Fadhil Al-Azzawi's Beautiful Creatures Format:PB

Fadhil Al-Azzawi's Beautiful Creatures Format:PBThis open work was written in defiance of the sanctity of genre and to raise the question of freedom of expression in writing. First published in Arabic in 1969 to great acclaim, it has been variously called a novel or a prose poem, while the author calls it an epic in prose, divided as it is into cantos. In mid 1960s Iraq such an open ended form, in which different genres could come together and blend into each other, was difficult to even imagine.

Ranging from the speculative ‘Jacques d’Or’ to the radical ‘De Radicaal’

Part elegy

They also help conjure the unique message of this book: how to make material our elusive dreams and imaginings

translated by Arthur McHugh

In the context of the Thaw

though treasured

Poetry from Arabic

Gully (oil on canvas

Screaming Olives is about a country that no longer exists

But his behavior becomes more erratic and inexplicable

there was widespread critical recognition that here was an outstandingly original new voice

Born into colonial Trinidad in 1922