- Taschenbuch: 168 Seiten
- Verlag: Interlink Pub Group Inc (März 1994)
- Sprache: Englisch
- ISBN-10: 156656140X
- ISBN-13: 978-1566561402
- Größe und/oder Gewicht: 20,3 x 13,4 x 1,4 cm
- Durchschnittliche Kundenbewertung: 5.0 von 5 Sternen Alle Rezensionen anzeigen (1 Kundenrezension)
- Amazon Bestseller-Rang: Nr. 704.009 in Englische Bücher (Siehe Top 100 in Englische Bücher)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Produktinformation |
Mehr über den Autor
Entdecken Sie Bücher, lesen Sie über Autoren und mehr
› Besuchen Sie die Seite von Zayd Mu??? Damm?j auf Amazon
› Besuchen Sie die Seite von Zayd Mu??? Damm?j auf Amazon
Produktbeschreibungen
From Library Journal
The cultural anachronism that was the Imamate of Yemen is artfully captured in The Hostage. Set in the 1940s, the novel depicts a brutal, closed society through the eyes of a boy taken hostage and held in the governor's palace to ensure his clan's loyalty. Employed as a duwaydar, or general servant, he observes the whole range of a social order hardly touched by modernity and falls in love with the governor's sister, the bewitching Sharifa Hafsa. As his friend, the "handsome duyaydar," is slowly dying of tuberculosis, he himself is infected with the corruption of the palace and is on the verge of being consumed. At times reminiscent of Abdelrahman Munif's "Cities of Salt" trilogy (e.g., Variations on Night and Day, LJ 6/1/93), which treats the fictional country of Mooran, Dammaj's work vibrantly portrays a real Yemen that is still unknown to many Westerners, even as it is once again torn by revolution. Recommended for international collections.
Paul E. Hutchison, Bellefonte, Pa.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Paul E. Hutchison, Bellefonte, Pa.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Synopsis
Set in the pre-revolution Yemen of the Imans, this novel depicts the experiences of a boy sent to serve the city governor. There he is lured into giving covert sexual gratification to women of the household. The boy's growing awareness is portrayed against a background of decadence and injustice.
Tags(Was ist das?)Bei einem Tag handelt es sich um ein Schlagwort, das zum Produkt passt.
Tags erleichtern allen Kunden die Suche und die Sortierung ihrer Lieblingsprodukte. |
Eine digitale Version dieses Buchs im Kindle-Shop verkaufen
Wenn Sie ein Verleger oder Autor sind und die digitalen Rechte an einem Buch haben, können Sie die digitale Version des Buchs in unserem Kindle-Shop verkaufen.
Weitere Informationen
Kundenrezensionen
Die hilfreichsten Kundenrezensionen
Format:Taschenbuch
It is rich in creativity and deep in its simplicity. It is about a real historical period in the Yemen's mid 20th century. Zayd Dammaj, the foremost Yemeni writer had made it more enjoyable to discover and to live a different world that it seems to be an imaginary one while it was indeed real. The greatness of the work is not only because of fulfilling the condition of a creative novel, but also because the author undertook the difficult task of amazingly writing a very important period of the temporary history of his people with a very creative, simple and interesting way. The locality of the novel had made it clear that it is the best way to reach the universality
Die hilfreichsten Kundenrezensionen auf Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 Rezensionen
1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Of Limited Interest
21. Oktober 2004
Format:Taschenbuch
This novella, from Yemen's foremost author, follows a young boy semi-imprisoned in a governor's palace as a hostage in the 1940s. A vital historical preface provides the political context for this, showing how isolated Yemen was at that time, and how a hereditary line of imams exercised central control. These rulers took hostages from outlying tribes as a guarantee of their military support. The hostage of the title is the son of one such tribal leader, and after spending his initial imprisonment in a fetid fortress, he is relocated to a sumptuous palace. There, he is immediately befriended by another young boy, who is apparently beloved by all--especially the ladies of the palace. It seems that the young boys are meant to be "duwaydar", a sort of a combination of servant and courtier. These boys were theoretically "safe" around the women, since they were pre-pubescent. In practice, however, they are sought out by the women of the palace for unspecified pleasures in the dark.
