True greatness is known by humility; what a soft-spoken unassuming man! When last year's Nobel was announced, no-one in my circle of friends (and I've quite a few heavy reader, literary friends, mind you) had ever heard of Mr. Gurnah, except me! I had read him 10 years ago... the novel was "Desertion" and it'd already been gathering dust on my shelf for a few years. That night 2 Feb. 2012, I'd faced the only racial assault of my life, at the hands of a young neo-Nazi; too bruised & shocked (I'd been living in the West since 1987, I'm Indian, nothing like that had ever happened) to go to the police, I barely managed to shower off the dirt but felt no appetite either for food or sleep. It was then that I remembered Abdulrazak Gurnah's book, pulled it out, got into bed and read it through in one stretch! It healed me; when I got out of bed next afternoon, and pulled up the blinds, I couldn't believe my eyes: everything was white outside, as if in a dream, clothed in clouds, it had snowed in Rome, where it snows hardly once in a quarter of a century! Both that weather anomaly & Mr. Gurnah's masterpiece had come together to transform, in the course of one long silent night, a hellish experience into a heavenly one. To this day, "Desertion" has one of my favourite opening pages in all of the world's literature that I've read. I'm studying Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day" with my own students at the LVMSA Catholic University here; they might both be from the Kent Univ., but they're very different as writers. In Ishiguro's work there's no trace of any Asian or colonial or underdog mentality, he doesn't feel that he has necessarily to write about things Japanese (though Japan does figure, here & there), but merely things in his milieu that attract him, and, in this sense, he is very similar to my compatriot Vikram Seth, who, in addition to the massive tome on India "A Suitable Boy", has written lovely books ("The Golden Gate", "An Equal Music") that have nothing to do with India or post-colonialism. What's common to Gurnah & Ishiguro & Seth is that they all write beautifully, which is all any writing is required to be in order to merit the name of "Literature", and even, why not, the Nobel.
@psygobane Жыл бұрын
The dominant voices in any academic discipline, are not always dressed up in beaks - Parroting their status. They are the lump in the throat; muffled art that needs time to encounter. He is such an excellent gentleman.
@daressalaam474 ай бұрын
I read his books from the very first. I have all of them ... because I came from Zanzibar as well.
@awareness46302 жыл бұрын
Afterlives is a stunning novel , i loved it . we are addressing it at our university
@domquixote55402 жыл бұрын
Good! Thanks!
@bohemianbinay29972 жыл бұрын
Congratulations
@glorytogod64612 жыл бұрын
Please make videos on his works It's really sad to see that as he is not a recognised writer before awarded the Nobel prize no one is making videos on his works And after he got noble prize everyone started reviewing his books but not giving complete explanation on his works Please make videos on of all his works
@worldobserver3515 Жыл бұрын
So popular.....has 16 comments after nine months.
@BIJIHALAM2 жыл бұрын
Come back._.See the review, we are my friends......
@ramanpreetkaur49782 жыл бұрын
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
@m.b.nagaraj76662 жыл бұрын
Noble committee concentrate only English Writer. What about Indian and Asian writers
@shodyynaas57102 жыл бұрын
He’s a Tanzanian emigrant.
@ericme47672 жыл бұрын
Vs Naipul got the literature Nobel prize as did Rabintranath Tagore, as did Mo Yan.
@hayatkaidi78892 жыл бұрын
Because Nobel prize in literature has its conditions. One of them is to write in a European language. And to have a European citizenship.
@waitthisisnotpornhub38602 жыл бұрын
@@hayatkaidi7889 Could you please provide a source? If you check the list of Nobel Prize laureates you can see there are some who wrote in Russian, Hebrew and Japanese only.
@waitthisisnotpornhub38602 жыл бұрын
@@shodyynaas5710 Yes, and he writes in English.
@laeequenadvi47462 жыл бұрын
Mike Hunt Particles Physics in Holy Qur'an The word " ذرة " used in this verse means atom. Smaller than atom indicate that there are particles smaller than atom. Atom is not the smallest particle. Atom contains neutron, electron and proton. The latest researches of atoms tells that the world of atoms is very strangeful and astonishing. Almighty Allah says: و قال الذين كفروا لاتأتينا الساعة ، قل بلى وربى لتاتينكم علم الغيب لا يعزب عنه مثقال ذرة في السموات ولا في الأرض و لا اصغر من ذلك ولا أكبر إلا في كتب مبين o " Those who disbelieve say: The Hour will never come unto us. Say: Nay, by my Lord, but it is coming unto you surely. (He is) the knower of the Unseen. Not an itom's weight, or less than that or greater, escapeth Him in the heavens or in the earth, but it is in a clear Record". If yon see meaning of atom in Arabic dictionaries you will come to know that atom means ذرة and particles. Who can tell us about 1500 years ago that there are a strangeful world called the world of Quantum. You don't know Arabic. Learn and study more. It is better and in your interests to believe in Almighty Allah and worship Him only and believe that prophet Muhammad is His last and final messenger. Only Almighty Allah can tell us with no telescope or any astro-physical analysis such minute things.He knows everything because He is the Creator of everything in the world. Almighty Allah bless all of us. DR.MOHAMMAD LAEEQUE NADWI Ph.D. (Arabic Lit.) M.A. Arabic Lit. Director Amena Institute of Islamic Studies & Analysis A Global & Universal Research Institute, nadvilaeeque@gmail.com Thanks