I just filmed a recent reads in which i talk about the books we read in january, and ill write more about it on the thread this weekend, but i. An iraqi rhapsody, the novelist sinan antoon takes advantage of the orthographic ambiguities of arabic to explore themes. An iraqi rhapsody, novelist sinan antoon explores themes of. A catalog record for this book is available from the library of congress. Since these dots can also clarify a words meaning, i jaam has come to mean elucidating or clarifying. An iraqi rhapsody a literary daring deed sinan antoon is an iraqi american author and his novel tells the story of an iraqi literature student under saddam hussein who is suddenly sent to the security service prison, where he begins to write subversive texts. The bulk of the book presents furats prison diaries as transcribed and dotted by the. Ijaam, explains iraqi expatriate antoon in a prefatory note, is the arabic word used to describe the diacritical dots added to the basic alphabet to represent different phonetic characters. I jaam is the story of furat, a prisoner in an iraq reminiscent of the baathi era. I jaam, explains iraqi expatriate antoon in a prefatory note, is the arabic word used to describe the diacritical dots added to the basic alphabet to represent different phonetic characters. An iraqi rhapsody by sinan antoon translated from arabic by. A manuscript written entirely without diacritics is clearly intended to be unintelligible, and thats the premise of antoons novel.
An iraqi rhapsody is his first novel to be published in the us. Arabic is often written without dots, the meaning is inferred from the context. After they had read the forms in front of them, one asked me to. An inventory of the general security headquarters in central baghdad reveals an obscure manuscript. Ijaam, explains iraqi expatriate antoon in a prefatory note, is the arabic word used to. A catalogue record for this book is available from the british library. Not only is ijaam written without dots, the narrative itself leaves much open to interpretation. What is your sense of the meaning of the word rhapsody. Author bio from city lights publishers and new york university sinan antoon was born in baghdad in 1967. A change in poetic form is thus considered suspicious and a dangerous foreign fad. An undotted text calls upon us to exercise our freedom in interpreting it and to discover its hidden.
Ijaam offers insight into life under an oppressive political regime and how that oppression works. An undotted text calls upon us to exercise our freedom in interpreting it and to discover its hidden meanings. Ijaam is the story of furat, a prisoner in an iraq reminiscent of the baathi era. Reading guide ijaam ijaam reading guide author bio from city lights. Sinan antoon is an iraqiamerican author and his novel tells the story. As an apparent gesture of mercy after a brutal regimen of torture, his captors provide him with a pen and paper to record his memoirs. An iraqi rhapsody, the novelist sinan antoon takes advantage of the orthographic ambiguities of arabic to explore themes of love, loss, identity and resistance in the face of political oppression. Kafka and solzhenitsyn gave us the classics of living in european police states. The other is in the country of men, by hisham matar. Structurally, too, this novel is a gem despite its political overtones, however, ijaam works on an aesthetic level as well. Ijaam is the product of this editors imperfect work and contains signs of his. Ijaam are the dots that indicate vowels in the arabic script.
Since these dots can also clarify a words meaning, ijaam has come to mean elucidating or clarifying. This is a stunning debut by a major young iraqi writerinexile. Written by a young man in detention, the prose moves from prison life, to adolescent memories, to frightening hallucinations, and what emerges is a portrait of life in saddams iraq. The remaining letters are formed by adding one, two or three points, known as ijaam, above or below these forms. A manuscript found in baghdads directorate of general security recalls life under saddam husseins regime. An iraqi rhapsody was recently published in english, and a collection of. An iraqi rhapsody by sinan antoon translated from arabic by rebecca c. He currently teaches at new york university where his teaching and research interests lie in premodern araboislamic culture, and contemporary arab culture and politics. Ijaam by sinan antoon, sinan antoon, rebecca johnson.