Fady Joudah

Amjad Nāṣir

Amjad Nasser's masterful syncopated lyrical prose brings to life the once-lost city of Petra, unknown to the Western world until 1812 when it was rediscovered by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. Fady Joudah provides a powerful translation of this contemporary Jordanian epic, which doubles as travel guide to one of the world's wonders. In Petra: the Concealed Rose, we move between love and death, history and myth, Orientalism and Feminism, representation and presence until we are face-to-face with this marvel, able to feel its textures, breathe its air, and smell its scents. This is a timeless work of art where "symmetry repeats / But dimensions vary," and Nasser embodies the rocky desert rose to its perfect imperfection.

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