- Hardcover: 164 pages
- Publisher: Syracuse University Press; 1 edition (30 Sep 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0815607385
- ISBN-13: 978-0815607380
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 17.2 x 1.9 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,336,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Synopsis
The story of one woman's passionate odyssey and sophisticated fantasy of Arabia, ancient and modern. "There was a blue cast to Satjma's handsomely sculpted mesmerizing tale of earthbound witchery and celestial love." Fatma, an Arabian peasant girl, unwittingly embarks upon a strange journey of transformation the day her father marries her off to a snake handler. Unbeknownst to the new bride, her husband milks the venom of his snakes for use in potions he sells on the side. Bitten by one of the snakes, Fatma changes from naive girl to sensuous woman. What's more, she now gains an arcane affinity for her husband's reptiles as well as a talent for controlling them. This trait will enable her to travel from the sands of Arabia to the shadows of the Netherworld beyond the realm of ordinary human experience. Resonating with ritual and mystery, Fatma is a fabulous tale of one woman's path to ecstasy - an enraptured vision of enchantment in this world and fulfillment in another.The first novel to be published in English by one of the most distinguished of modern Arabic writers, this imaginative work blends naturalistic prose, poetry, and song with all the magic of its author's abundant literary gifts.
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing, 28 April 2011
By DJ - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fatma: A Novel of Arabia (Middle East Literature in Translation) (Hardcover)
These two writers are a fabulous team. Alem's story takes you on a mind-stretching visit inside a culture that I have far less understand of than I wish. The story of Fatma fascinates, and evokes all kinds of questions. The strange world she lives in, as well as the relationship she develops with the snakes make for an adventure unlike any I have read before. Although significant sections of the book are about a mixture of mysterious and mystical events, it takes the reader into another way of seeing inside a life of one who wants the truth, and can follow where her experiences take her. She lives between two worlds; worlds unlike what most of us have experienced or can fathom.
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
rehumanizing preciousness, 24 Dec 2003
By urileo - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fatma: A Novel of Arabia (Middle East Literature in Translation) (Hardcover)
Raja Alem has gifted English speakers with this wonderful tale about a young Arab woman and her strange life. Raja wrote Fatma in English with some help from Tom McDonough, these two should collaborate more often! It's intense stuff, and yes Raja does mean it. She's one of a kind, and you should all thank whatever you consider sacred that her stuff is getting published. She's the closest thing to a modern day profit I know of, and if you hear her talk you'll realize she isn't playing around. Poetic, beautifully written, every word is meant to be there, readable and very enjoyable, and if you let it Fatma can make you think differently about life. It is capable of rehumanizing the most jaded soul. It's like the opposite of Kafka's The Castle, Raja is the 'Anti-Michel Houllebecq'- and it would be funny to see what her mind's creations would do to a sad balding Frenchman. Raja's stuff is great, her sister Shadia did the cool cover art. Now, having been BLESSED with owning and reading Fatma, I and many others fervently wish for her other books to be published in English... she's a genius, you've just got to love this woman.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
INSANE, 30 July 2004
By C. Bennett "WideReader" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Fatma: A Novel of Arabia (Middle East Literature in Translation) (Hardcover)
Well, I'm the second person to write a review, and I should probably wait until I finish the last ten pages. But I can't wait! This books is wild, unlike any other book that I've read from the Middle East. Fatma's life keeps spinning, twisting, reshaping, and surprising. What an amazing ride!
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