A Time Between Ashes & Roses (Middle East Literature in Translation) [Paperback]

Adonis (Author), Shawkat M. Toorawa (Translator), Nasser Rabbat (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Middle East Literature in Translation | Publication Date: September 2004

The first English translation of a signature work by one of the greatest living Arab poets.

In this noted anthology, the poet Adonis evokes the wisdom of Whitman's Leaves of Grass (which he liberally excerpts and remolds), the modernism of William Carlos Williams, and the haunting urban imagery of Baudelaire, Cavafy, and Lorca. Three long poems allow him to explore profoundly the human condition, by examining language and love, race and favor, faith and dogma, war and ruin. In the lyrical "This Is My Name " and "Introduction to the History of the Petty Kings, " Adonis ponders Arab defeat and defeatism. In "A Grave for New York, " he focuses on Vietnam-era America. Originally published in 1970 to widespread acclaim, the collection has been reprinted often but has never before appeared in English. Enhanced by Shawkat M. Toorawa's bilingual edition of the Arabic and English on facing pages, an afterword, and assisted by a critical bibliography of Adonis's works, this book is a crucial reference for all students and scholars of modern and Middle Eastern poetry and culture. Noted Syrian intellectual Nasser Rabbat offers a compelling foreword.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said) has written poetry, criticism, translations, and anthologies for fifty years. He has won numerous international poetry awards and was a finalist for the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Shawkat M. Toorawa is professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University. He is coauthor of Interpreting the Self: Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition and author of the forthcoming Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur and Arabic Writerly Culture.

With a Foreword by Nasser Rabbat

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press; Bilingual edition (September 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815608284
• ISBN-13: 978-0815608288
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,272,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Grave For New York, November 30, 2008

By 

Publicagent "Publicagent" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Time Between Ashes & Roses (Middle East Literature in Translation) (Paperback)

This book of poetry is worth it because it contains Adonis's legendary poem "Grave for New York," (sometimes translated "Funeral for New York.") This poem is absolutely stunning. Every time that I read it out loud, I am floored. Adonis calls out the corruption and the disease of New York in a long, lyrical, radical poem. He mourns the Statue of Liberty and the materialism of the streets. He mourns for the people while New York does battle with the Earth. This poem was written before 9/11 and is written by a compassionate Arab. Poems like this are the reason why Adonis has been nominated more than once for the Pulitzer Prize. He stands up for the suffocation of the planet in a physical location responsible for a lot of the suffering. This poem is one of the most profound that I have ever read.

Post-add: I just wanted to say that the other poems in this collection are outstanding in their own right. This book as a whole is the best book that I have read by Adonis that has been translated into English. It also is laid out very nicely. I would highly recommend this for anyone with a serious interest in poetry that is both inspirational and educational. It is not often that I find a new poet (new in the sense that I have not discovered them before) whose works I instantly want to read all of. Adonis is one such poet. And a Time Between Ashes and Roses is the best place to start (provided that you like longer lyrical non-rhyming poems).

For those interested, I heard that his pen name became Adonis when he could not get published under his Arab name...

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A welcome contribution to Arabic Culture Studies, June 12, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Time Between Ashes & Roses (Middle East Literature in Translation) (Paperback)

A Time Between Ashes And Roses brings to the attention of a Western readership the poetry and prose of Adonis (Ali Ahmad Said), a controversial writer in the Arab world who provocative thoughts are grounded in traditional poetic styles. Very ably translated into English by Shawkat M. Toorawa (who also provides an informative Afterword), A Time Between Ashes And Roses is a bilingual edition and a welcome contribution to Arabic Culture Studies. A freedom fighter traces his name in fire, and in the frozen throats/He dies/Jerusalem traces her name:/The State still exists/The State still exists.//Even so, the butchered river flows:/All water is the face of Jaffa/Every wound the face of Jaffa.