A Poet and Bin-Laden - Hardcover

Ismailov, Hamid

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1909156302 ISBN 13: 9781909156302

Publisher: Glagoslav Publications B.V., 2012

Synopsis

The "reality novel" A Poet and Bin-Laden set in Central Asia at the turn of the 21st century against a swirling backdrop of Islamic fundamentalism in the Ferghana Valley and beyond, gives a first-hand account on the militants and Taliban's internal life. The novel begins on the eve of 9/11, with the narrator's haunting description of the airplane attack on the Twin Towers as seen on TV while he is on holiday in Central Asia; and tells the story of an Uzbek poet Belgi, who was disappointed in the authoritarian regime in Uzbekistan and became a terrorist in the eyes of the world. His journey begins with a search for a Sufi spiritual master and ends in guerrilla warfare, and it is this tension between a transcendental and a violent response to oppression, between the book and the bomb, between Archipelago GULAG and modern Central Asia and Afghanistan, that gives the novel its specific poignancy. In this book Hamid Ismailov masterfully intertwines fiction with documentary and provides wonderfully vivid accounts of historical events such as the siege of Kunduz, the breakout from Shebergan prison and the insurgency in the Ferghana Valley as witnessed by the Byronian figure of Belgi, who enters the inner sanctum of al-Qaeda, and ultimately meets Sheikh bin Laden himself.

About this title

About the Author

Hamid Ismailov (born 1954, Kyrgyzstan) is an Uzbek journalist and writer who was forced to flee Uzbekistan in 1992 and came to the United Kingdom, where he took a job with the BBC World Service. His works are banned in Uzbekistan. He published dozens of books in Uzbek, Russian, French, German, Turkish and other languages. Among them books of poetry: "Sad"(Garden)(1987), "Pustynya"(Desert) (1988), of visual poetry: "Post Faustum" (1990), "Kniga Otsutstvi " (1992), novels "Sobranie Utonchyonnyh" (1988), "Le Vagabond Flamboyant" (1993), "Hay-ibn-Yakzan" (2001), "Hostage to Celestial Turks" (2003), "Doroga k smerti bol'she chem smert'"(The Road to Death is bigger than Death) (2005) and many others. He translated Russian and Western classics into Uzbek, and Uzbek and Persian classics into Russian and some Western languages. Ismailov's novel "The Railway", originally written before he left Uzbekistan, was the first to be translated into English, by Robert Chandler, and was published in 2006. A Russian edition was published in Moscow in 1997. His triptych: novels 'Mbobo' 'Googling for Soul' and 'Two Lost to Life" have also been translated into English with a grant of Arts Council, England and are considered by the publishers. On 30 April 2010, the BBC announced that Ismailov has been appointed as Writer in Residence for BBC World Service for two years.

Review

A Poet and Bin-Laden is an extraordinary and important book, providing an unique perspective on vital questions. I appreciate the book's symphonic structure, its far-reaching, modern-epic-like chorus and its weave of fact and fiction and wonder. It's a fascinating and rich book. - Jill Shoolman /US Archipelago A few of us here have now had a chance to take a look at the pages of A Poet and Bin-Laden, which show the same intelligence, wit and deep political engagement so apparent in your short stories. Your work is clearly wonderful. - David Halpern

About this edition

• Publisher: Glagoslav Publications B.V.
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1909156302
• ISBN 13: 9781909156302
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 268