahman Majeed al-Rubaie: Excerpt from the novel The Tattoo 64 and a Short Story A Man and A Woman 66 Abdulhadi Sadoun: Poems 67 What will be the new future for the literature and culture of Iraq

Iraqi authors and artists give their views Literary critic Fatima Mohsen, poet Saadi Youssef, artist Faisal Laibi and poets Hashem Shafiq, Fadhil al-Azzawi, Fadhil al-Sultani and Fawzi Karim

72 REVIEWS OF IRAQI AUTHORS 72 Mona Zaki [Baba Sartre] by Ali Badr 74 Stephen Watts Without an Alphabet Without a Face

Selected poetry of Saadi Youssef trans. Khaled Mattawa

76 Matthias Munsch Mansur oder der Duft des Abendlandes by Hussain al-Mozany

78 James Kirkup Le Cerceuil d’Enkidou by Abdul Rahman Tuhmazi 79 M Obank Delights from the Garden of Eden – a Cookbook and History of Iraqi Cuisine by Nawal Nasrallah

80 CONTRIBUTORS and TRANSLATORS