Love, Death, And Exile
328Love, Death, And Exile
328Paperback(New Edition)
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Overview
Called "a major innovator in his art form" by The New York Times, Baghdad-born poet Abdul Wahab Al-Bayati broke with over fifteen centuries of Arabic poetic tradition to write in free verse and became world famous in the process. Love, Death, and Exile: Poems Translated from Arabic is a rare, bilingual facing-page edition in both the original Arabic text and a highly praised English translation by Bassam K. Frangieh, containing selections from eight of Al-Bayati's books of poetry.
Forced to spend much of his life in exile from his native Iraq, Al-Bayati created poetry that is not only revolutionary and political, but also steeped in mysticism and allusion, moving and full of longing. This collection is a superb introduction to Al-Bayati, Arabic language, and Arabic literature and culture as well.
On Al-Bayati's death in 1999, The New York Times obituary quoted him as saying once that his many years of absence from his homeland had been a "tormenting experience" that had great impact on his poetry. "I always dream at night that I am in Iraq and hear its heart beating and smell its fragrance carried by the wind, especially after midnight when it's quiet."
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781589010048 |
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Publisher: | Georgetown University Press |
Publication date: | 01/01/1991 |
Edition description: | New Edition |
Pages: | 328 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 9.00(d) |
Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Table of Contents
PrefaceForeword
Introduction
The Eyes of the Dead Dogs (1969)
The CityLament for the June Sun Something About Happiness Writing on Clay (1970)
The MagusThe Nightmare of Night and DayElegy to the Unborn CityThree Watercolors
Love Poems at the Seven Gates of the World (1971)
Eye of the SunAbout Waddah of Yemen&—Love and Death Love Poems at the Seven Gates of the WorldAisha's Mad Lover
The Book of the Sea (1973)
Metaporphoses of Netrocres in the Book of the Dead The Princess and the GypsyThe Lady of the Seven MoonsThe Lover
Autobiography of the Thief of Fire (1974)
Labor PainsPoems on Separation and DeathThe EarthquakeThe Gypsy Symphony
Shiraz's Moon (1975)
For Rafael AlbertiReading From The Book Of Al-Tawasin By Al-HallajDeath and the LampPortrait of the Lover of the Great Bear The Greek PoemI Am Born and Burn in My Love Shiraz's MoonLove Under the Rain
The Kingdom of Grain (1979)
Light Comes From GranadaFirst Symphony of the Fifth DimensionVariations On The Suffering Of Farid Al-Din Al-AttarI Shall Reveal My Love For You to the Wind and the Trees
Aisha's Orchard (1989)
Elegy to Khalil HawiFrom the Papers of AishaAnother PaperThe Fire of PoetryFalse CriticsThe Birth in Unborn CitiesThe Blind SingerA Smoke DancerThe BirthAisha's OrchardAisha's ProfileThe DeceiverThe FaceThe Great Wall of ChinaA WomanAl-BasraThe Unknown ManThe PeacockThe PoemA Man and A WomanA Profile of a CitySecret of FireA Conversation of a Stone
Glossary
What People are Saying About This
A new learning resource for students of Arabic literature on an important figure in modern Arab culture.
Brilliant . . . This translation of such difficult, multimasked poetry is a real gem.
In these elegant, passionate, and metaphorically inventive poems history intersects with contemporary life in ways that will surprise anyone interested in either literature or the Middle East. At turns haunting and inspiring, they give us a deeper present and a more informed future than we had before.
Faithful and sensitive. An added attraction to this excellent performance is the printing of the Arabic text facing the English translation.
"In these elegant, passionate, and metaphorically inventive poems history intersects with contemporary life in ways that will surprise anyone interested in either literature or the Middle East. At turns haunting and inspiring, they give us a deeper present and a more informed future than we had before." -- Cary Nelson, author of Revolutionary Memory: Recovering the Poetry of the American Left (Routledge) and editor of the Anthology of Modern American Poetry (Oxford University Press)
"Brilliant... This translation of such difficult, multimasked poetry is a real gem." -- Sonallah Ibrahim, Egyptian novelist and essayist with photographer Jean-Pierre Ribiere of Cairo from Edge to Edge
"'The night overtook the day,' and Abdul Wahab Al-Bayati overtakes the reader with his deeply somber and vivid poems that never cease to ask: 'why did the nightingale of love fly away...why do we cry...what did the song say?' The work in this collection is carved with light and darkness, taking us to the cracks of a nation, where 'in the coffeehouse of the East [they] were defeated by the war of words' to the pulse of exile, where 'no one knows another,' were killed 'before [they] loved each other.' Bayati tells us that in exile we encounter death, in this death we find life, and love carries us through it all. For the poet, exile like love and death is a prison and an infinity. Bassam K. Frangieh's translation renders the passion of these poems beautifully, and we know now, when 'the poet departed...his footsteps drew the map of things,' and we are forever led 'blind into exile: eye of the sun.'" -- Nathalie Handal, author of The Never Field and editor of The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology5
"Faithful and sensitive. An added attraction to this excellent performance is the printing of the Arabic text facing the English translation." -- Irfan Shahid , Sultanate of Oman Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, Georgetown University, andauthor of Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century
"A new learning resource for students of Arabic literature on an important figure in modern Arab culture." -- Ibrahim Ibrahim, professor of contemporary Arab studies
'The night overtook the day,' and Abdul Wahab Al-Bayati overtakes the reader with his deeply somber and vivid poems that never cease to ask: 'why did the nightingale of love fly away. . .why do we cry. . .what did the song say?' The work in this collection is carved with light and darkness, taking us to the cracks of a nation, where 'in the coffeehouse of the East [they] were defeated by the war of words' to the pulse of exile, where 'no one knows another,' were killed 'before [they] loved each other.' Bayati tells us that in exile we encounter death, in this death we find life, and love carries us through it all. For the poet, exile like love and death is a prison and an infinity. Bassam K. Frangieh's translation renders the passion of these poems beautifully, and we know now, when 'the poet departed. . .his footsteps drew the map of things,' and we are forever led 'blind into exile: eye of the sun.'