His return is prompted by a mysterious visit from one of his father's Sufi friends as he roams the desert in Mauritania | Questioning his inability to set roots, he explores the streets of Tunis, recalls his childhood introduction to Islamic mysticism and Sufism, and braces himself to see his father again |
---|---|
Beneath the surface lies a stratum of Sufi thought, and below that a layer of anti-colonialism | This use of dialect forms adds to the credibility and immediacy of the narratorial voice |
Murtada searches the streets of Tunis and his memories for the decisive mistake he feels he must have made-that has left him a perpetual wanderer until he undergoes a cathartic nightmare sequence that leaves him shaken.
19Only then is he finally able to come to peace with his past and with himself | Dates are of the appearance of the original Arabic work |
---|---|
Murtada retraces his steps through the medina to his family's house in anticipation of a possible reunion with his troubled father, vividly reliving sights, smells, and sounds from his childhood and evoking his childhood initiation into Islamic mysticism as he experiences a personal journey of the spirit across space and time | , Achieving excellence: Educating the gifted andtalented pp |
Khoury's novels are notable for their complex approach to both political themes and more fundamental questions of human behaviour.
8After being taken from his mother and raised in his father's home where he was physically abused and emotionally marginalized, Murtada spends a life of anxiety wandering the world | The translation is excellent, and Hutchins maintains a consistent style that does justice to the Arabic original |
---|---|
Replacing Maslow's needs hierarchy with an account based on stage and value Behavioral Development Bulletin , Vol 20 1 , 24-31 | html Author Translator Hassan Nasr was born in Tunis in 1937 |
NJ: Pearson Education Colangelo, N.
25