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Tales of a Severed Head
Contributor(s): Madani, Rachida (Author), Hacker, Marilyn (Translator)
ISBN: 0300176287     ISBN-13: 9780300176285
Publisher: Yale University Press
OUR PRICE:   $17.10  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: October 2012
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Poetry | Native American
- Poetry | European - French
- Poetry | African
Dewey: 841.92
LCCN: 2012007645
Series: Margellos World Republic of Letters
Physical Information: 0.45" H x 5.11" W x 7.75" (0.42 lbs) 153 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

A brilliant retelling of the classic Arab tale of Scheherazade, set in the present day

This volume brings Moroccan poet Rachida Madani's remarkable poems to English-language readers for the first time. In Tales of a Severed Head, Madani addresses present-day issues surrounding the role of women in society--issues not unlike those explored a thousand years ago in the enduring collection of Arab tales known as The Thousand and One Nights.

In the ancient tales, the insanely distrustful King Shehriyar vows to marry a new wife each night and have her beheaded the next morning, thus eliminating the risk of being cuckolded. Through the courage and wit of young Scheherazade, who volunteers to be the king's bride and then invents the legendary tales that go on for a thousand and one nights, Shehriyar is healed of his obsession and the kingdom's virgins are saved. Like her brave-hearted predecessor, Madani's modern-day Scheherazade is fighting for her own life as well as the lives of her fellow sufferers. But in today's world, the threat comes as much from poverty, official corruption, the abuse of human rights, and the lingering effects of colonialism as from the power wielded by individual men. Madani weaves a tale of contemporary resistance, and once again language provides a potent weapon.