Descriptions, Reviews, etc.
Description:
Longlist, 20th Annual Sheikh Zayed Book Award: The Translation Category
Verses on hunter and quarry from a giant of Arabic poetry
Arguably the greatest poet of the Arabic language, Abū Nuwās was renowned for his innovations in poetic genre and style and was a larger-than-life figure even among his contemporaries in Abbasid Baghdad. In
A Demon Spirit, prize-winning translator and scholar James E. Montgomery renders this literary giant's hunting poetry, or
ṭardiyyāt, translated for the first time in vivid English.
Abū Nuwās's poems radiate brilliance, ingenuity, and lyrical attentiveness to both nature and body. These hunting poems convey the crackling energy of ruthless predators and wily prey, the worryingly uncertain outcome of perilous pursuits, and the mythic perfection of warriors both human and animal--all the while overturning genre structures and power dynamics with unforgettable imagery expressed in smooth, natural language.
A bilingual Arabic-English edition.
Brief description:
James E. Montgomery is Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity Hall. His three most recent books of hunting poetry are A Demon Spirit, In Deadly Embrace, and Fate the Hunter. In 2024 he was elected Fellow of the British Academy.
Review Quotes: "Elaborate and highly metaphorical."-- "Al-Ahram Weekly"
