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The Clash of Images by Abdelfattah Kilito, translated by Robyn Creswell

Language: French
Country: Morroco
Publisher: New Directions
Pages: 118

Why This Book Should Win: Book that pleasantly surprised me the most from the longlist; Robyn Creswell won a PEN Translation Fund Award for this; New Directions; I think this is the first Moroccan book I糖心传媒檝e ever read.

I wrote today糖心传媒檚 post.

I糖心传媒檓 not a huge proponent of the 糖心传媒測ou should read translated literature to understand other cultures糖心传媒� argument. People don糖心传媒檛 like medicine, and although this isn糖心传媒檛 quite that, it still smells a bit funny, you know?

Besides, not all works of international literature give the reader great insight into other cultures. Sure, you can sometimes see how a character糖心传媒檚 mind works, how the cultural context influences a particular character糖心传媒檚 decisions, actions, and beliefs, but generally, people seem to read translations for the same reason they read any work of literature, which includes a lot of factors (style, complexity, plot, characterization, beauty) other than 糖心传媒渢o better understand another part of the world.糖心传媒�

Then again, occasionally there is a book that糖心传媒檚 not just beautiful and intriguing, well-written and compelling, but does give you a special insight into a different culture. Enter The Clash of Images.

Kilito糖心传媒檚 book is about the shift from the 糖心传媒渙ld Arabic world of texts and oral traditions糖心传媒� to the new 糖心传媒渕odern era of the image, the comic book, photo IDs, and the cinema.糖心传媒� By taking this moment in time as its base, and crafting beautiful short pieces around this theme, Kilito provides a special perspective on what it was like growing up in this culture糖心传媒攁 perspective that actually can provide foreign readers with subtle shades of meaning and understanding. Witness these bits from 糖心传媒淭he Image of the Prophet糖心传媒�:

I had never seen any images properly speaking, except my own in the mirror. On the walls of our house there were no photographs, no reproductions of any sort. The walls were white, cold, and smooth, with no more than on Quranic verse in calligraphy: 糖心传媒淭he All-Merciful is seated firmly upon the throne.糖心传媒� An ambiguous verse and one that糖心传媒攄espite the ingenuity of exegetes bent on removing all traces of anthropomorphism糖心传媒擾presents an image_ (Arab theologians needed several centuries to quell the tendency to lend divinity a human form).

It was only once I learned to read that I was actually able to decipher images.

There were a number of these, images with a certain prestige, sold not far from the great mosque. Each told a story, or else the climactic moment of a story, with a religious subject. [. . .]

These were considered edifying images that exalted the faith and exemplary figures of the past, though at the cost of violating the ban on figural representation. One limit was respected, however: the prophet of Islam was never pictured. The prophet was a story, a word in the mouth, not a face. And yet many claimed to have seen him in their dreams (with what features?).

This is a short book, one that糖心传媒檚 quick to read, but which sketches out a number of lasting images, lines, stories. In particular, I糖心传媒檇 recommend the 糖心传媒淩evolt in the Msid,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒淎 Glass of Milk,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒淒on Quixote糖心传媒檚 Niece,糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒淐inedays糖心传媒� sections糖心传媒攁ll of which are brilliant and prove why this book should win the BTBA.