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| distant view of a minaret summary: Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories Alifa Rifaat, 2014-01-16 “More convincingly than any other woman writing in Arabic today, Alifa Rifaat lifts the veil on what it means to be a woman living within a traditional Muslim society.” So states the translator’s foreword to this collection of the Egyptian author’s best short stories. Rifaat (1930–1996) did not go to university, spoke only Arabic, and seldom traveled abroad. This virtual immunity from Western influence lends a special authenticity to her direct yet sincere accounts of death, sexual fulfillment, the lives of women in purdah, and the frustrations of everyday life in a male-dominated Islamic environment. Translated from the Arabic by Denys Johnson-Davies, the collection admits the reader into a hidden private world, regulated by the call of the mosque, but often full of profound anguish and personal isolation. Badriyya’s despairing anger at her deceitful husband, for example, or the haunting melancholy of “At the Time of the Jasmine,” are treated with a sensitivity to the discipline and order of Islam. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Yellow Birds Kevin Powers, 2012-09-06 WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Extraordinary . . . a must-read' Guardian 'A masterpiece . . . a classic' The Times 'A stunning achievement' Sunday Times 'Remarkable . . . every line is a defiant assertion of the power of beauty to revivify' Hilary Mantel 'Harrowing, inexplicably beautiful, and utterly, urgently necessary' Ann Patchett Everywhere John looks, he sees Murph. He flinches when cars drive past. His fingers clasp around the rifle he hasn't held for months. Wide-eyed strangers praise him as a hero, but he can feel himself disappearing. Back home after a year in Iraq, memories swarm around him: bodies burning in the crisp morning air. Sunlight falling through branches; bullets kicking up dust; ripples on a pond wavering like plucked strings. The promise he made, to a young man's mother, that her son would be brought home safely. Written with profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on families at home, THE YELLOW BIRDS is one of the most haunting, true and powerful novels of our time. A NEW YORK TIMES, INDEPENDENT, TIMES, TLS, EVENING STANDARD, SUNDAY EXPRESS, GUARDIAN, SCOTSMAN, SUNDAY HERALD, IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Blue White Red Alain Mabanckou, 2013-02-21 “Mabanckou dazzles with technical dexterity and emotional depth” in his debut novel, winner of the Grand Prix Littéraire de l’Afrique Noire (Publishers Weekly, starred review). This tale of wild adventure reveals the dashed hopes of Africans living between worlds. When Moki returns to his village from France wearing designer clothes and affecting all the manners of a Frenchman, Massala-Massala, who lives the life of a humble peanut farmer after giving up his studies, begins to dream of following in Moki’s footsteps. Together, the two take wing for Paris, where Massala-Massala finds himself a part of an underworld of out-of-work undocumented immigrants. After a botched attempt to sell metro passes purchased with a stolen checkbook, he winds up in jail and is deported. Blue White Red is a novel of postcolonial Africa where young people born into poverty dream of making it big in the cities of their former colonial masters. Alain Mabanckou’s searing commentary on the lives of Africans in France is cut with the parody of African villagers who boast of a son in the country of Digol. Praise for Alain Mabanckou and Blue White Red “Mabanckou counts as one of the most successful voices of young African literature.” —Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin “The African Beckett.” —The Economist “Blue White Red stands at the beginning of the author’s remarkable and multifaceted career as a novelist, essayist and poet . . . this debut novel shows much of his style and substance in remarkable ways . . . Dundy’s translation is excellent.” —Africa Book Club “Mabanckou’s provocative novel probes the many facets of the ‘migration adventure.’” —Booklist |
| distant view of a minaret summary: French Lessons Alice Kaplan, 2018-04-19 “[A] cultural odyssey, a brave attempt to articulate the compulsions that drove [Kaplan] to embrace foreignness in order to become truly herself.” —The Washington Post Book World Brilliantly uniting the personal and the critical, French Lessons is a powerful autobiographical experiment. It tells the story of an American woman escaping into the French language and of a scholar and teacher coming to grips with her history of learning. In spare, midwestern prose, by turns intimate and wry, Kaplan describes how, as a student in a Swiss boarding school and later in a junior year abroad in Bordeaux, she passionately sought the French “r,” attentively honed her accent, and learned the idioms of her French lover. When, as a graduate student, her passion for French culture turned to the elegance and sophistication of its intellectual life, she found herself drawn to the language and style of the novelist Louis-Ferdinand Celine. At the same time, she was repulsed by his anti-Semitism. At Yale in the late 70s, during the heyday of deconstruction she chose to transgress its apolitical purity and work on a subject “that made history impossible to ignore”: French fascist intellectuals. Kaplan’s discussion of the “de Man affair” —the discovery that her brilliant and charismatic Yale professor had written compromising articles for the pro-Nazi Belgian press—and her personal account of the paradoxes of deconstruction are among the most compelling available on this subject. French Lessons belongs in the company of Sartre’s Words and the memoirs of Nathalie Sarraute, Annie Ernaux, and Eva Hoffman. No book so engrossingly conveys both the excitement of learning and the moral dilemmas of the intellectual life. