When You Were Sleeping in Noah’s Ark

When You Were Sleeping in Noah’s Ark
(working title)
إذا كنت نائماً في مركب نوح
(Idha kunta naaiman fi markab Nuh)

Written by

(سركون بولص)

Published by

in

1998
A collection of poetry about a poet’s life in exile in the US

A collection of poetry about a poet’s life in exile. Boulus described this collection in an interview with Margaret Obank in 1997: “ The book contains the poems I wrote in America exactly at this time we have been talking about. I had found out that all I knew about writing – before I came to America it was nothing – was unequal to the occasion, just techniques and ways of writing that couldn’t contain the tremendous energy I was living, so I started asking myself, how I’m gonna express this! In these violent poems in America I felt I was controlled by language, instead of me controlling the language. So I had to create this flowing rhythm, this mad flowing rhythm of language and then everything is being dragged by this fantastic current. Well, I’m reading the poems now and I feel that I’m analysing myself through them.”

Foreign rights: contact the publisher

Classification

Reasons to publish this book

Boulus is one of the most important modern Arabic poets. His work has been translated into many languages, including English, German, and French. Boulus’ work is universal, often using his poetry to converse with past poets—from Rumi and Abu Nawwas, to Rimbaud, Du Fu, and Rilke.

Translations

  • English

    translation

    by Sargon Boulus

    published as

    Knife Sharpener in the United Kingdom in 2009 by Banipal

Press

He was fascinated by the language of Shakespeare, the flow of which he wanted to transfer to his Arabic translation. Arabic as a universal medium for all poetry is his point of departure and his goal by Poetry International, 2007

Reviewed by Diqqa.net