Between Quran and Kafka
West-Eastern Affinities
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- $22.99
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
What connects Shiite passion plays with Brecht�s drama? Which of Goethe�s poems were inspired by the Quran? How can Ibn Arabi�s theology of sighs explain the plays of Heinrich von Kleist? And why did the Persian author Sadeq Hedayat identify with the Prague Jew Franz Kafka?
�One who knows himself and others will here too understand: Orient and Occident are no longer separable�: in this new book, the critically acclaimed author and scholar Navid Kermani takes Goethe at his word. He reads the Quran as a poetic text, opens Eastern literature to Western readers, unveils the mystical dimension in the works of Goethe and Kleist, and deciphers the political implications of theatre, from Shakespeare to Lessing to Brecht. Drawing striking comparisons between diverse literary traditions and cultures, Kermani argues for a literary cosmopolitanism that is opposed to all those who would play religions and cultures against one another, isolating them from one another by force. Between Quran and Kafka concludes with Kermani�s speech on receiving Germany�s highest literary prize, an impassioned plea for greater fraternity in the face of the tyranny and terrorism of Islamic State.
Kermani�s personal assimilation of the classics gives his work that topical urgency that distinguishes universal literature when it speaks to our most intimate feelings. For, of course, love too lies �between Quran and Kafka�.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This engaging collection of essays by Kermani (God Is Beautiful) examines topics ranging from 10th-century poetic convention to modern-day extremist attacks in an expertly crafted critique of the East-West paradigm that often dominates contemporary discussions of immigration, globalism, and the preservation of ethnic and national identities. Thematically centered on evaluating how two dominant sets of cultural norms supposedly foreign to one another managed to arise from a shared cultural and theological history, much of the collection utilizes expert analysis of shared themes and motifs from distinct and celebrated works of Eastern and Western literature. The text is dense with citations and references to major works of literature from around the world, but Kermani's excellent work at establishing context and background prevents the examination from becoming intellectually withdrawn (beyond the occasional discussion of contemporary German writers or philosophers). This collection will be a worthwhile read for anyone who is interested in better understanding the intellectual ties that bridge a social and cultural division that is popularly conceived as being thousands of years wide.