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Saffron Kitchen Yasmin Crowther, 2007-08-28 In a powerful debut novel that moves between the crowded streets of London and the desolate mountains of Iran, Yasmin Crowther paints a stirring portrait of a family shaken by events from decades ago and worlds away. On a rainy day in London the dark secrets and troubled past of Maryam Mazar surface violently, with tragic consequences for her daughter, Sara, and her newly orphaned nephew. Maryam leaves her English husband and family and returns to the remote Iranian village where her story began. In a quest to piece their life back together, Sara follows her mother and finally learns the terrible price Maryam once had to pay for her freedom, and of the love she left behind. Set against the breathtaking beauty of two very different places, this stunning family drama transcends culture and is, at its core, a rich and haunting narrative about mothers and daughters. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Juletane Myriam Warner-Vieyra, 2014-05-01 In this powerful and moving novel, Myriam Warner-Vieyra sensitively portrays the complexities of cross-cultural relationships and, in particular, the female predicament. When Helene, a self-reliant career woman, is packing her belongings for a move and imminent marriage for which she is reluctant, she unearths a faded old book. It is the diary of young Juletane, a confused, sheltered West Indian woman struggling to find herself. Written over three weeks, it records her short life: childhood in France, marriage to an African student, and an eager return with him to Africa, the land of her ancestors. It is Juletane’s diary that brings her and Helene together. Juletane does not fit into her husband’s traditional African family, especially the Muslim cultural demands of polygamy. Full of gentle ironies, Juletane is a story about alienation, madness, shattered dreams: the disillusioned West Indian outsider’s disenchantment with Africa. Myriam Warner-Vieyra looks at women’s lives, at the paths they have taken, at the possibilities open to women in the Caribbean, in Africa, in life. She forces readers, through the double narrative of Juletane and Helene, to reexamine easy assumptions, to look again at safe generalizations. Includes valuable Introduction 2014 by the translator. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini, 2008-09-18 A riveting and powerful story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship and an indestructible love |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Children of the New World Assia Djebar, 2005 A compelling war novel, as seen by women, sheds light on the current Iraq conflict. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Minaret Leila Aboulela, 2007-12-01 “A beautiful, daring, challenging novel” of a young Muslim immigrant—from the author of the New York Times Notable Book, The Translator (The Guardian). Leila Aboulela’s American debut is a provocative, timely, and engaging novel about a young Muslim woman—once privileged and secular in her native land and now impoverished in London—gradually embracing her orthodox faith. With her Muslim hijab and down-turned gaze, Najwa is invisible to most eyes, especially to the rich families whose houses she cleans in London. Twenty years ago, Najwa, then at university in Khartoum, would never have imagined that one day she would be a maid. An upperclass Westernized Sudanese, her dreams were to marry well and raise a family. But a coup forces the young woman and her family into political exile in London. Soon orphaned, she finds solace and companionship within the Muslim community. Then Najwa meets Tamer, the intense, lonely younger brother of her employer. They find a common bond in faith and slowly, silently, begin to fall in love. Written with directness and force, Minaret is a lyric and insightful novel about Islam and an alluring glimpse into a culture Westerners are only just beginning to understand. “Lit up by a highly unusual sensibility and world view, so rarefied and uncompromising that it is likely to throw the reader out of kilter . . . Her delicacy of touch is to be complimented.” —Chandrahas Choudhury, San Francisco Chronicle |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Myal Erna Brodber, 2014-08-08 Jamaican-born novelist and sociologist Erna Brodber describes Myal as “an exploration of the links between the way of life forged by the people of two points of the black diaspora—the Afro-Americans and the Afro-Jamaicans.” Operating on many literary levels—thematically, linguistically, stylistically—it is the story of women’s cultural and spiritual struggle in colonial