Book description
Born in Baghdad in 1945, now living in London, Fawzi Karim is one
of the most compelling voices of the exiled generation of Iraqi
writers. In the first collection of his poetry to appear in English,
his long sequence 'Plague Lands' is an elegy for the life of a lost
city, a chronicle of a journey into exile, haunted by the deep history
of an ancient civilisation. Memories of Baghdad's smoke-filled cafés,
its alleys and mulberry-shaded squares, 'the tang of tea, of coffee
beans…arak, napthalene, damp straw mats', are recalled with painful
intensity. Karim's defiant humanity, rejecting dogma and polemic,
makes him a necessary poet for fractured times.
Working closely with the author, the poet Anthony Howell has
created versions of 'Plague Lands' and a selection of Karim's shorter
poems. Notes on the poems, Elena Lappin's introduction and an
afterword by Marius Kociejowsky exploring Karim's life, illuminate the
context of the poetry.
'Among an unusually rich collection of translations this quarter,
Fawzi Karim's Plague Lands stood out; I was impressed by a poet who
could use such unfamiliar material, and preserve so distinctive a voice
in exile.' - Poetry Book Society Selector's Recommendation, PBS
Bulletin, Spring 2011 'Karim is a very fine poet indeed, and Anthony
Howell, who has eight volumes of his own poetry to his credit, has done
him more than justice. The language here is rich and allusive... The
sights, sounds and smells of his city are conjured, the places of his
childhood, now closed or eradicated to make way for Saddam's palace
gardens, are exquisitely evoked and recreated.' - Catherine Hales,
Poetry Salzburg Review, Autumn 2011
Fawzi Karim is a well-known
Iraqi poet, writer and painter. Born in Baghdad in 1945, he was
educated at Baghdad University before embarking on a career as a
freelance writer. He lived in Lebanon from 1969-1972 and has lived in
London since 1978. The Ivory Tower, his column on poetry and European
classical music has appeared in a number of influential Arabic
newspapers and is respected for its emphasis on the transcendent value
of art and culture. He has published more than fourteen books of
poetry, including a two-volume Collected Poems (2000), The Foundling
Years (2003), The Last Gypsies (2005) and Night of Abel Alaa (2008).
He is also the author of eight books of prose, including The Emperor's
Clothes: on Poetry (2000), Diary of The End of a Nightmare (2005), and
Gods: The Companion on Music (2009).
