Amin Maalouf è un giornalista e romanziere libanese che scrive principalmente in francese. Le sue opere sono spesso ambientate in contesti storici, dove mescola magistralmente affascinanti fatti storici con fantasia e idee filosofiche. Maalouf mira a creare "miti positivi", ritraendo con sensibilità i valori e gli atteggiamenti di diverse culture del Medio Oriente, dell'Africa e del mondo mediterraneo.
Nell’intento di dare delle Crociate un’immagine nuova e “diversa”, Amin Maalouf ha fatto ricorso agli scritti degli storici arabi, molti dei quali sconosciuti in Europa, gettando “al di là della barricata” uno sguardo che ci riserva non poche sorprese: un affresco a colori violenti, ma anche un monito inquietante per i nostri tempi, di fronte alle prospettive di un futuro gravido di incognite.
Accused of mocking the inviolate codes of Islam, the Persian poet and sage Omar Khayyam fortuitously finds sympathy with the very man who is to judge his alleged crimes. Recognising genuis, the judge decides to spare him and gives him instead a small, blank book, encouraging him to confine his thoughts to it alone. Thus beginds the seamless blend of fact and fiction that is Samarkand. Vividly re-creating the history of the manuscript of the Rubaiyaat of Omar Khayyam, Amin Maalouf spans continents and centuries with breathtaking vision: the dusky exoticism of 11th-century Persia, with its poetesses and assassins; the same country's struggles nine hundred years later, seen through the eyes of an American academic obsessed with finding the original manuscript ; and the fated maiden voyage of the Titanic, whose tragedy led to the Rubaiyaat's final resting place - all are brought to life with keen assurance by this gifted and award-winning writer.
A big, exquisite novel about friendship, betrayal, nostalgia, culture, politics, and beliefs.
Exile and pilgrimage, the power of sexual love and family bonds, the savagery of war, and the profundity of religious passions are masterfully evoked in this tale of one man's journey, set against the splendor of the Renaissance and the vast tapestry of Muslim and Christian empires.
The United States is losing its moral credibility. The European Union is breaking apart. Africa, the Arab world, and the Mediterranean are becoming battlefields for various regional and global powers. Extreme forms of nationalism are on the rise. Thus divided, humanity is unable to address global threats to the environment and our health. How did we get here and what is yet to come? World-renowned scholar and bestselling author Amin Maalouf seeks to raise awareness and pursue a new human solidarity. In Adrift, Maalouf traces how civilisations have drifted apart throughout the 20th century, mixing personal narrative and historical analysis to provide a warning signal for the future.
A graceful story of love across an insuperable gulf and a powerful allegory for the conflict that has beset the Middle East for the last half century. But if one war has brought the Jewish-Muslim couple together, another, much closer to home, is destined to separate Ossyane from the people and the world that he loves. schovat popis
Tanios was a child of the mountains of Lebanon in the 1880s when the Egyptian Pashas were struggling against Ottoman domination and the British and French plotted with and against each other.Amin Maalouf's novel, The Rock of Tanios, begins with a recollection of the rock on which Tanios was last seen sitting and weaves together the strands of the fascinating legend of his disappearance. Tanios was the illegitimate son of a powerful Sheik whose every action brought chaos into his village. When Tanios's adopted father caused the death of a powerful political rival, he and his son together fled their homeland. In hiding, they became entangled with international spies and politicians; Tanios soon took on the roll of intermediary between dueling European and Middle Eastern powers.
Mani is born into a time of war - 3rd-century Mesopotamia. Despite being the son of a warrior, he becomes a painter, physician, mystic and prophet, preaching in the battlefields, a doctrine of humility, tolerance and love that becomes known as Manicheanism.
There are ninety-nine names for God in the Koran, is it possible that there is a secret one-hundredth name? There are ninety-nine names for God in the Koran, and merely to know this most secret hundredth name will, Balthasar believes, ensure his salvation. schovat popis
