Poems for the Millennium, Volume Four

The University of California Book of North African Literature

by Pierre Joris (Editor), Habib Tengour (Editor), Pierre Joris (Commentaries by), Habib Tengour (Commentaries by)

Paperback eBook

Price: $39.95 / £34.00

Publication Date: Jan 2013

Edition: 1st Edition

Title Details:

Rights: World

Pages: 792

ISBN: 9780520273856

Trim Size: 6 x 9

Illustrations: 22 b/w photographs

Endowments:

Leslie Scalapino - O Books Fund

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About the Book

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.

About the Author

Pierre Joris is a Professor of English at SUNY, Albany and an acclaimed translator and editor. as well as the author of many books of poetry. He is coeditor of UC Press’s highly successful first two volumes in the Poems for the Millennium series.

Habib Tengour is a poet, editor, translator, anthropologist, and novelist. He is editor of Œuvres poétiques complètes de Mohammed Dib.

Reviews

“This book is the most important contribution to world literature for this year, and probably more to come. It would be a casualty of history if this book were not on top of every canon. . . . A blueprint of humanity. Every page shocks with different energy. . . . This is a book I’ll never stop reading, with special gratitude for the editorial explanations throughout.”
— Washington Independent Rev

“For many of us, the literary works of North Africa are simply not on the map. No one who reads this comprehensive anthology of writers both famous and unfamiliar will think that ever again. . . . With ingenious translations and informative commentaries, Joris and Tengour, along with the many other scholars they invited to be part of the project, make palpable that this region is a wellspring of the culture we value in the West. In so doing, they restore to us missing parts of the ‘cradle’ of our civilization.”
— Artforum

“A ‘must own’ item . . . [it] is one of those volumes one could sink into and not come up for air for a year or more, without exhausting its riches.”
— Silliman’s Blog

“Their book comes at a time when there are a slew of English titles published on the Arab world, but unlike the majority of them, this volume actually encourages cultural appreciation. I could wax rhapsodic about these poems for months.”
— SF Weekly

"This is a magisterial effort by two absolutely serious and accomplished poet-scholars. It is an important addition to the Poems for the Millennium series and significant in its own right, both expanding and complicating notions of the modern by introducing us to many writers we might not otherwise encounter."
— Rain Taxi

“This comprehensive anthology of North African texts is the first of its kind available in English. The editors’ scholarship is impeccable, as is their selection, translation, and contextualization of the works presented here. Joris and Tengour demonstrate a deep understanding and intimate knowledge not only of the texts, but also the cultural context and literary processes of North Africa.”—Silvia Nagy-Zekmi, author of Transatlantic Parallelisms

“One might think that the literary works of North Africa are off the map of Western Civilization. No one who reads this book will think that ever again. This comprehensive anthology of writers both famous and unfamiliar—spanning an enormous sweep of more than two millennia— compels us to integrate the Maghreb into our understanding of European and Middle Eastern literature. With these compelling and informative translations, Joris and Tengour make crystal clear that this region has a claim on being one of the wellsprings of the culture we value in the West. In so doing, they restore to us a missing part of the ‘cradle’ of our civilization.”—Charles Bernstein, author of Attack of the Difficult Poems: Essays and Inventions