The Maghrebi anthology …

…or the book Habib Tengour & I kept referring to as Diwan Iffrikyia all the years we worked on it, & that UCP calls The University of California Book of North African Literature, has now its Amazon site, which does allow you to check out the table of contents and read some (20%, they say) of the texts while waiting for the copies to arrive (any day now! — though probably no longer in time for Christmas).

Poems for the Millennium, Volume Four: The University of California Book of North African Literature

Publication Date: January 31, 2013 | ISBN-10: 0520273850 | ISBN-13: 978-0520273856 | Edition: 1
Book Description
In this fourth volume of the landmark Poems for the Millennium series, Pierre Joris and Habib Tengour present a comprehensive anthology of the written and oral literatures of the Maghreb, the region of North Africa that spans the modern nation states of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania, and including a section on the influential Arabo-Berber and Jewish literary culture of Al-Andalus, which flourished in Spain between the ninth and fifteenth centuries. Beginning with the earliest pictograms and rock drawings and ending with the work of the current generation of post-independence and diasporic writers, this volume takes in a range of cultures and voices, including Berber, Phoenician, Jewish, Roman, Vandal, Arab, Ottoman, and French. Though concentrating on oral and written poetry and narratives, the book also draws on historical and geographical treatises, philosophical and esoteric traditions, song lyrics, and current prose experiments. These selections are arranged in five chronological “diwans” or chapters, which are interrupted by a series of “books” that supply extra detail, giving context or covering specific cultural areas in concentrated fashion. The selections are contextualized by a general introduction that situates the importance of this little-known culture area and individual commentaries for nearly each author.

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6 Responses

  1. Jeff Hansen says:

    This is fantastic news, Pierre. Congratulations! I can’t wait to get my hands on this one. The first volume of PftM changed my life–this one may do so as well. Thank you for all you have done to bring treasure to the English-speaking world. (Where, I think, we should all learn a few more languages.)

  2. Poo says:

    That is a lovely compliment and one that is shared, no doubt, by many others. Congratulations indeed!!!

  3. Congratulations at year’s end to both of you for creating an anthology filled with writers and singers most of us have never heard of before. This is not only a major contribution to world literature but to the vast expanse of the human spirit, its trial and trails, its ethnospheres and phantom presence.

  4. Rochelle Owens says:

    Authorative, compelling and exhilarating.
    An anthology that brings into focus the diversity
    of identities and perspectives—a vortex filled
    with jewels. Kudos! Rochelle

  5. George Economou says:

    What a wonderful surprise to see this important book introduced to poetry lovers everywhere. My loudest cheers of congratulation to you both. Like Jeff Hansen and, I expect, many others, I can’t wait to get my hands on it, too.

  6. gary lawless says:

    whil some are waiting, we received copies of this wonderful collection at our bookstore the week before Christmas, and have been meeting new poets for several days now!

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