Desert Sorrows: Poems by Tayseer al-Sboul

by Tayseer Al-Sboul, Nesreen Akhtarkhavari (Translator), Anthony A. Lee (Translator)

Overview

No poet of the twentieth century has captured the experience of Arabic-speaking people in the modern world better than Tayseer al-Sboul. One of Jordan’s most celebrated writers, educated in that country, as well as in Lebanon and Syria, he faced the dilemmas and contradictions of the Arab world during the Cold War years. Caught between tradition and modernity, he dreamed of a great Arab nation. With unflinching courage and brutal honesty, he revealed his life in poems: his family, his connection with his homeland, his rejection of tradition, his flirtation with leftist ideology, his love affairs, his politics, his experience of war and defeat, his inner struggle, his quest for truth. Through al-Sboul’s poems, we understand the struggle of one Arab man to make sense of a world gone mad. Caught between the restrictions of traditional life, the cruelty of war, and the political oppression of the modern Middle East, he was determined to find his own peace, though it proved impossible. After the 1973 Arab-Israeli conflict, he lost all hope and took his own life. Featuring facing-page Arabic-English translations, this volume brings al-Sboul’s poetry into English for the first time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611861617
Publisher:	Michigan State University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2015
Series:	Arabic Literature and Language
Edition description:	1
Pages:	154
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Tayseer al-Sboul (1939-1973) is one of Jordan’s most celebrated writers and poets. His masterpiece, You as of Today, won the al-Nahar Award for best Arabic novel in 1968 and continues to stand as one of the most accurate and powerful historical novels of the time.
 
Nesreen Akhtarkhavari is the Director of Arabic Studies at DePaul University, where she teaches Arabic literature, translation, content Arabic courses, and language and culture pedagogy.
 
Anthony A. Lee is a lecturer of history at UCLA and at West Los Angeles College, specializing in African American history, African history, and the African Diaspora in Iran.

Table of Contents

Prologue Otaba Al-Sboul vii

Translating Tayseer Anthony A. Lee xi

Introduction Nesreen Akhtarkhavari xxii

Winter

Desert Sorrows (1) 3

The Question 7

Winter Will Not End 9

Ghosts of Men 11

Moments of Wood 13

Pantheism 15

The Return of the Shaykh 17

Glitter of Temptation

April and the Wisdom of the Wall 21

The Dream 27

Desert Sorrows (2) 29

Hello 31

The Broken Necklace 33

Desire of Dust 37

The Mariner 41

Sparrow of My Heart 43

Secrets 47

Three Songs for Absences 51

Unbearable Words 55

If… 59

Fighting in the Desert

The Absent Eagle 65

Dust 69

From a Sojourner 73

A Piece of My Innocent Heart 77

I Abandon My Homeland

Andalusian Song 83

A Gypsy 87

My Return to Tired Comrades 91

The Abandoned 95

The Impossible 97

My Chaos and Defeat

Terror 101

Elegy of the First Caravan 105

What No One Told Us about Scheherazade 111

Leave Taking

The Old Man's Eulogy 117

Without a Tide (1) 125

Desert Sorrows (3) 127

Without a Title (2) 131

The Final Shore 133

The Journey 139

Editorial Reviews

Literature is an important component in every language program. This work adds to the Arabic language curriculum as it addresses an area that is rarely touched in most Arabic language programs, i.e., Arabic poetry. Desert Sorrows is a must-have addition to Arabic programs and to libraries of individuals who are interested in being touched by the emotions of an Arab poet who captured the feelings of a nation.”
—Khaled Huthaily, Head, Arabic Studies Section, University of Montana

From the Publisher