Tablet & Pen

Starred review from October 11, 2010
This mammoth anthology goes a long way toward achieving its equally mammoth goal: to shift American views of the Middle East away "from the ubiquitous images of terrorists and fanatics." With selections covering the past 100 years and from countries as diverse as Iran, Turkey, Morocco, and Pakistan, the book presents a progression from largely premodern tales through mid-century post-colonialism to a contemporary globalized Islam and Middle East. Despite the panoramic view and the dazzling array of writers, it all hangs together exceedingly well, and the carefully conceived scaffolding is in service of some extraordinary literature. Jalal Al-e Ahmad's "Gharbzadegi" (roughly translated as "Westoxification"), a passionate call for Arabs to stop aping the West, could give today's pundit class several lessons in wit and rhetoric. The outstanding excerpt from Sadegh Hedayat's The Blind Owl should get the neglected translation some new readers. These prose pieces are met by equally accomplished poetry that ranges from the ranks of titans Adonis and Mahmoud Darwish to a host of lesser-knowns plying a range of styles and subjects. An impressive success that spans vast regions of time and territory, this is that rare anthology: cohesive, affecting, and informing.

October 1, 2010

The fifth title in this anthology series (following Literature from the "Axis of Evil") is a broad, century-spanning collection of poems, short stories, novel and memoir excerpts, and essays from ten countries and the state of Palestine. Of these, Iran, Turkey, and Pakistan are the best represented, while Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Palestine also receive significant coverage. Editor Aslan states that his goal was to provide "a different, more authentic perception of this rich and complex region," and in this he is largely successful. Authors range from names well known in the West (Kahlil Gibran, Naguib Mahfouz) to the overlooked and unknown (Ismat Chughtai, Ghassan Kanafani). The early sections of the book, as expected, feature only a handful of women writers, but the post-1980 section achieves a far better balance. VERDICT This is a necessary and well-curated collection, though perhaps a little heavy on poetry for some readers' tastes. Essential for all academic libraries--an entire literature course could easily be built around this one book--yet highly recommended for general readers as well.--Forest Turner, Suffolk Cty. House of Correction Lib., Boston

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2010
Iranian American best-selling writer and professor Aslan has created a vibrant anthology that embraces the modern Middle East from Morocco to Iran, Turkey to Pakistan. This unique and splendid gathering of poems, memoirs, fiction, and essays, many translated into English for the first time from Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu, covers the past century of frenetic disruption and change in works of beauty, dissent, irony, and romance. Among the 70 writers are the Arab poet Khalil Gibran, the Turkish Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, influential Syrian Lebanese poet Adonis, and Mahmoud Darwish, the voice of Palestine. Of particular interest are women writers. Parvin Etesami (190741), of Iran, wrote in a poem titled Iranian Women: Her life she spent in isolation; she died in isolation. / What was she then if not a prisoner? Born in 1940, Kishwar Naheed, of Pakistan, winner of the Nelson Mandela Award, writes, It is we sinful women / who come out raising the banner of truth. Many truths are brought to light in this remarkably energetic and gloriously multicultural volume from a crucial part of the world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)