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Shukri Al-Mabkhout. The Italian. (Beirut: Al-Tanweer, 2014). 344 pp. ISBN 9789938886481 Reviewed by Chamseddine Mnasri. Email: cmnasri@squ.edu.om

2019; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 12; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1525/caa.2019.122008

1755-0912

Editors Contemporary Arab Affairs,

African history and culture analysis

Book Review| June 02 2019 Book Review: The Italian by Shukri Al-Mabkhout Shukri Al-Mabkhout. The Italian. (Beirut: Al-Tanweer, 2014). 344 pp. ISBN 9789938886481 Chamseddine Mnasri Chamseddine Mnasri Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Reviewed by Chamseddine Mnasri. Email: Contemporary Arab Affairs (2019) 12 (2): 169–170. https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2019.122008 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Chamseddine Mnasri; Book Review: The Italian by Shukri Al-Mabkhout. Contemporary Arab Affairs 2 June 2019; 12 (2): 169–170. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2019.122008 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentContemporary Arab Affairs Search Shukri Al-Mabkhout's first novel The Italian is a political narrative par excellence. A linguist by profession, Al-Mabkhout ventures into Tunisian contemporary political history via the Marxist militant Abdennaser (nicknamed "the Italian"), a controversial character that won him the 2015 Booker Prize for Arabic Literature. Abdennaser is a self-deceptive Tunisian Marxist who starts off his journey as a hard-nosed activist in the leftist General Union of Tunisian Students (UGET), and later an influential member in the Tunisian Communist Party (PCT). Owing to the changing political climate after the 1987 November coup against President Habib Bourguiba, he suffers both moral and ideological decline. Al-Mabkhout enmeshes Abdennaser in a morass of incidents that reveal the inability of Marxism–Leninism to keep its ideological promises. Abdennaser is an ardent defender of the proletarian cause during the 1970s and 1980s, but due to financial hardship and marriage difficulties, he decides to serve the Ben Ali oligarchy.... You do not currently have access to this content.