Tag Archives: short story

Short Story Collection “The Magic Lanterns of Libyan Literature” (2006)

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I recently re-came across Words Without Borders’ translated Libyan short story collection “The Magic Lanterns of Libyan Literature” published all the way back in 2006, when most people didn’t even know where Libya was and when people like Khaled Mattawa, who wrote the introduction this collection, were pretty the only ones interested in shining a light on contemporary Libyan literature. It features some of the (now-)standardly translated Libyan writers, like Ibrahim al-Koni, Ahmed Ibrahim al-Fagih, and so forth. The title, though, I find rather awkward.

Like a bottled genie, Libya’s literature whispers to us mysteriously, until those moments when its container is buffed properly, its luster blazes and the spirit within reveals marvels and wonders beyond the imagination. It happened when Libya discovered oil in the 60s, and it struck a well of poetry, prose, and press that its fearful master soon bottled up.

Libyan storytellers have conjured literary styles and strategies to outwit dull-minded and tin-eared bureaucrats, revealing the magic words of free artistry. Ibrahim Al-Koni’s “Right Course” shows the downside of desert-style finance. In Sadiq Neihoum’s “The Sultan’s Flotilla,” the nail-biting ruler of a city fears its coming doom and manifold misfortunes, and in Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Fagih’s “The Locusts,” villagers join forces against a horde of insects while they sleep. And Mohammed Al-Asfar addresses life and loss in “Wet Sleeves,” where elderly men observe the cycles of mourning, and in his “Mint Flavored Hiccups,” where a fugitive’s family revisits the past while awaiting the future.

Our poets echo the oral tradition while venerating the personal, in the intimacy of Salem el-Okli’s love lyrics, Laila Neihoum’s wry notes on modern life, and Ashur Etwebi’s snapshot of a spot of time at a café.

Libyan Fiction – Banipal Magazine

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Banipal, the UK-based magazine of modern Arabic literature in English translation, published an issue dedicated to Libyan Fiction back in 2011. The print edition is reasonably priced and well worth having, but issue 40 also happens to be available online at Banipal’s website! You can read every piece of Libyan fiction in the issue for free. Together with the recent second edition of Ethan Chorin’s Translating Libya (see here), it represents the best and most recent collection of Libyan literature in English translation, and both are absolutely essential introductions to many of today’s important writers.

From the editor’s description of the issue:

“What an amazing coincidence that [Banipal’s 40th issue] should be dedicated to the celebration of Libyan literature at such an extraordinary historical moment in the Arab world when the region is witnessing a chain of uprisings and revolutions against dictatorial and corrupt regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and, finally, Libya.

We at Banipal are very proud of this special issue on Libyan fiction, and with it announce our absolute solidarity with the Libyan people in their aspiration to democratic rule and the exercising of all their rights, the first of which are to express their thoughts and the abolition of all forms of censorship on audio-visual media and literature.

When I met by chance the veteran Libyan writer Ali Mustafa al-Musrati, one evening at the Greek Club in Cairo, February 2007 (at this time exactly), I said to him: “I’m extremely saddened by the neglect of Libyan literature in the Arab world and by the ignorance of the West.” I promised him that Banipal would publish a special feature on the wonderful literature of Libya. And how happy we are to fulfil this promise at this time in particular…”

The Libyan authors whose work appears are (in no particular order): Ghazi Gheblawi, Wafa al-Bueissa, Hisham Matar, Ibrahim al-Koni, Mohammed Mesrati, Razan Naim Moghrabi, Mohammed al-Asfar, Ahmed Fagih, Giuma Bukleb, Omar el-Kiddi, Saleh Snoussi, Najwa Binshatwan, Omar Abulqasim Alkikli, Azza Kamil al-Maghour, Ibrahim Ahmidan, Redwan Abushwesha, Mohammed al-Arishiya, Mohammed al-Anaizi. There is also profile on Ali Mustafa al-Musrati.