Jamaica. The novel opens at the beginning of the 20th century with a community gathering to heal the mysterious illness of a young woman, Ella, who has returned to Jamaica after an unsuccessful marriage abroad. The Afro-Jamaican religion myal, which asserts that good has the power to conquer all, is invoked to heal Ella, who has been left zombified” and devoid of any black soul. Ella, who is light skinned enough to pass for white, has suffered a breakdown after her white American husband produced a black-face minstrel show based on the stories of her village and childhood. This cultural appropriation is one of a series Ella encountered in her life, and parallels the ongoing theft of the labor and culture of colonized peoples for imperial gain and pleasure. The novel‘s rich, vivid language and vital characters earned it the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Canada and the Caribbean. The novel links nicely with Brodber’s coming-of-age story, Jane & Louisa Will Soon Come Home, also from Waveland Press, for its similar images, themes, and specific Jamaican cultural references to colonialism, religion, slavery, gender, and identity. Both novels are Brodber’s way of telling stories outside of published history to point out the whitewashing and distortion of black history through religion and colonialism. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: On the Muslim Question Anne Norton, 2020-01-21 Why “the Muslim question” is really about the West and its own anxieties—not Islam In this fearless, original book, Anne Norton demolishes the notion that there is a “clash of civilizations” between the West and Islam. What is really in question, she argues, is the West’s commitment to its own ideals: to democracy and the Enlightenment trinity of liberty, equality, and fraternity. In the most fundamental sense, the Muslim question is about the values not of Islamic, but of Western, civilization. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Translator Leila Aboulela, 2001 Although they work in the same department at Aberdeen University, she as a translator, he as a lecturer in Postcolonial Politics, Sammar and Rae live in worlds divided by simple facts |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Thalaba the Destroyer Robert Southey, 1801 |
| distant view of a minaret summary: STEALING FROM THE SARACENS DIANA. DARKE, 2024 |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Ottomans Marc David Baer, 2021-10-05 This major new history of the Ottoman dynasty reveals a diverse empire that straddled East and West. The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic, Asian antithesis of the Christian, European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans’ multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe’s heart. Indeed, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans. Recounting the Ottomans’ remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, historian Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic, and Byzantine heritage. The Ottomans pioneered religious toleration even as they used religious conversion to integrate conquered peoples. But in the nineteenth century, they embraced exclusivity, leading to ethnic cleansing, genocide, and the empire’s demise after the First World War. The Ottomans vividly reveals the dynasty’s full history and its enduring impact on Europe and the world. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Not Even My Name Thea Halo, 2007-04-01 “The harrowing story of the slaughter of two million Pontic Greeks and Armenians in Turkey after WWI comes to vivid life. . . . eloquent and powerful.” —Publishers Weekly Not Even My Name exposes the genocide carried out during and after WWI in Turkey, which brought to a tragic end the 3000-year history of the Pontic Greeks (named for the Pontic Mountain range below the Black Sea). During this time, almost 2 million Pontic Greeks and Armenians were slaughtered and millions of others were exiled. Not Even My Name is the unforgettable story of Sano Halo’s survival, as told to her daughter, Thea, and of their trip to Turkey in search of Sano’s home seventy years after her exile. Sano Halo was a 10-year-old girl when she was torn from her ancient, pastoral way of life in the mountains and sent on a death march that annihilated her family. Stripped of everything she had ever held dear, even her name, Sano was sold by her surrogate family into marriage when she was fifteen to a man three times her age. Not Even My Name follows Sano’s marriage, the raising of her ten children in New York City and her transformation from an innocent girl to a nurturing mother and determined woman in twentieth-century New York City. “An important and revealing book.” —Library Journal “What illuminates the writing is Halo’s heartfelt love for her brave mother. An unforgettable book.” —Booklist |