As the hostage gets resigned to his status, he falls in love with the wealthy and beautiful sister of the governor, Sharifa Hafsa. As his feelings for Sharifa develop, his friend starts succumbing to tuberculosis and the hostage starts to supplant him as favorite of the palace. This is doubtless some manner of allegory, but the meaning eludes me. There are clear parallels being drawn between the gilded cage status of the hostage and strong-willed palace women like Sharifa Hafsa. Ultimately it comes as no surprise that their solution is mutual. Dammaj leavens the oppressive story with moments of ribald comedy, such as a man who gets kicked in the head by a donkey he was attempting to have sex with. It's an interesting look at how traditional Yemeni society was, as recently as sixty years ago, and is worth reading by those with an interest in Arab culture and history, but probably of little interest to others.
As the hostage gets resigned to his status, he falls in love with the wealthy and beautiful sister of the governor, Sharifa Hafsa. As his feelings for Sharifa develop, his friend starts succumbing to tuberculosis and the hostage starts to supplant him as favorite of the palace. This is doubtless some manner of allegory, but the meaning eludes me. There are clear parallels being drawn between the gilded cage status of the hostage and strong-willed palace women like Sharifa Hafsa. Ultimately it comes as no surprise that their solution is mutual. Dammaj leavens the oppressive story with moments of ribald comedy, such as a man who gets kicked in the head by a donkey he was attempting to have sex with. It's an interesting look at how traditional Yemeni society was, as recently as sixty years ago, and is worth reading by those with an interest in Arab culture and history, but probably of little interest to others.
2 von 3 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
I think the translation must be bad.
19. März 2001
Format:Taschenbuch
I picked up this book with a lot of hope. Yemen is a country that fascinates me and particularly this period of history (early 20th century) and their efforts to repel foreign influence and colonialism. The story itself is quite good: a boy is taken hostage in order to secure his father's political loyalty to a local governor. It is a story of how the boy deals with the various tasks set before him and how he struggles for both literal and intellectual freedom. Sounds great right? Well, the synopsis is unfortunately the best part of the book. The dialogue in the book is so stiff and unbelievable that its almost embarassingly bad. The story line leaps all around. I think there are too many leaps in the plot and assumptions in the story (and the reader would be TOTALLY lost if it weren't for the two introductions.) Like I said, I feel the translation must be sorely lacking because this is hailed as a work of genius. If I try my best to read around the simple language and terrible dialogue, I *think* it may be good in the original language (hence 2 stars and not just 1.) That being said, I would avoid this book unless you can read it in Arabic, because in English...it is a waste of time.
2 von 5 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
It is one of the best Arabic novels in this century.
13. März 1999
Format:Taschenbuch
It is rich in creativity and deep in its simplicity. It is about a real historical period in the Yemen's mid 20th century. Zayd Dammaj, the foremost Yemeni writer had made it more enjoyable to discover and to live a different world that it seems to be an imaginary one while it was indeed real. The greatness of the work is not only because of fulfilling the condition of a creative novel, but also because the author undertook the difficult task of amazingly writing a very important period of the temporary history of his people with a very creative, simple and interesting way. The locality of the novel had made it clear that it is the best way to reach the universality
Waren diese Rezensionen hilfreich?
Wir wollen von Ihnen hören.
Kunden diskutieren
|
Das Forum zu diesem Produkt
Fragen stellen, Meinungen austauschen, Einblicke gewinnen Aktive Diskussionen in ähnlichen Foren
Kundendiskussionen durchsuchen
|
Ähnliche Foren
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lieblingslisten
Ähnliche Artikel finden
Anhand des Sachgebietes nach ähnlichen Produkten suchen:
Ihr Kommentar
Möchten Sie die Produktinformationen aktualisieren oder Feedback zu den Produktabbildungen geben?
|
