Hisham Matar on What to read Now
The month of June, in addition to hosting BEA, also kicks off Reading the World. As part of this project, the NBCC has asked writers around the globe to recommend a book from beyond these shores. Here is what Booker finalist Hisham Matar says is worth grabbing and bringing home with you:
“Season of Migration to the North, by Tayeb Salih, is an eloquent and restrained portrait of one man’s exile. It is a rare narrative in that it charts a life divided between England and Sudan. Without a doubt it is one of the finest Arabic novels of the 20th century, and Denys Johnson-Davies' translation, published by Penguin Modern Classics, does the original justice.”
Hisham Matar
Labels: What To Read This Summer
posted by John Freeman 10:02:00 AM
2 Comments:
Try reading your own country someday also-- at least segments of it other than that you belong to. Thanks.
@ king...
If you read the criteria given first about selecting a book to review, you wouldn't be half as judgmental and as blatantly "othering" the reviewer.
I refer you to the introductory paragraph which reads "(a)s part of this project, the NBCC has asked writers around the globe to recommend a book from beyond these shores."
I think Matar fulfills that briefing quite well.
So what if it's a translation of an Arabic book? Does this make it any less "literary" or "artistic"?
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