| distant view of a minaret summary: A Question of Power Bessie Head, 2017-03-06 In this fast-paced, semi-autobiographical novel, Head exposes the complicated life of Elizabeth, whose reality is intermingled with nightmarish dreams and hallucinations. Like the author, Elizabeth was conceived out-of-wedlock; her mother was white and her father black—a union outlawed in apartheid South Africa. Elizabeth eventually leaves with her young son to live in Botswana, a country less oppressed by colonial domination, where she finds stability for herself and her son by working on an experimental farm. As readers grow to know Elizabeth, they experience the inner chaos that threatens her stability, and her constant struggle to emerge from the torment of her dreams. There she is plagued by two men, Sello and Dan, who represent complex notions of politics, sex, religion, individuality, and the blurred line between good and evil. Elizabeth’s troubling but amazing roller-coaster ride ends in an unfettered discovery. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Colonising Egypt Timothy Mitchell, 1991-10-11 Extending deconstructive theory to historical and political analysis, Timothy Mitchell examines the peculiarity of Western conceptions of order and truth through a re-reading of Europe's colonial encounter with nineteenth-century Egypt. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Swallow Sefi Atta, 2012-11-01 In the 1980s in Lagos, the government’s War Against Indiscipline and austerity measures are in full swing. A succession of unfortunate events leads Tolani, a bank secretary, to be persuaded by her roommate Rose to consider drug trafficking as a way to make a living. Tolani’s subsequent struggle with temptation forces her to reconsider her morality—and that of her mother Arike’s—as she embarks on a turbulent journey of self-discovery. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Road to Oxiana Robert Byron, 2016-06-27 |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Neighbours – The Story of a Murder Lília Momplé, 2012-10-01 On the eve of the Muslim festival of Eid, Narguiss, who 'never wanted anything to do with politics', is more preoccupied with family problems than with the radio news of kidnappings and murders. Nearby, Leia, Januário and their young daughter are caught up in the pleasure and security of finally finding a flat of their own, while Mena, who was once the beauty of her village, overhears her husband plotting murder. Before dawn, these innocent people seeking to lead peaceful lives are thrown together in a vicious conspiracy to infiltrate and destabilise Mozambique. Skilfully weaving together present events and age-old traditions through narrative 'snapshots', Lília Momplé gives us, in the drama of a few short hours, an insight into the consequences of Mozambique's complex history. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini, 2007 Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Kartography Kamila Shamsie, 2011-06-06 _______________ 'A boisterous tribute to her home town that crackles with the chaos of Pakistani political life' - The Times 'Deftly woven and provocative ... Shamsie's blistering humour and ear for dialogue scorches through their whirl of whisky and witticisms' - Observer 'You will notice very quickly that you're reading a book by someone who can write ... Above all, Kartography is a love story. And if you're not sniffling by, or in fact on, page 113, you're reading the wrong book' - Guardian _______________ BY THE ACCLAIMED WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018 SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN LLEWELLYN RHYS PRIZE _______________ Soul mates from birth, Karim and Raheen finish one another's sentences, speak in anagrams and lie spine to spine. They are irrevocably bound to one another and to Karachi, Pakistan. It beats in their hearts - violent, polluted, corrupt, vibrant, brave and ultimately, home. As the years go by they let a barrier of silence build between them until, finally, they are brought together during a dry summer of strikes and ethnic violence and their relationship is poised between strained friendship and fated love. _______________ 'Perceptive, funny and poignant' - Times Literary Supplement 'A touching love story, with the city of Karachi beating at its heart' - Daily Mail 'A gorgeous novel of perimeters and boundaries, of the regions – literal and figurative – in which we're comfortable moving about and those through which we'd rather not travel' - Los Angeles Times |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Islamic Thought Abdullah Saeed, 2006-11-22 Islamic Thought is a fresh and contemporary introduction to the philosophies and doctrines of Islam. Abdullah Saeed, a distinguished Muslim scholar, traces the development of religious knowledge in Islam, from the pre-modern to the modern period. The book focuses on Muslim thought, as well as the development, production and transmission of religious knowledge, and the trends, schools and movements that have contributed to the production of this knowledge. Key topics in Islamic culture are explored, including the development of the Islamic intellectual tradition, the two foundation texts, the Qur’an and Hadith, legal thought, theological thought, mystical thought, Islamic Art, philosophical thought, political thought, and renewal, reform and rethinking today. Through this rich and varied discussion, Saeed presents a fascinating depiction of how Islam was lived in the past and how its adherents practise it in the present. Islamic Thought is essential reading for students beginning the study of Islam but will also interest anyone seeking to learn more about one of the world’s great religions. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Forty Rules of Love Elif Shafak, 2010-02-18 In this lyrical, exuberant tale, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak, author of The Island of Missing Trees (a Reese's Book Club Pick), incarnates Rumi's timeless message of love Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by Zahara's tale of Shams of Tabriz's search for Rumi and the dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams's lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realizes that Rumi's story mirrors her own and that Zahara—like Shams—has come to set her free. The Forty Rules of Love unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives—one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, Shams, the whirling dervish—that together explore the enduring power of Rumi's work. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds Hyunhee Park, 2012-08-27 Long before Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope en route to India, the peoples of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia engaged in vigorous cross-cultural exchanges across the Indian Ocean. This book focuses on the years 700 to 1500, a period when powerful dynasties governed both regions, to document the relationship between the Islamic and Chinese worlds before the arrival of the Europeans. Through a close analysis of the maps, geographic accounts, and travelogues compiled by both Chinese and Islamic writers, the book traces the development of major contacts between people in China and the Islamic world and explores their interactions on matters as varied as diplomacy, commerce, mutual understanding, world geography, navigation, shipbuilding, and scientific exploration. When the Mongols ruled both China and Iran in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, their geographic understanding of each other's society increased markedly. This rich, engaging, and pioneering study offers glimpses into the worlds of Asian geographers and mapmakers, whose accumulated wisdom underpinned the celebrated voyages of European explorers like Vasco da Gama. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Woman at Point Zero Nawāl Saʻdāwī, 1983 So begins Firdaus' story, leading to her grimy Cairo prison cell, where she welcomes her death sentence as a relief from her pain and suffering. Born to a peasant family in the Egyptian countryside, Firdaus suffers a childhood of cruelty and neglect. Her passion for education is ignored by her family, and on leaving school she is forced to marry a much older man. Following her escapes from violent relationships, she finally meets Sharifa who tells her that 'A man does not know a woman's value ... the higher you price yourself the more he will realise what you are really worth' and leads her into a life of prostitution. Desperate and alone, she takes drastic action. -- Publisher description. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Wicked Gregory Maguire, 2009-09-29 When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? Gregory Maguire has created a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Architecture Francis D. K. Ching, 2012-07-16 A superb visual reference to the principles of architecture Now including interactive CD-ROM! For more than thirty years, the beautifully illustrated Architecture: Form, Space, and Order has been the classic introduction to the basic vocabulary of architectural design. The updated Third Edition features expanded sections on circulation, light, views, and site context, along with new considerations of environmental factors, building codes, and contemporary examples of form, space, and order. This classic visual reference helps both students and practicing architects understand the basic vocabulary of architectural design by examining how form and space are ordered in the built environment.? Using his trademark meticulous drawing, Professor Ching shows the relationship between fundamental elements of architecture through the ages and across cultural boundaries. By looking at these seminal ideas, Architecture: Form, Space, and Order encourages the reader to look critically at the built environment and promotes a more evocative understanding of architecture. In addition to updates to content and many of the illustrations, this new edition includes a companion CD-ROM that brings the book's architectural concepts to life through three-dimensional models and animations created by Professor Ching. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Last Summer of Reason Tahar Djaout, 2007-09-01 This elegant, haunting novel takes us deep into the world of bookstore owner Boualem Yekker. He lives in a country being overtaken by the Vigilant Brothers, a radically conservative party that seeks to control every element of life according to the laws of their stringent moral theology: no work of beauty created by human hands should rival the wonders of their god. Once-treasured art and literature are now despised. ø Silently holding his ground, Boualem withstands the new regime, using the shop and his personal history as weapons against puritanical forces. Readers are taken into the lush depths of the bookseller's dreams, the memories of his now-empty family life, his passion for literature, then yanked back into the terror and drudgery of his daily routine by the vandalism, assaults, and death warrants that afflict him. ø From renowned Algerian author Tahar Djaout we inherit a brutal and startling story that reveals how far an ordinary human being will go to maintain hope. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri, 2023-04-13 The incredible bestselling first novel from Pulitzer Prize- winning author, Jhumpa Lahiri. 'The kind of writer who makes you want to grab the next person and say Read this!' Amy Tan 'When her grandmother learned of Ashima's pregnancy, she was particularly thrilled at the prospect of naming the family's first sahib. And so Ashima and Ashoke have agreed to put off the decision of what to name the baby until a letter comes...' For now, the label on his hospital cot reads simply BABY BOY GANGULI. But as time passes and still no letter arrives from India, American bureaucracy takes over and demands that 'baby boy Ganguli' be given a name. In a panic, his father decides to nickname him 'Gogol' - after his favourite writer. Brought up as an Indian in suburban America, Gogol Ganguli soon finds himself itching to cast off his awkward name, just as he longs to leave behind the inherited values of his Bengali parents. And so he sets off on his own path through life, a path strewn with conflicting loyalties, love and loss... Spanning three decades and crossing continents, Jhumpa Lahiri's debut novel is a triumph of humane story-telling. Elegant, subtle and moving, The Namesake is for everyone who loved the clarity, sympathy and grace of Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize-winning debut story collection, Interpreter of Maladies. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Shadow of Imana Véronique Tadjo, 2015-03-04 As evidence emerged of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the outside world reeled in shock. What could have motivated these individual and collective acts of evil? In 1998, Véronique Tadjo traveled to Rwanda to try to find out. She started with the premise that what happened in Rwanda concerns us all: “We need to understand. Our humanity is in peril.” The Shadow of Imana is a reminder that humankind the world over is capable of genocide. Records of what the author saw—sites of massacres, corpses, weapons dumps—are combined with personal stories of traumatized returnees, bereaved survivors, rape victims, orphans, lawyers faced with the impossible task of doing justice, prisoners. But Tadjo’s story goes beyond mere reportage of death and cruelty. Her poetically wrought account incorporates traditional tales, explores the spiritual legacy of the genocide, and uncovers a healing vitality as well as a commitment to forgiveness. Véronique Tadjo was born in Paris and grew up in Côte d’Ivoire. The Shadow of Imana has been translated from the French by Véronique Wakerley. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Romantic Canada Victoria Hayward, 2019-12-06 In Romantic Canada, Victoria Hayward presents a captivating exploration of the Canadian landscape, intertwining personal narrative with evocative descriptions of nature and cultural reflections. The book, crafted in an intimate and lyrical style, serves as a love letter to Canada'Äôs diverse environments'Äîfrom its rugged mountains to serene lakes and sprawling forests. Set within the context of early 20th-century literature, Hayward's work reflects the burgeoning Canadian nationalism and an emerging identity distinct from colonial influences, while her rich prose often evokes the Romantic tradition, emphasizing emotional responses to the natural world. Victoria Hayward was a pioneering writer and journalist whose deep appreciation for the Canadian wilderness and its peoples greatly informed her work. Her experiences traveling across Canada, coupled with her keen observations of national identity and gender roles during her time, provided her with the insights needed to create a resonant and enduring portrayal of the country. Hayward was not only a product of her environment but also an advocate for the recognition of women's contributions to literature and society, which is reflected in her thoughtful and engaging writing. Romantic Canada is highly recommended for those interested in Canadian literature, landscape writing, or the intersections of nature and culture. Readers will find themselves immersed in Hayward's passionate descriptions and thoughtful observations, gaining a deeper appreciation for not only the physical beauty of Canada but also the emotional landscapes it inspires. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Mhudi Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje, 1975 Mhudi, the first full-length novel in English by a black South African, was written in the late 1910s. A romantic epic set in the first half of the nineteenth century, the main action is unleashed by King Mzilikazi's extermination campaign against the Barolong in 1832 at Kunana (nowadays Setlagole), and covers the resultant alliance of defeated peoples with Boer frontiersmen in a resistance movement leading to Battlehill (Vegkop, 1836) and the showdown at the Battle of Mosega (17 January 1839). Plaatje's eponymous heroine is an enduring symbol of the belief in a new day. