- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Verso Books (31 May 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1844670252
- ISBN-13: 978-1844670253
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 16 x 2.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 452,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"All human frailty and nobility is here ... an imaginative tour de force." -- Sunday Telegraph on Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree ??"Grippingly well told, brilliantly paced, remarkably convincing in its historical depiction of a fateful relationship, a narrative for our time, haunted by distant events and characters who are closer to us than we dreamed." -- Edward Said on The Book of Saladin ? "Tales of anguish, longing, lust, and love all find their way to The Stone Woman--Ali paints a vivid picture of a fading world." -- New York Times Book Review on The Stone Woman??
Product Description
The fourth novel in Tariq Ali's Islam Quintet is set in medieval Palermo, a Muslim city rivalling Baghdad and Cordoba in size and splendour. The year is 1153. The Normans are ruling Siqqiliya, but Arab culture and language dominate the island and the court. Sultan Rujari (King Roger) surrounds himself with Muslim intellectuals, several concubines, and an administration presided over by gifted eunuchs. The bishops, expecting to be at the pinnacle of power, are angered by the decadence of the court. In this captivating novel, Tariq Ali charts the life and loves of the medieval cartographer Muhammed al-Idrisi. Torn between his close friendship with the sultan and his friends who are leaving the island or plotting a resistance to Norman rule, Idrisi finds temporary solace in the harem; but, confronted by the common people of Noto and Catania, his conscience is troubled. A Sultan in Palermo is a mythic novel in which pride, greed, and lust intermingle with resistance and greatness. Set in the past, it has haunting resonance today.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the fourth installment of Tariq Ali's Islam's Quintet.
I have only read the much lauded Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree in the same series, and I must say that the writin style remains simple, the plots simplistic and the language corny at times, particularly when describing the sex scenes, though I suspect that is on purpose.
This novel centers around the historical figure of Philip of Mahdia during the kingdom of Roger II in Sicilly durint the XII century. Around the events of the last days of Philip's life, Mr Ali builds a a series of morally dubious characters with the cartographer Idrisi in the main role that carry the story forward and show us details of the comparatively advanced arabic civilisation relative to its christian counterpart.
Much like Shadows... this book feels simple, easy to read and perhaps would have benefitted by a more detailed exploration of the conflicts between christians and muslims, which are only really hinted at. I can't help but feel that these books could have easily been 100 or 150 pages longer without losing any of their appeal. In fact, I think they would have benefitted from it and reached a wider audience.
I have only read the much lauded Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree in the same series, and I must say that the writin style remains simple, the plots simplistic and the language corny at times, particularly when describing the sex scenes, though I suspect that is on purpose.
This novel centers around the historical figure of Philip of Mahdia during the kingdom of Roger II in Sicilly durint the XII century. Around the events of the last days of Philip's life, Mr Ali builds a a series of morally dubious characters with the cartographer Idrisi in the main role that carry the story forward and show us details of the comparatively advanced arabic civilisation relative to its christian counterpart.
Much like Shadows... this book feels simple, easy to read and perhaps would have benefitted by a more detailed exploration of the conflicts between christians and muslims, which are only really hinted at. I can't help but feel that these books could have easily been 100 or 150 pages longer without losing any of their appeal. In fact, I think they would have benefitted from it and reached a wider audience.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is beautiful to read: the prose is simple and light, articulate and cadenced. This combined with the half-familiar, half-strange historical and geographical material it treats, the characters who are fallible, partial, wistful, thoughtful, sharp or humerous, and the lack of a trite plot make this a very profound as well as a stylish read. It falls just short of five stars because it can at times (too me at least) lack a robust approach, there isn't quite enough grit, quite so vividly realised as it could be. Certainly the protagonist is a very serene character, but you also feel some of this is Tariq Ali himself, the academic and intellectual, wise but a little removed and dispassionate despite his melancholy turns and bed-side prowess (the protagonist that is!). This book will enchant and sway you, but somehow it does not blow you away.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Islam Quintet
10 Oct 2005
Format:Hardcover
A sultan in palermo was the perfect final book to a wonderfully written series by tariq ali. i thoroughly enjoyed the whole group and was swept along with the main characters in all four of the books. the story of muhammad al-idrisi was supberly written, full of statesmanship, scholarship, and love. i highly recommend the whole series to anyone interested in the history of islam and of europe's encounters with muslims in the past. together these four books are a truly great addition to anyone's person library.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Read it last.
