Zayni Barakat

In the course of my long travels I have never seen a city so devastated. After a long time I ventured out into the streets. Death, cold and heavy, hung in the air. Walls have no value here, doors have been eliminated. No one is certain that they will see another day. The Egypt of the Mamluk dynasty witnessed a period of artistic ostentation and social and political upheaval, at the heart of which lay the unsolved question of the ruler's legitimacy. Now, in 1516, the Mamluk reign is coming to an end with the advance of the invading. Ottomans. The numerous narrators, among them a Venetian traveler and several native Muslims, tell the story of the rise to power of the ruthless, enigmatic, and puritanical governor of Cairo, Zayni Barakat ibn Musa, whose control of the corrupt city is effected only through a complicated network of spies and informers.

(Bookdata)

Bli först med att recensera och betygsätt boken Zayni Barakat - du kan vinna 200 kr varje månad i tävlingen "Månadens recension".

"A gripping, unforgettable work of prose fiction. It displays its author's originality of conception and execution at every step." - Edward Said, in his Foreword to the book; "Whether read as a colorful evocation of past times or as a bleak political parable, Zayni Barakat succeeds brilliantly." - Robert Irwin, Times Literary Supplement"

(Bookdata)

Gamal Al-Ghitani was born in 1945 and educated in Cairo. He has written 13 novels and 6 collections of short stories. He is currently editor-in-chief of the literary review Akbbar al-adab. Farouk Abdel Wahab teaches Arabic language and literature at the University of Chicago. His most recent translation is Love in Exile by Bahaa Taher (AUC Press, 2002).

(Bookdata)