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Life of the Prophet Muhammad Leila Azzam, Aisha Gouverneur, 1985 This children's book on the life of the Prophet Muhammad is taken from traditional Muslim biographical literature, including hadith. Passages from the Qur'an are used throughout to reinforce the stories. The material is authentic and the style lively and attractive. Although the book has been written for children of 10 to 15 years of age, it can be usefully read by anyone as an introduction because of its completeness and clarity. There are 32 colour illustrations although there has been no attempt to portray either the Prophet or his Companions. The illustrations are representative of traditional Islamic life as lived in many Arab countries and portray scenes that have occurred in those countries for over a thousand years. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: A Thousand Questions Saadia Faruqi, 2020-10-06 Set against the backdrop of Karachi, Pakistan, Saadia Faruqi’s tender and honest middle grade novel tells the story of two girls navigating a summer of change and family upheaval with kind hearts, big dreams, and all the right questions. Mimi is not thrilled to be spending her summer in Karachi, Pakistan, with grandparents she’s never met. Secretly, she wishes to find her long-absent father, and plans to write to him in her beautiful new journal. The cook’s daughter, Sakina, still hasn’t told her parents that she’ll be accepted to school only if she can improve her English test score—but then, how could her family possibly afford to lose the money she earns working with her Abba in a rich family’s kitchen? Although the girls seem totally incompatible at first, as the summer goes on, Sakina and Mimi realize that they have plenty in common—and that they each need the other to get what they want most. This relatable and empathetic story about two friends coming to understand each other will resonate with readers who loved Other Words for Home and Front Desk. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: You Truly Assumed Laila Sabreen, 2022-02-08 In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a terrorist attack rocks the country and anti-Islamic sentiment stirs, three Black Muslim girls create a space where they can shatter assumptions and share truths. Sabriya has her whole summer planned out in color-coded glory, but those plans go out the window after a terrorist attack near her home. When the terrorist is assumed to be Muslim and Islamophobia grows, Sabriya turns to her online journal for comfort. You Truly Assumed was never meant to be anything more than an outlet, but the blog goes viral as fellow Muslim teens around the country flock to it and find solace and a sense of community. Soon two more teens, Zakat and Farah, join Bri to run You Truly Assumed and the three quickly form a strong friendship. But as the blog's popularity grows, so do the pushback and hateful comments. When one of them is threatened, the search to find out who is behind it all begins, and their friendship is put to the test when all three must decide whether to shut down the blog and lose what they've worked for...or take a stand and risk everything to make their voices heard. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Lyrics Alley Leila Aboulela, 2011-03-08 In 1950s Sudan, the powerful and sprawling Abuzeid dynasty has amassed a fortune through their trading firm, with Mahmoud Bey at its helm. But when Mahmoud’s son, Nur, the handsome heir to his business empire, suffers a debilitating accident, the family is suddenly divided in the face of an uncertain future. As British rule nears its end, Sudan is torn between modernizing influences and the call of traditions past—a conflict reflected in the growing tensions between Mahmoud’s two wives: the younger, Nabilah, longs to return to Egypt and escape the dust of “backward-looking” Sudan; and Waheeba, who lives traditionally in the confines of her open-air kitchen. It is not until Nur begins to assert himself outside the strict cultural limits of his parents that both his own spirit and the frayed bonds of his family can begin to mend. Moving from the alleys of Sudan to cosmopolitan Cairo and a decimated post-colonial Britain, Lyrics Alley is a sweeping tale of desire and loss, faith, despair and reconciliation. It is one of the most accomplished and evocative portraits ever written about Sudanese society at the time of independence. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: Seven Pillars of Wisdom Thomas Edward Lawrence, 1938 Seven Pillars of Wisdom is one of the major statements about the fighting experience of the First World War'. Lawrence's younger brothers, Frank and Will, had been killed on the Western Front in 1915. Seven Pillars of Wisdom, written between 1919 and 1926, tells of the vastly different campaign against the Turks in the Middle East - one which encompasses gross acts of cruelty and revenge and ends in a welter of stink and corpses in the disgusting 'hospital' in Damascus. Seven Pillars of Wisdom is no 'Boys Own Paper' tale of Imperial triumph, but a complex work of high literary aspiration which stands in the tradition of Melville and Dostoevsky, and alongside the writings of Yeats, Eliot and Joyce. |
| distant view of a minaret summary: The Poor Christ of Bomba Mongo Beti, 2024-02 |
DISTANT Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of DISTANT is separated in space : away. How to use distant in a sentence.
