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Three Stories: “Hassan al-Mazaz al-Shaghouri’s Final Victory” “Taboo” “Eat of the Delicacies We Have Bestowed Upon You”
"The three stories here, 'Hassan al-Mazaz al-Shaghouri’s Final Victory,' 'Taboo,' and 'Eat of the Delicacies We Have Bestowed Upon You' represent Tamer’s use of unornamented language that condenses into highly sarcastic tales, dotted with witty humor about the ongoing oppression of people in the Arab World. The writing puts into play the authoritarian power of coercion, yet at the same time is highly critical of the failures of both the individual and society, whose responses have been tamed and molded. Such themes are recurrent throughout Tamer’s work, which includes 11 collections of short stories. Now, at 85, Zakaria Tamer is still able to generate literary 'newness,' making him worthy of his position as a master of the art of the Arabic short story." - Jennifer Acker & Hisham Bustani
About the Author: Zakaria Tamer is a Syrian author who has published eleven short story collections, two collections of satirical articles, and numerous children’s books. His works have been translated into many languages, with three collections in English: Tigers on the Tenth Day, The Hedgehog, and Breaking Knees. He was awarded the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Award in literature, the Cairo Award for the Arabic Short Story, and the Mahmoud Darwish Award for Literature.
About the Translator: Maia Tabet is an Arabic-English literary translator whose translation career was launched with Elias Khoury’s Little Mountain. Her book-length translations include Khoury’s White Masks, Throwing Sparks by Abdo Khal (2010 International Prize for Arabic Fiction winner), and Sinan Antoon’s Ya Mariam (forthcoming). She is currently working on a collection of short stories by Hisham Bustani.
About The Common: The Common is an award-winning print and digital literary magazine publishing literature and art with a strong sense of place. Based at Amherst College, the magazine launched in 2011. Issues of The Common include short stories, essays, poems, and images that embody a strong sense of place. The Common Online publishes original book reviews, interviews, personal essays, dispatches, poetry, contributor podcasts and recordings, and multimedia features. The Common’s 2016 special issue of Arabic fiction, Tajdeed (Renewal), has been hailed by more than two dozen media outlets across the Middle East.
About the Publisher: Electric Literature is an independent publisher amplifying the power of storytelling through digital innovation. Electric Literature’s weekly fiction magazine, Recommended Reading, invites established authors, indie presses, and literary magazines to recommended great fiction. Once a month we feature our own recommendation of original, previously unpublished fiction. Stay connected with us through our eNewsletter, Facebook, and Twitter, and find previous Electric Literature picks in the Recommended Reading archives.
About the Author: Zakaria Tamer is a Syrian author who has published eleven short story collections, two collections of satirical articles, and numerous children’s books. His works have been translated into many languages, with three collections in English: Tigers on the Tenth Day, The Hedgehog, and Breaking Knees. He was awarded the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Award in literature, the Cairo Award for the Arabic Short Story, and the Mahmoud Darwish Award for Literature.
About the Translator: Maia Tabet is an Arabic-English literary translator whose translation career was launched with Elias Khoury’s Little Mountain. Her book-length translations include Khoury’s White Masks, Throwing Sparks by Abdo Khal (2010 International Prize for Arabic Fiction winner), and Sinan Antoon’s Ya Mariam (forthcoming). She is currently working on a collection of short stories by Hisham Bustani.
About The Common: The Common is an award-winning print and digital literary magazine publishing literature and art with a strong sense of place. Based at Amherst College, the magazine launched in 2011. Issues of The Common include short stories, essays, poems, and images that embody a strong sense of place. The Common Online publishes original book reviews, interviews, personal essays, dispatches, poetry, contributor podcasts and recordings, and multimedia features. The Common’s 2016 special issue of Arabic fiction, Tajdeed (Renewal), has been hailed by more than two dozen media outlets across the Middle East.
About the Publisher: Electric Literature is an independent publisher amplifying the power of storytelling through digital innovation. Electric Literature’s weekly fiction magazine, Recommended Reading, invites established authors, indie presses, and literary magazines to recommended great fiction. Once a month we feature our own recommendation of original, previously unpublished fiction. Stay connected with us through our eNewsletter, Facebook, and Twitter, and find previous Electric Literature picks in the Recommended Reading archives.
16 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 26, 2016
About the author
Zakaria Tamer
70 books29 followersZakaria Tamer (Arabic: زكريا تامر), also transliterated Zakariya Tamir (strict transliteration Zakariyyā Tāmir), (born January 2, 1931 in Damascus, Syria) is an influential master of the Arabic-language short story.
He is one of the most important and widely read and translated short story writers in the Arab world, as well as being the foremost author of children’s stories in Arabic. He also writes children's stories and works as a freelance journalist, writing satirical columns in newspapers.
His volumes of short stories, are often reminiscent of folktales, and are renowned for their relative simplicity on the one hand and the complexity of their many potential references on the other. They often have a sharp edge and are often a surrealistic protest against political or social oppression and exploitation. Most of Zakaria Tamer’s stories deal with people’s inhumanity to each other, the oppression of the poor by the rich and of the weak by the strong. The political and social problems of his own country, Syria, and of the Arab world, are reflected in the stories and sketches in the satirical style typical of his writing.
His first stories were published in 1957. Since then he has published eleven collections of short stories, two collections of satirical articles and numerous children’s books. His works have been translated into many languages, with two collections in English, Tigers on the Tenth Day (translated by Denys Johnson-Davies, Quartet 1985) and Breaking Knees, published June 2008
He is one of the most important and widely read and translated short story writers in the Arab world, as well as being the foremost author of children’s stories in Arabic. He also writes children's stories and works as a freelance journalist, writing satirical columns in newspapers.
His volumes of short stories, are often reminiscent of folktales, and are renowned for their relative simplicity on the one hand and the complexity of their many potential references on the other. They often have a sharp edge and are often a surrealistic protest against political or social oppression and exploitation. Most of Zakaria Tamer’s stories deal with people’s inhumanity to each other, the oppression of the poor by the rich and of the weak by the strong. The political and social problems of his own country, Syria, and of the Arab world, are reflected in the stories and sketches in the satirical style typical of his writing.
His first stories were published in 1957. Since then he has published eleven collections of short stories, two collections of satirical articles and numerous children’s books. His works have been translated into many languages, with two collections in English, Tigers on the Tenth Day (translated by Denys Johnson-Davies, Quartet 1985) and Breaking Knees, published June 2008
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