Nihad Sirees – författare

The Silence and the Roar takes place in an unnamed Middle Eastern country resembling Syria. The story follows a day in the life of Fathi Chin, an author banned from publishing because he refuses to write propaganda for the ruling government.On this day, the entire country has mobilized to celebrate the twenty year anniversary of the reigning despot. The heat is oppressive and loudspeakers blare as an endless, unbearably loud parade takes over the streets.  Desperate to get away from the noise and the zombie-like masses, Fathi leaves his house to visit his mother, but en route stops to help a student who is being beaten by the police.  Fathi''s ID papers are confiscated and he is forced to return home and told to report to the police station before night falls.When Fathi turns himself in, he is led from one department to another in an ever-widening bureaucratic labyrinth. His only weapon against the irrationality of the government employees is his sense of irony. The Silence and the Roar is a funny, sexy, scathing novel about the struggle of an individual over tyranny. Tinged with a Kafkaesque sense of the absurd, it explores what it means to be truly free in mind and body, despite the worst efforts of the state to impose its will on its citizens.

'A small dystopian treasure' Independent

'Beautiful, funny, and life-affirming' Publishers Weekly

In an unnamed Middle Eastern city, Fathi, a writer no longer permitted to write, makes his way through a crowd chanting in support of the Leader. Stifled by heat and noise, bullied by the party faithful, Fathi presses on, determined to visit his girlfriend. But over the course of the day it becomes clear the regime has plans for him - and soon he'll be forced to make a terrible choice.

This startlingly funny, urgent novel asks what it means to have a conscience, to laugh, and to endure amidst the roar of tyranny.

Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.

Translated by Max Weiss.

Nihad Sirees was born in Aleppo, Syria in 1950. After training and working as an engineer, he became an acclaimed novelist, playwright and screenwriter. Finding himself under increasing surveillance and pressure from the Syrian government, in 2012 he left for Egypt and now lives and works in exile.

Max Weiss is a faculty member at Princeton University, specializing in the culture and history of the Middle East, and an award-winning translator of contemporary Arabic literature.