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The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between

2017; University of Oklahoma; Volume: 91; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/wlt.2017.0110

1945-8134

Shereen Ahmed Rafea,

Central European Literary Studies

Michael Parker. They had to cut 755 pages of the original text to a mere 470 pages to tailor to the needs of the Anglo-American reader. Most of the cuts can be justified, but it is regrettable that, for example, the full text of the short poem “Obłoki,” referred to by the translators simply as “wonderful,” is omitted. While editing, various errors crept into the English version , just to mention one: on page 378, two dates are mixed up and a quotation from a letter by Miłosz to Jerzy Giedroyc about Poles in the US (October 30, 1970) is wrongly attributed to a letter to Marek Skwarnicki in 1964. The Polish original of the Miłosz biography contained perhaps too many notes, 165 pages of small type, but here the editors of the English version took a drastic decision, cutting down the notes to a mere six pages. Instead of background information and references to source material, the Parkers decided to stick to general notes. Unfortunately, even these six pages contain information that is either insufficient or misleading: Bolesław Leśmian was not a member of the Skamander group, the note on Chochoł makes no sense without reference to Wyspiański’s play The Wedding, and, finally, the student march in Budapest on October 23, 1956, that led to the uprising had quite different aims than just “commemorating the Hungarian revolt of 1848” against the Austrians, who at the time ruled but had not “occupied” Hungary. George Gömöri London Hisham Matar. The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between. New York. Random House. 2016. 243 pages. So few books manage to convey the emotional anguish of searching for an answer as well as Hisham Matar’s recent Pulitzer Prize–winning memoir, The Return. Matar grew up in Libya during the reign of Muammar Qaddafi. His father, Jabala Matar, a major opposition figure, eventually had to move the family to Egypt for their safety. In 1990 Jabala Matar was kidnapped and sent to a jail in Libya, with all news of him stopping three years later. Hisham Matar goes on to study in the United Kingdom and become a successful novelist. Eventually, he begins his search for his father, which brings him back to Libya, in a post-2011 reality, carrying with him a palpable longing for home and for closure. Matar’s prose is haunting, tearful, and heartfelt. He reflects on the state of being fatherless and the inner turmoil of living a dual life, writing: “To be a man is to be part of a chain of gratitude and remembering , of blame and forgetting, of surrender and rebellion, until a son’s gaze is made so wounded and keen that, on looking back, he sees nothing but shadows.” The often-poetic memoir also includes Matar’s debates over the effects of leaving his childhood home and his hunger for a stronger connection to his roots. It also reads as an investigation piece, where he interviews his relatives in Libya and details the phone calls and illusive meetings between himself and Qaddafi’s son, the great “liberal” hope, Seif al-Islam, adding bits and pieces of Libyan history when necessary. Linda Ty-Casper A River, One-Woman Deep: Stories Philippine American Literary House In this collection of stories, Filipina American Linda Ty-Casper runs her fingers along the scars left behind in the wake of historical events in the Philippines, parsing out what it means to live through and after the trauma of dictatorships and war. Her sobering descriptions of the intersection of the global and personal create a moving narrative, brimming with strength and humanity. Faustin Titi & Eyoum Nganguè An Eternity in Tangiers Trans. André Naffis-Sahely Phoneme Media This compact but powerful graphic novel details one young man’s journey from his home in West Africa toward what he hopes will be a new life in Europe, only to find himself stranded in Tangiers. Artist Faustin Titi’s sensitive line and watercolor finishes bring Eyoum Nganguè’s scenes to life and personalize this eternal story that offers a glimpse into the life of so many African refugees. Nota Bene WORLDLIT.ORG 93...