Magazine of Modern
Arab Literature
Publisher / Editor mARGARET OBAnk
Assistant Editor SAmuEL ShImOn
Consulting Editors fADhIL AL-AzzAwI mOhAmmED BEnnIS SARGOn BOuLuS
PETER cLARk mOhAmmAD ALI fARhAT
ERDmuTE hELLER khALED mATTAwA
SAIf AL-RAhBI hILmy SALEm hIShAm ShARABI
Copy Editor DEBORAh hORTOn
Covers kAmAL BOuLLATA
Drawings OmAR jAhAn
Address BAnIPAL PO Box 22300 LOnDOn w13 8zQ Tel: +44 181 568 9747 fax: +44 181 568 8509 e-mail:banipal@compuserve.com
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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 by friends, photographers unknown © All material: Banipal, authors, translators and artists. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
NO 6, Autumn 1999
2 EDITORIAL 3 fADhIL AL-AzzAwI: poems – Bedouins under an alien sky with appreciation by Khaled Mattawa 8 zAkARIyyA TAmIR: seven short stories 12 TOny hAnAnIA: excerpt from forthcoming novel Eros Island 13 fEATuRE On GhALIB hALASA
14 fAISAL DARRAj: The novelist of alienation in daily life 16 GhALIB hALASA: excerpts from the novel Al-Khamasin 23 GhALIB hALASA: short story – The Birthday 27 wALEED khAzEnDAR: poems with appreciation by Subhi hadidi 31 InTERVIEw wITh EDwAR AL-khARRAT 34 mOnA zAkI: Saleem Barakat’s mezmerising world of language and metaphor
35 SALEEm BARAkAT: excerpts from The Crossing of the Flamingo 40 VEnuS khOuRy-GhATA: poems 41 nAThALIE hAnDAL: poem excerpt 42 juAn GOyISOLO: The truth of fiction 43 hASSOunA mOSBAhI: short story – The Tortoise 48 InTERVIEw wITh RAShID AL-DAIf 50 RAShID AL-DAIf: excerpt from Learning English 67 nABIL nAum GORGy: short story – The Competition 54 mOhjA kAhf: poems 55 mAnI’A SAID AL-’OTAIBA: excerpt from Karima 60 nujum AL-GhAnIm: poems 61 mEhDI chAREf: excerpt from Alexina’s House 68 ISSA j BOuLLATA: short story – Search for Saleema 71 fAwzIyyA AL-SInDI: poem 72 BASSEm k. fRAnGIEh: The Last Exile of Abdul Wahab al-Bayati 73 kAREEm ABED: poems 74 OunSI EL-hAGE: last stanzas of The Messenger with her hair long to the springs
77 SAADIA mufARREh: poems 79 REVIEwS
79 Margaret Obank: Ports of Call by Amin Maalouf 80 James Kirkup: Arab authors published in French 84 Samir el-Youssef: The Hill of Gypsies and other stories by Said al-Kafrawi
85 Susannah Tarbush: The Tent by Miral al-Tahawy 86 EVEnTS
86 Arab Study Days of Literature and Poetry, Algiers 87 Arab-Danish Cultural Festival, Copenhagen 88 cOnTRIBuTORS and translators
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