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A Poet and Bin-Laden

A Poet and Bin-Laden - Hardcover

by Hamid Ismailov
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A Poet and Bin-Laden

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Availability:In StockContributor:Hamid Ismailov, Andrew Bromfield (Translator)Publish date:9/1/2012Pages:298
Language:EnglishPublisher:Glagoslav Publications B.V.ISBN-13:9781909156302ISBN-10:1909156302UPC:9781909156302Book Category:FictionBook Subcategory:Historical, Religious, War & MilitarySize:9.00 x 6.00 x 0.81 inchesWeight:1.2522Product ID:SC8XMPW13X

The "reality novel" A Poet and Bin-Laden set in Central Asia at the turn of the 21st century against a swirling backdrop of Islamic fundamentalism in the Ferghana Valley and beyond, gives a first-hand account on the militants and Taliban's internal life.


The novel begins on the eve of 9/11, with the narrator's haunting description of the airplane attack on the Twin Towers as seen on TV while he is on holiday in Central Asia; and tells the story of an Uzbek poet Belgi, who was disappointed in the authoritarian regime in Uzbekistan and became a terrorist in the eyes of the world. His journey begins with a search for a Sufi spiritual master and ends in guerrilla warfare, and it is this tension between a transcendental and a violent response to oppression, between the book and the bomb, between Archipelago GULAG and modern Central Asia and Afghanistan, that gives the novel its specific poignancy.


In this book Hamid Ismailov masterfully intertwines fiction with documentary and provides wonderfully vivid accounts of historical events such as the siege of Kunduz, the breakout from Shebergan prison and the insurgency in the Ferghana Valley as witnessed by the Byronian figure of Belgi, who enters the inner sanctum of al-Qaeda, and ultimately meets Sheikh bin Laden himself.

Language:EnglishPublisher:Glagoslav Publications B.V.ISBN-13:9781909156302ISBN-10:1909156302UPC:9781909156302Book Category:FictionBook Subcategory:Historical, Religious, War & MilitarySize:9.00 x 6.00 x 0.81 inchesWeight:1.2522Product ID:SC8XMPW13X
Ismailov, Hamid: - Hamid Ismailov (born 1954), an Uzbek journalist and writer, was forced to flee Uzbekistan for the United Kingdom in 1992, where he took a job with the BBC World Service.Although his works are banned in Uzbekistan, he has published dozens of books in Uzbek, Russian, French, German, Turkish and other languages. These include books of poetry (Sad ('Garden'), 1987; Pustynya ('Desert'), 1988), of visual poetry (Post Faustum, 1990; Kniga Otsutstvi, 1992, novels (Sobranie Utonchyonnyh, 1988; Le Vagabond Flamboyant, 1993; Hay-ibn-Yakzan, 2001; Hostage to Celestial Turks, 2003; Doroga k smerti bol'she chem smert' ('The Road To Death Is Bigger Than Death'), 2005), and many others.He has translated Russian and Western classics into Uzbek, and Uzbek and Persian classics into Russian and other Western languages.Written before he left Uzbekistan, Ismailov's novel The Railway was the first to be translated into English. Published in 2006, it was translated by Robert Chandler, following a Russian edition which had been published in Moscow in 1997. His triptych of novels comprising Mbobo, Googling For Soul and Two Lost To Life have also been translated into English with the help of an Arts Council grant.Ismailov has been a Writer in Residence for the BBC World Service since April 2010.
Publisher: Glagoslav Publications B.V.

Edition

2nd Edition

Contributor(s)

Hamid Ismailov, Andrew Bromfield (Translator)

Author

Hamid Ismailov

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