Literature from the Axis of Evil

by Words Without Borders

• ISBN13: 9781595580702
• ISBN10: 1595580700
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-09-05
• Publisher: New Pr

Summary

Short stories and fiction excerpts from Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Sudan, and other countries from whom the government would rather we didn't hear. "Not knowing what the rest of the world is thinking and writing is both dangerous and boring."--Alane Mason, founding editor, Words Without Borders During the Cold War, writers behind the Iron Curtain--Solzhenitsyn, Kundera, Milosz--were translated and published in the United States, providing an invaluable window on the Soviet regime's effects on daily life and humanizing the individuals living under its conditions. Yet U.S. Treasury Department regulations made it almost impossible for Americans to gain access to writings from "evil" countries such as Iran and Cuba until recently. Penalties for translating such works or for "enhancing their value" by editing them included stiff fines and potential jail time for the publisher. With relaxation in 2005 of the Treasury regulations (in response to pressure from the literary and scientific publishing communities that culminated in a lawsuit), it is now possible, for the first time in many years, to read in English works from these disfavored nations. The New Press and Words Without Borders are proud to be among the first to offer American readers contemporary literature of "enemy nations." Literature from the Axis of Evil includes thirty-five works of fiction from seven countries, most of which have never before been translated into English.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Editors' Note	xiii
Iran	1	(50)
The Vice Principal
Houshang Moradi-Kermani
Translated from the Persian by Constance Bobroff and M.R. Ghanoonparvar	5	(34)
From A Little Less Conversation
Tirdad Zolghadr	39	(10)
Existence
Ahmad Shamlou
Translated from the Persian by Zara Houshmand	49	(2)
Iraq	51	(48)
Baghdad My Beloved
Salah Al-Hamdani
Translated from the French by C. Dickson	55	(5)
From At the Borderline
Sherko Fatah
Translated from the German by Andrea Heyde	60	(9)
From Scattered Crumbs
Muhsin Al-Ramli
Translated from the Arabic by Yasmeen S. Hanoosh	69	(6)
Five Crosses
Saadi Youssef
Translated from the Arabic by Khaled Mattawa	75	(2)
Hameed Nylon
Fadhil Al-Azzawi
Translated from the Arabic by William Maynard Hutchins	77	(22)
North Korea	99	(76)
A Tale of Music
Kang Kwi-mi
Translated from the Korean by Yu Young-nan	103	(27)
From Hwang jini
Hong Seok-jung
Translated from the Korean by Brother Anthony of Taize	130	(8)
The Fifth Photograph
Lim Hwa-won
Translated from the Korean by Yu Young-nan	138	(35)
Falling Persimmons
Byungu Chon
Translated from the Korean by Won-Chung Kim and Christopher Merrill	173	(2)
Syria	175	(50)
On the Sacks
Hanna Mina
Translated from the Arabic by Hanadi Al-Samman	179	(28)
From Jurists of Darkness
Salim Barakat
Translated from the Arabic by Marilyn Booth	207	(18)
Libya	225	(16)
The Soldiers' Plumes
Kamel al-Maghur
Translated from the Arabic by Khaled Mattawa	229	(9)
The Place Will Fit Everything
Ashur Tweibi
Translated from the Arabic by Khaled Mattawa	238	(3)
Sudan	241	(12)
Coffee and Water
Tarek Eltayeb
Translated from the German by Wolfgang Astelbauer	245	(3)
The Sweetest Tea with the Most Beautiful Woman in the World
Tarek Eltayeb
Translated from the German by Rebecca Porteous	248	(5)
Cuba	253	(35)
Project for a Commemorative Mural (Mixed Media)
Anna Lidia Vega Serova
Translated from the Spanish by Alexandra Blair	255	(11)
Women of the Federation
Francisco Garcia González
Translated from the Spanish by Mary G. Berg	266	(19)
I Don't Want Anyone Coming Around to Save Me
Raúl Rivero
Translated from the Spanish by Diana Alvarez-Amell	285	(3)
About the Translators and Advisers	288	(9)
About Words Without Borders	297