12 Impossibles. Stories by Rebellious Arab Writers

This short selection of forbidden, censored or harshly criticised stories by contemporary Arab writers of the "middle generation" represents in the best possible way not only the tradition of storytelling, but also the culture of rebellion and dissent that has long been part of Arab societies.

The stories were collected, selected and translated over a period of twelve years as the Serbian editor and translator Srpko Leštarić came across them, and are accompanied by masterful descriptions about the fate of the authors, their texts, and the art of translating from Arabic.

The book 12 Impossibles. Stories by Rebellious Arab Writers was published in cooperation between the European Cultural Foundation and Next Page Foundation.

Content

Telling Stories about a Culture of Resistance and Dissent Milena Dragićević Šešić
1. Abdulah Hakam / Appendix to the Report on the Individual who Goes by the Name of Ali ibn Alwan
2. Idris al-Saghir / The Confiscation of Mr Vladi’s Voice
3. Mohammed Mesud al-Ajami / When Horses Ripened
4. Abdul Sattar Nassir / Our Lord Caliph
5. Abdul Sattar Nassir / Hasan Ajami’s Coffeehouse
6. Adil Kamil / The City of Silence
7. Hadiya Hussein / The Blizzard
8. Zakariyya Tamir / The House of Many Chambers
9. Zakariyya Tamir / The Reward
10. Fakhri Qaawar / The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
11. Salwa Bakr / How the Peasant Woman Kneads Her Dough
12. Salwa Bakr / Off Flew the Little Birdie

STORIES ABOUT STORIES Srpko Leštarić
1. A note about the author, story and title
2. The indestructible little man or the phantom resurrection of suspects in the contemporary Arabic short story
3. About the story, the writer and the translation
4-5. A note about the author, the prison and the function of a coffeehouse
6. A note about the author
7. A note about the author
8-9. The Fantasy of Harsh Satire
10. A note about the author
11-12. Salwa Bakr – solace and protests
POST SCRIPTUM

Download / read the book in PDF.