Listen to the Mourners

Viac o knihe

This book offers one of the first comprehensive English translations of Nāzik Al-Malā'ika's Arabic poetry, showcasing her as a pivotal figure in twentieth-century Iraqi literature. Al-Malā'ika was instrumental in the modern Arabic verse movement, breaking away from classical poetic forms that had dominated for centuries. Alongside contemporaries like ʻAbdulwahhāb Al-Bayyāti and Badre Shākir Al-Sayyāb, she helped establish a new modernist poetic movement in the Arab world. Despite her influence, little of her work has been translated into English until now. This collection features forty significant poems selected from six of her published volumes, including Life Tragedy and a Song for Man and The Woman in Love with the Night. The poems illustrate her evolution from a late romantic style to a more psychological approach, demonstrating a departure from traditional two-hemistich lines and classical prosody. 'Abdulwāḥid Lu'lu'a's foreword provides a critical analysis of the liberated verse movement and situates Al-Malā'ika within a broader literary context. This beautifully rendered translation fills a crucial gap in the accessibility of modern Arabic poetry and will appeal to students and scholars across various fields, including Iraqi literature, Middle East studies, women's studies, and comparative literature.