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A review by mary_soon_lee
The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction by Denys Johnson-Davies
4.0
This 2006 anthology collects approximately one hundred pieces of Arabic fiction translated into English -- including many translated by the editor -- bringing together work by seventy-nine authors from fourteen countries. So far, so good. Indeed, so far, so excellent. I set out hoping to reduce my ignorance of Arabic fiction, and this book answered.
However, I had one overarching difficulty with the book, though it's not one that will bother every reader: roughly half of the pieces of fiction are extracts from novels. (The other half are complete short stories.) I would have far preferred if there had been fewer novel extracts and more complete stories. And if there were to be so many novel extracts, I would have wished them to consist only of the beginnings of the novels in question, rather than skipping to the middle (or even the end), leaving me uncertain about the context.
That aside, much of the book fascinated me. I loved the wealth of experiences, the variations in storytelling, the descriptions of cities I've never seen, the mentions of the call to prayer, the glimpses of a different landscape: plants, sheep, desert. I note that a minority of the stories struck me as sexist, a few of them rather creepily so.
My personal favorites were as follows.... Radwa Ashour's "I Saw the Date-Palms" about a woman who finds meaning through plants. Mohamed Khudayir's "Clocks Like Horses" about clocks, sailors, horses, and a way of life now gone. Mohamed Makhzangi's short and brutal description of duck hunting, "The Pilot". Nawal El Saadawi's strong but upsetting piece, "She Has No Place in Paradise." And, lastly, the extract from Bahaa Taher's novel "Love in Exile," which is another strong but upsetting piece.
Many other stories had parts that I loved. Here, for instance, are two sentences from "Nights of Musk" by Haggag Hassan Oddoul that stayed with me:
3.5 out of 5 translated stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
However, I had one overarching difficulty with the book, though it's not one that will bother every reader: roughly half of the pieces of fiction are extracts from novels. (The other half are complete short stories.) I would have far preferred if there had been fewer novel extracts and more complete stories. And if there were to be so many novel extracts, I would have wished them to consist only of the beginnings of the novels in question, rather than skipping to the middle (or even the end), leaving me uncertain about the context.
That aside, much of the book fascinated me. I loved the wealth of experiences, the variations in storytelling, the descriptions of cities I've never seen, the mentions of the call to prayer, the glimpses of a different landscape: plants, sheep, desert. I note that a minority of the stories struck me as sexist, a few of them rather creepily so.
My personal favorites were as follows.... Radwa Ashour's "I Saw the Date-Palms" about a woman who finds meaning through plants. Mohamed Khudayir's "Clocks Like Horses" about clocks, sailors, horses, and a way of life now gone. Mohamed Makhzangi's short and brutal description of duck hunting, "The Pilot". Nawal El Saadawi's strong but upsetting piece, "She Has No Place in Paradise." And, lastly, the extract from Bahaa Taher's novel "Love in Exile," which is another strong but upsetting piece.
Many other stories had parts that I loved. Here, for instance, are two sentences from "Nights of Musk" by Haggag Hassan Oddoul that stayed with me:
We don't know where the days come from.
And we don't know where they go.
3.5 out of 5 translated stars.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).