Distant (2024) - IMDb
Distant: Directed by Josh Gordon, Will Speck. With Anthony Ramos, Naomi Scott, Kristofer Hivju, Zachary Quinto. It follows an asteroid miner who, after crash-landing on an alien planet, must …
Distant (2024 film) - Wikipedia
Distant, also known as Long Distance, is a 2024 American science fiction film directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck and written by Spenser Cohen. It stars Anthony Ramos, Naomi Scott, …
DISTANT | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
DISTANT definition: 1. far away: 2. part of your family but not closely related: 3. far away in the past or future: . Learn more.
DISTANT Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
Distant definition: far off or apart in space; not near at hand; remote or removed (often followed byfrom ).. See examples of DISTANT used in a sentence.
DISTANT definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
If you describe someone as distant, you mean that they are not concentrating on what they are doing because they are thinking about other things. There was a distant look in her eyes from …
Distant - definition of distant by The Free Dictionary
Define distant. distant synonyms, distant pronunciation, distant translation, English dictionary definition of distant. adj. 1. a. Separate or apart in space. b. Far removed; remote: distant …
distant adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and ...
distant (from something) not like something else synonym remote. Their life seemed utterly distant from his own. The medieval mind can seem impossibly distant.
What does distant mean? - Definitions.net
Distant is defined as far away in terms of space or time. It can also refer to having a lack of emotional closeness or direct relevance to something. Overall, it represents a significant …
Distant - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms - Vocabulary.com
Distant describes something that's far away, like another planet, a ship far out at sea, or the cousin who never calls or shows up for family events.
DISTANT Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of DISTANT is separated in space : away. How to use distant in a sentence.
Distant (2024) - IMDb
Distant: Directed by Josh Gordon, Will Speck. With Anthony Ramos, Naomi Scott, Kristofer Hivju, Zachary Quinto. It follows an asteroid miner who, after crash-landing on an alien planet, must …
Distant (2024 film) - Wikipedia
Distant, also known as Long Distance, is a 2024 American science fiction film directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck and written by Spenser Cohen. It stars Anthony Ramos, Naomi Scott, …
DISTANT | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
DISTANT definition: 1. far away: 2. part of your family but not closely related: 3. far away in the past or future: . Learn more.
DISTANT Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
Distant definition: far off or apart in space; not near at hand; remote or removed (often followed byfrom ).. See examples of DISTANT used in a sentence.
DISTANT definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
If you describe someone as distant, you mean that they are not concentrating on what they are doing because they are thinking about other things. There was a distant look in her eyes from …
Distant - definition of distant by The Free Dictionary
Define distant. distant synonyms, distant pronunciation, distant translation, English dictionary definition of distant. adj. 1. a. Separate or apart in space. b. Far removed; remote: distant …
distant adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and ...
distant (from something) not like something else synonym remote. Their life seemed utterly distant from his own. The medieval mind can seem impossibly distant.
What does distant mean? - Definitions.net
Distant is defined as far away in terms of space or time. It can also refer to having a lack of emotional closeness or direct relevance to something. Overall, it represents a significant …
Distant - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms - Vocabulary.com
Distant describes something that's far away, like another planet, a ship far out at sea, or the cousin who never calls or shows up for family events.
