An Iraqi in Paris - Softcover

Shimon, Samuel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0957442483 ISBN 13: 9780957442481

Publisher: Banipal Publishing, 2016

Synopsis

A fully revised third edition in translation of this best-selling 'gem of autobiographical writing' in the Arab world, by an author who has been called 'a relentless raconteur', 'a modern Odysseus', 'the Iraqi Don Quixote'. Providentially leaving Iraq just before Saddam Hussein installs himself as President, the Assyrian boy dreams of becoming a Hollywood film-maker after his hero John Ford, but after arrest and torture in Syria - accused of being a Jewish spy on account of his name, similar treatment in Jordan, and escaping execution in Lebanon by armed militia, he eventually lands up on the streets of Paris, where he meets up with Jean Valjean and tries to escape his fate as a homeless refugee with wit, humour and amorous adventures, all the while writing the story of his childhood, his deaf-mute father Kika, and film buff Kiryakos. After all his experiences, Samuel Shimon, 'the runaway from museums', writes an urgently needed and timely 'manifesto of tolerance'. Translated from the Arabic by Christina Phillips and Piers Amodia with the author

About this title

About the Author

Samuel Shimon is a writer and poet. Born in Iraq in 1956, his first short stories were published in 1975 and in 1985 he started publishing poetry. His collection of poems, Old Boy, was published in 1987. He is assistant editor of Banipal.

CHRISTINA PHILLIPS has a PhD in modern Arabic Literature and works in the Qur'anic Studies Department at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London.

About this edition

• Publisher: Banipal Publishing
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0957442483
• ISBN 13: 9780957442481
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 282