Bøger af Ali Bader

A translation of an award-winning Iraqi novelist's story exploring global migration in a postcolonial world, extremism, and what it means to belong somewhereThe talented classical cellist Nabil always imagined a world where music and art govern everyday life. After being attacked in his hometown in Iraq and not being able to play music, Nabil decides to emigrate to Europe, where he thinks he can fit into society better. He muses about music, the Utopian City as envisioned by philosopher al-Farabi, and if there is any place that will meet his ideals. When Nabil meets Fanny and they become lovers, she tries to help him get back on his feet but he struggles to accept it. Ali Bader uses Nabil's story to explore an artist's place in the world and to subtly critique both Iraqi and European societies.Originally published in Arabic in 2016 during the peak of migration from the Middle East to Europe, Musician in the Clouds explores global migration in a postcolonial world, the impacts of extremism, and what it means to belong somewhere. This translation includes the author's newly updated novel, published in 2023, and an original interview between the author and translator about the book.

After a failed study mission in France, Abd al-Rahman returns home to Iraq to launch an existentialist movement akin to that of his hero. Convinced that it falls upon him to introduce his country's intellectuals to Sartre's thought, he feels especially qualified by his physical resemblance to the philosopher (except for the crossed eyes) and by his marriage to Germaine, who he claims is the great man's cousin. Meanwhile, his wealth and family prestige guarantee him an idle life spent in drinking, debauchery, and frequenting a well-known nightclub. But is his suicide an act of philosophical despair, or a reaction to his friend's affair with Germaine? A biographer chosen by his presumed friends narrates the story of a somewhat bewildered young man who-like other members of his generation-was searching for a meaning to his life. This parody of the abuses and extravagances of pseudo-philosophers in the Baghdad of the sixties throws into relief the Iraqi intellectual and cultural life of the time and the reversal of fortune of some of Iraq's wealthy and powerful families.