Magazine of Modern Arab Literature
Publisher / Editor MARGARET OBANK
Assistant Editor SAMUEL SHIMON
Contributing Editors KHALED MATTAWA SA’ADI YOUSSEF
A K EL JANABI AMJAD NASSER PETER CLARK FADHIL AL-AZZAWI
Consulting Editors ETEL ADNAN NAGUIB MAHFOUZ MOHAMMED BENNIS SARGON BOULUS GAMAL EL-GHITANI HISHAM SHARABI MARILYN HACKER HERBERT MASON ERDMUTE HELLER
ROGER ALLEN KHALED AL-KARAKI
SAIF AL-RAHBI MOHAMMAD ALI FARHAT
HILMY SALEM YASIR SULEIMAN
Copy Editor DEBORAH HORTON
Layout BEN BRANAGAN
Address BANIPAL PO Box 22300 LONDON W13 8ZQ Tel: +44 (0)20 8568 9747 Fax: +44 (0)20 8568 8509 e-mail:editor@banipal.co.uk website: http://www.banipal.co.uk
Printed by SHORT RUN PRESS LTD Bittern Road, Sowton Ind. Est.
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.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Photographs not accredited have been donated, photographers unknown © All material: Banipal, authors, translators and artists. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS No 13, Spring 2002
2 EDITORIAL 3 Mohammad al-Maghut: Poems 8 FEATURE on GAMAL EL-GHITANI
8 Interview by Nabil Sharaf el-Din 12 To the Presidential Floor – From a novel
Mona Zaki Translator’s note 17 Mystery Woman – A short story 18 Faisal Darraj The aesthetics of experimental narrative 20 Abbas Beydoun: Six poems 22 Yasmine Khlat: Excerpt from novel Despair is a Sin 26 Abdul Kader El Janabi: Profile, excerpt from memoirs
Vertical Horizon, six poems
31 FEATURE ON JORDANIAN LITERATURE
31 Salah Jarrar Why Amman, the centre for Arab culture? 32 Fakhri Saleh Jordan’s literary scene inside out 34 Mu’nis al-Razzaz (1951–2002) The Orbits of Echo
Excerpt from the novel Confessions of a Silencer 36 Fakhri Saleh Farewell to Mu’nis 39 Haydar Mahmoud Three Poems 41 Zuleikha Abu-Risha Three Poems 42 ’Arrar Profile by Noel Abdulahad and Poems 43 Ziad Al-Anany Four poems 44 Taher Riadh Two poems 45 Khaled Al-Karaki The Jordanian Cultural Scene after 1989 46 Samiha Khreis Excerpt from novel The Poppy 49 Insaf Qal’ajy A short story Estrangement 50 Ibrahim Nasrallah Poems 52 Saoud Qabailat Excerpt from novel Side Alley 54 Mohammad Shaheen The magazine Al-Ufuq Al-Jadeed 55 Hashem Gharaibeh A short story The Lovers’ Ending 59 Mofleh al-Adwan A short story The Speckled Ones 60 Basma el-Nsour The Man Who Crossed the Street 61 Mohammad al-’Amry Four poems 62 Jamal Abu Hamdan A short story Falha and Dahham 64 Yayha al-Qaissi A short story The Lonely Supper 65 Hikmat Nawayseh Excerpt from A Forest of Smoke 66 Jeryes Samawi A poem 66 Habib al-Zeyoudi Three Poems 67 Ahmad el-Nsour Poem – Quiet Days in Amman 68 Elias Farkouh Excerpt from novel Columns of Dust 73 Zuhayr Abu Shayeb Two poems 74 Jameelh Amirah A short story Things Chaotic 75 Issa Batarseh A poem 76 Hussain Jilaad Four poems 77 Amjad Nasser Four Poems 80 Ghalib Halasa A short story Fear
87 REVIEWS 87 Samir El-Youssef The Author and his Doubles by Abdelfattah Kilito 88 Susannah Tarbush The Committee and Zaat by Sonallah Ibrahim 90 Yasir Suleiman On Identity by Amin Maalouf 92 Mona Zaki The Tiller of Waters by Hoda Barakat
94 EVENTS 96 CONTRIBUTORS and TRANSLATORS
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.
How to subscribe? TURN to the last page banipal Spring 2002 1
