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Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes From The Modern Middle East (2010)

by Reza Aslan(Favorite Author)

4.14 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0393065855 (ISBN13: 9780393065855)

languge

English

genre

Poetry

publisher

W.W. Norton & Company

review 1: This book is an anthology of poems, short stories, and exerpts from longer works by Arab, Turkish, Persian, and Pakistani writers. The selections are organized chronologically, with the editor introducing each section with some comments on the cultural context that produced the works in question. The editor divides the book into three sections, the early post-Ottoman era, the mid-20th century, and the contemporary period. Many of the works included are translated into English for the first time. The works were interesting in and of themselves, as well as a means to insight into the region.
review 2: I FINALLY finished this book and it was completely worth it! I keep telling people it was like trying to read Shakespeare and Melville and Twain and Poe all at... more once. All of it is great literature, but very dense. I would not recommend picking this up for "light reading," but if you want to understand a little more about what is going on in the Middle East right now, I suggest you get yourself a copy of Tablet and Pen. So much backstory and history that you can read in a newspaper article but not fully understand is expressed so well through stories, essays, and poetry. I think the poetry is especially good, which is saying something since poetry is one of the hardest things to translate. less

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