Bandarshah

بندرشاه #1-2

by Tayeb Salih, Denys Johnson-Davies (Translator)

The Sudanese author Tayeb Salih recounts the life of a man who cannot remember his name, race, or religion, and speaks a language that no one understands. A group of villagers takes him in, teaches him the Koran, and gives him a name. In an entrancing and luminous poetic style, the author creates a rich cast of characters to describe village rituals and the mysticism of the Arab world. Includes Book One: Dau al-beit and Book Two: Meryoud.

Genres: Fiction, Africa

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

The Sudanese writer al-Tayyib Salih (Arabic: الطيب صالح)has been described as the "genius of the modern Arabic novel." He has lived abroad for most of his life, yet his fiction is firmly rooted in the village in which he spent his early years. His most well-known work is the modern classic Mawsim al-hijra ila’l-shamal (1967; Season of Migration to the North), which received great critical attention and brought new vitality to the Arab novel.

Salih has not been a prolific writer; his early work, including Season of Migration to the North, remains the best of his oeuvre. He has received critical acclaim in both the west and the east. In Sudan he is without rival, and his writing has played a considerable part in drawing attention to Sudanese literature. Arabic literature has been dominated by social criticism, social realism, and committed literature depicting the bitter realities of life; Salih managed to break with this trend and return to the roots of his culture, capturing the mystery, magic, humor, sorrows, and celebrations of rural life and popular religion.

الطيب صالح أديب عربي من السودان ولد عام (1348هـ - 1929م ) في إقليم مروي شمالي السودان بقرية كَرْمَكوْل بالقرب من قرية دبة الفقراء وهي إحدى قرى قبيلة الركابية التي ينتسب إليها. عاش مطلع حياته وطفولته في ذلك الإقليم, وفي شبابه انتقل إلى الخرطوم لإكمال دراسته فحصل من جامعتها على درجة البكالوريوس في العلوم. سافر إلى إنجلترا حيث واصل دراسته, وغيّر تخصصه إلى دراسة الشؤون الدولية.
تنقل الطيب صالح بين عدة مواقع مهنية فعدا عن خبرة قصيرة في إدارة مدرسة، عمل الطيب صالح لسنوات طويلة من حياته في القسم العربي لهيئة الإذاعة البريطانية, وترقى بها حتى وصل إلى منصب مدير قسم الدراما, وبعد استقالته من البي بي سي عاد إلى السودان وعمل لفترة في الإذاعة السودانية, ثم هاجر إلى دولة قطر وعمل في وزارة إعلامها وكيلاً ومشرفاً على أجهزتها. عمل بعد ذلك مديراً إقليمياً بمنظمة اليونيسكو في باريس, وعمل ممثلاً لهذه المنظمة في الخليج العربي. ويمكن القول أن حالة الترحال والتنقل بين الشرق والغرب والشمال والجنوب أكسبته خبرة واسعة بأحوال الحياة والعالم وأهم من ذلك أحوال أمته وقضاياها وهو ما وظفه في كتاباته وأعماله الروائية وخاصة روايته العالمية "موسم الهجرة إلى الشمال".
كتب العديد من الروايات التي ترجمت إلى أكثر من ثلاثين لغة وهي « موسم الهجرة إلى الشمال» و«عرس الزين» و«مريود» و«ضو البيت» و«دومة ود حامد» و«منسى».. تعتبر روايته "موسم الهجرة إلى الشمال" واحدة من أفضل مائة رواية في العالم .. وقد حصلت على العديد من الجوائز .. وقد نشرت لأول مرة في اواخر الستينات من القرن ال-20 في بيروت وتم تتويجه ك"عبقري الادب العربي". في عام 2001 تم الاعتراف بكتابه على يد الاكاديميا العربية في دمشق على انه "الرواية العربية الأفضل في القرن ال-20.) أصدر الطيب صالح ثلاث روايات وعدة مجموعات قصصية قصير

Reviews

[Daniel Polansky]

A series of short stories about Salih’s paradigmatic Sudanese village of Wad Hamid, with a (far from exclusive) focus on three generations of exceptional/semi-magical patriarchs, including the eponymous, as a metaphor for the challenges of Sudan/the Arabic world more generally to grapple with the conflicts of modernity. I liked this, I did not like it quite as much as the sublime Season of Migration to the North and the nearly equally fabulous Wedding of Zein. It’s structurally a bit more complex than either of those, which in practice I thought got in the way of Salih’s beautiful prose and profound moral grasp. Library, but I probably wouldn’t keep it not because it’s not good, it is good, but the other two are better and make a cleaner case for Salih’s genius.

[Marat M. Yavrumyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Համեմատ Զեյնի ու Հյուսիս միգրացիայի, ավելի թույլ էր, բայց նույն սյուժեի մեջ ու նույն հերոսներով։ Էլի նույնը պիտի գրեմ - եթե սուդանցի եք, ենթադրում եմ հավես գիրք է լինելու ձեզ համար, մոտավորապես, ինչպես Նարինե Աբգարյան կկարդայինք մենք՝ հայերս։ Էստեղ պատմությունն ավելի կտրատված էր, հուսամ թարգմանությունը լավը չէր, կամ էլեկտրոնային գիրքն էր կիսատ թվայնացված, չնայած հազիվ թե, չգիտեմ։ Ու արևելյան պատմություններ, ծերուկներ, ապրածը հետադարձ իմաստավորելու փորձեր ու մի քիչ էլ փիլիսոփայություն, որն ամողջ շարադրանքի մեջ է, առանձին նախադասություններ չեն, չնայած մեկ-մեկ հավես ձևակերումներ էլ են լինում։ Մի խոսքով, եթե ուզում եք տեսնել ինչով են ապրել ժամանակին արաբական աֆրիկայում։

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Salih puts a bow on it by bringing together various cast members from his previous two books, time and its knuckling grind escaping none. Things aren’t the same in Waz as they have been for, shit, longer than anyone knows. Times, inclined to be-a-changin’, have introduced modernity and the dissolution of respecting tradition; these sad truths help to distinguish the book by placing the village—the central protagonist in all Salih novels—as a fixed place for the first time. There is ground; there is sky; between the two is/was/may be a village where you see the ‘X’ on this map.

There’s one thing about fixity, though: you tend to be allowed to settle just long enough for the Nile, its crocodiles, and the radar lock of ballistic killing toys to blow you to pieces, have those pieces consumed by the crocs, and the Nile to smooth over and erase any trace there was ever any you there to begin with.

Hey, shit, dust to dusted—

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, but there is much that I didn’t understand. The writing is more circular, and I would have benefited by reading this with a friend or book club.
There are some teachable quotes:
How similar are miracles and disasters (45)!
After thinking for a long time, he said, "What you say is right. Mahjoub should have gone along that road. Mahjoub has ambition. He wants power. But I want truth - and what a difference there is between searching for power and searching for truth (51).
I said to the monster standing in the water between earth and sky. "Peace be upon him who has followed guidance." (61. The footnotes say: "A form of greeting used to Christians and Jews.")

[John Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book takes place in the same village on the Nile River in Sudan, where the author's earlier book, SEASONS OF MIGRATION TO THE NORTH, took place, Wad Hamid. The book combines two of his earlier short story books. While the characters come through with their own personalities, the stories do not connect as a whole. I had really enjoyed his earlier book, but found that this one was much harder for me to follow.

[Michel Castagné · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's too bad this pair of linked novellas isn't more widely available, since it's just as good as (or maybe even better than) Season of Migration to the North and The Wedding of Zein. Salih considered it his most important work, while Kirkus furrowed its brow and concluded it was "a bit too stately and mystical to fully engage Western readers".