The Journey of Ibn Fattouma

Author: Mahfouz, Naguib

Brand: ANCHOR BOOKS

Color: Grey

Binding: paperback

Format: Deckle Edge

Number Of Pages: 160

Release Date: 01-10-1993

Part Number: part_0385423349

Details: Product Description
In this provocative and dreamy parable, a young man disillusioned by the corruption of his homeland sets out on a quest to find Gebel, the land of perfection, from which no one has ever returned. On his way, Ibn Fattouma passes through a series of very different lands--realms where the moon is worshipped, where marriage does not exist, where kings are treated like gods, and where freedom, toleration, and justice are alternately held as the highest goods. All of these places, however, are inevitably marred by the specter of war, and Ibn Fattouma finds himself continually driven onward, ever seeking. Like the protagonists of 
A
Pilgrim's Progress and
Gulliver's Travels, Naguib Mahfouz's hero travels not through any recognizable historical landscape, but through timeless aspects of human possibility.
Review
"The sheen of the Arabian Nights lends a magical glow to this resonant fable." --Boston Globe"A morality play extolling the virtues of tolerance and understanding." --Los Angeles Times"The Journey of Ibn Fattouma is captivating in its simplicity." --Cleveland Plain Dealer"Mahfouz's pithy parable mocks the hypocrisy of nations that wage war and maintain empire in the name of brotherhood and freedom." --Publishers Weekly"A slender, magical parable of idealism and compromise through a stylized Middle East odyssey." --Kirkus Reviews"A dreamy fable. . . . The arful mood of languor and Mahfouz's exactness of expression ensure that it will be well received." --Booklist"As enchanting a tale as any he has written." --Library Journal
From the Publisher
In this pithy, powerful parable, the masterly Naguib Mahfouz explores life's secrets and the mysterious maze of the human heart--a mystical and lyrical
Pilgrim's Progress set in a mythical, timeless Middle East.
From the Inside Flap
In this pithy, powerful parable, the masterly Naguib Mahfouz explores life's secrets and the mysterious maze of the human heart--a mystical and lyrical
Pilgrim's Progress set in a mythical, timeless Middle East.
From the Back Cover
In this pithy, powerful parable, the masterly Naguib Mahfouz explores life's secrets and the mysterious maze of the human heart--a mystical and lyrical "Pilgrim's Progress set in a mythical, timeless Middle East.
About the Author
Naguib Mahfouz was born in Cairo in 1911 and began writing when he was seventeen. His nearly forty novels and hundreds of short stories range from re-imaginings of ancient myths to subtle commentaries on contemporary Egyptian politics and culture. Of his many works, most famous is The Cairo Trilogy, consisting of Palace Walk (1956), Palace of Desire (1957), and Sugar Street (1957), which focuses on a Cairo family through three generations, from 1917 until 1952. In 1988, he was the first writer in Arabic to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died in August 2006.

EAN: 9780385423342

Package Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches

Languages: English