Atiq Rahimi

In Persian folklore, Syngue Sabour is the name of a magical black stone, a patience stone, which absorbs the plight of those who confide in it. It is believed that the day it explodes, after having received too much hardship and pain, will be the day of the Apocalypse. But here, the Syngue Sabour is not a stone but rather a man lying brain-dead with a bullet lodged in his neck. His wife is with him, sitting by his side. But she resents him for having sacrificed her to the war, for never being able to resist the call to arms, for wanting to be a hero, and in the end, after all was said and done, for being incapacitated in a small skirmish.

sang-e saboor

The patience stone

رواية

حجر الصبر

A haunting short novel set during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan follows Dastaguir, an elderly man who witnesses the destruction of his village and the deaths of his family, who sets out through the devastated landscape, accompanied by his young grandson Yassin, left deaf from the bombing, to search for the coal mine where the boy's father works. A first novel. 20,000 first printing.

Earth and Ashes

After murdering the wealthy old lady who prostitutes his beloved Sophia, Rassoul, who remembers reading Crime and Punishment as a student in Russia, gives himself up to the police in Kabul, but his confession falls on deaf ears and leads to violence. Original.

A Curse on Dostoevsky

ألف منزل للحلم والرعب

Pierre de patience

Syngué sabour

En afmægtig kvinde i det krigshærgede Afghanistan våger tålmodigt oversin koma-liggende mand. Hun betror ham sine tanker om ægteskabet, børnene og hverdagen, men også om dét forhold, hun får til en tilfældig soldat

Sabir Tasi

Mehstî, chair des mots

The Thousand Rooms of Dreams and Fear

Heimatballade

أرض ورماد

syngué sabour, n.f. (du perse syngue «pierre», et sabour «patiente»). Pierre de patience. Dans la mythologie perse, il s'agit d'une pierre magique que l'on pose devant soi pour déverser sur elle ses malheurs, ses souffrances, ses douleurs, ses misères... On lui confie tout ce que l'on n'ose pas révéler aux autres... Et la pierre écoute, absorbe comme une éponge tous les mots, tous les secrets jusqu'à ce qu'un beau jour elle éclate... Et ce jour-là on est délivré.

FLAVIA NASCIMENTO

Um ancião num vale esquecido à beira de um rio ressecado. Um menino que não ouve mais. Uma cabana de vigia à entrada de uma mina. E mais nada, além do ressecado do vale desértico. Do escritor e cineasta afegão Atiq Rahimi, este é um panfleto anti-guerra, onde o velho e seu neto estão aguardando, num passar do tempo raro na literatura mundial, uma carona para a mina onde está trabalhando o filho do primeiro e pai do segundo, com a incumbência de anunciar a ele que a família morreu num ato de guerra. O pano de fundo é o conflito gerado durante o regime pró-soviético no início dos anos 80. Mas os sinais e o opressor de plantão são intercambiáveis, e são o que permanece desta leitura que faz o leitor mergulhar no mundo de antigos contos persas.

Terra e cinzas

Polly McLean

"A young woman sits at her husband's bedside, twisting her worry beads, reciting prayers. Once the local hero, renowned for his exploits as a soldier, her husband lies slack-mouthed, emaciated, staring vacantly at the ceiling of a small blue room. Shot in the neck by a fellow soldier after responding violently to a slur on his mother's honour, he has been silenced not by an enemy bullet but a petty squabble. The passage of time is measured out by the sound of his breathing, the slow progress of the drip that keeps him alive and the intermittent calls to prayer that reverberate in the streets outside. Consumed by her vigil and the routine of washing her comatose husband and changing his drip, the woman has sent her two girls to stay with her aunt, and the heavy silence begins to suffocate her. As one day drifts into another, her desperation for any sign of life from her husband becomes acute. Abandoned by her own family and his, is this room to be her final resting place? Even as her mind appears to unravel, so it becomes intensely clear-sighted. Now is her chance - her first ever - to speak without being censored, interrupted and criticised, to spill out the secrets she's kept loc

The Patience Stone

Kamen potrpljenja

Kahrolsun Dostoyevski, daha önce Sabır Taşı kitabıyla büyük ilgi gören Rahimi’nin, ölümün kol gezdiği vatanı Afganistan’ı, suçu, vicdanı azabını ve cezayı sorgulandığı bir tür Afgan Suç ve Ceza’sı. Roman, aklın terk ettiği, tanrının çok fazla hissedilen varlığının bir süre sonra tanrısızlığa dönüştüğü çağdaş Afga­nistan’ı da, iyilik ve kötülük kavramlarını da sorgulayan ve Rus edebiyatından izler taşıyan bir yapıt. Dostoyevski, evet, bu oydu! Suç ve Ceza’sıyla beni çarptı, felç etti. Bana kahramanı Raskolnikov’un kaderini izlemeyi yasakladı: İkinci bir kadını öldürmek – bu kez masum birini; bana suçumu hatırlatacak olan parayı ve mücevherleri almak... Kendi pişmanlıklarıma yem olmak, bir suçluluk çukurunda kararmak ve sonunda zindanlara düşmek... O zaman? Kaçmak daha iyi, zavallı bir enayi, aptal bir suçlu gibi. Kanlı eller ve boş ceplerle. Ne saçmalık! Kahrolsun bu Dostoyevski!

Kahrolsun Dostoyevski

Reading Dostoevsky in Afghanistan becomes “crime without punishment” Rassoul remembers reading Crime and Punishment as a student of Russian literature in Leningrad, so when, with axe in hand, he kills the wealthy old lady who prostitutes his beloved Sophia, he thinks twice before taking her money or killing the woman whose voice he hears from another room. He wishes only to expiate his crime and be rightfully punished. Out of principle, he gives himself up to the police. But his country, after years of civil war, has fallen into chaos. In Kabul there is only violence, absurdity, and deafness, and Rassoul’s desperate attempt to be heard turns into a farce. This is a novel that not only flirts with literature but also ponders the roles of sin, guilt, and redemption in the Muslim world. At once a nostalgic ode to the magic of Persian tales and a satire on the dire reality of now, A Curse on Dostoevsky also portrays the resilience and wit of Afghani women, an aspect of his culture that Rahimi never forgets.

Atiq Rahimi

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