12 Sep 2005
Format:Hardcover
Having completed all the novel of the Tariq Ali's Islam Quintet, I would suggest that anyone starting this series not begin with "A Sultan in Palermo". While I enjoy and appreciate the historical and cultural backgrounds in Ali's novels, this book seemed to become somewhat preoccupied with the romantic and erotic interests of the protagonist Idrisi, to the extent that it becomes an annoying distraction to the historical plot. After Chapter Twelve, I began to find this book somewhat difficult to pick up again. No such problem with the earlier three works.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
A novel unbecoming of "The Islam Quintet"
17 Aug 2005
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Taris Ali's quintet series is a telling response to anyone accusing muslims as having no culture and civilization. The series is a sincere attempt by Tariq to convey the magnitude of the contribution made by muslims in the past 1400 years; which has so easily been forgotten. It was the insightful writings of muslim scholars that inspired Europe to greater heights and helped it transgress towards the Renaissance.
Sultan in Palermo revisits the Middle Ages, this time in Sicily, an island conquered by the Aghlabids in the 10th century then reconqured by the Normans in 1092. It takes as its main characters two major historical figures, Sultan Rujeri of Siqillya - or, as he is otherwise known, King Roger II of Sicily, and his protégé, Muhammad al-Idrisi, a cartographer. The book is set at a time where the sultan is at the end of his life and is maneuvering through politics insecuring the throne for his future generations. In a cavalier compromise the sultan had accepted the demands of the barons to persecute General Phillip (sympathetic to the muslims) on trumped up treason. The equilibrium on the muslim-christian nexus gets shifted. A peaceful society so far; is embroiled in tension and is gripped with the anxiety of persecution. In this atmosphere al-Idrisi seems torn between his affiliation with the king and his people.
I felt that "The Sultan of Palermo" failed to meet the penetrating and encompassing story of the earlier three novels. The disturbing fact is that in the perverse environment; where destiny is at the cross roads. Al-Idrisi was expected to be sagacious; exhibiting maturity; intellect and in-tune with his people. Instead he is a disdainful aphrodisiac enamored with the art of love than politics. On the eve of the execution of General Phillip; his gravest concern is whether to spend the night with his wife or his sister in law. There are more bedroom heroics than courtroom guile.
Sultan in Palermo revisits the Middle Ages, this time in Sicily, an island conquered by the Aghlabids in the 10th century then reconqured by the Normans in 1092. It takes as its main characters two major historical figures, Sultan Rujeri of Siqillya - or, as he is otherwise known, King Roger II of Sicily, and his protégé, Muhammad al-Idrisi, a cartographer. The book is set at a time where the sultan is at the end of his life and is maneuvering through politics insecuring the throne for his future generations. In a cavalier compromise the sultan had accepted the demands of the barons to persecute General Phillip (sympathetic to the muslims) on trumped up treason. The equilibrium on the muslim-christian nexus gets shifted. A peaceful society so far; is embroiled in tension and is gripped with the anxiety of persecution. In this atmosphere al-Idrisi seems torn between his affiliation with the king and his people.
I felt that "The Sultan of Palermo" failed to meet the penetrating and encompassing story of the earlier three novels. The disturbing fact is that in the perverse environment; where destiny is at the cross roads. Al-Idrisi was expected to be sagacious; exhibiting maturity; intellect and in-tune with his people. Instead he is a disdainful aphrodisiac enamored with the art of love than politics. On the eve of the execution of General Phillip; his gravest concern is whether to spend the night with his wife or his sister in law. There are more bedroom heroics than courtroom guile.
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