Hisham Matar Libri

Nel marzo del 2012, Hisham Matar torna in Libia dopo trentatre anni, un viaggio che segna il suo primo ritorno nella terra della sua infanzia, da cui è stato strappato dal rapimento del padre, Jaballa Matar, nel 1990. Jaballa, un oppositore del regime di Gheddafi, fu sequestrato e fatto sparire nella prigione di Abu Salim. Hisham, che all'epoca aveva diciannove anni, non ha mai smesso di cercarlo. Ventidue anni dopo, approfitta della speranza offerta dalla rivoluzione del 2011 per esplorare i luoghi della sua memoria e per confrontarsi con il passato. Questo viaggio diventa un percorso storico e affettivo, dove Hisham incontra familiari e amici che hanno condiviso la vita di Jaballa, recuperando un passato che risuona in lui. Le tappe del suo viaggio si intrecciano con la storia libica del ventesimo secolo, dalla resistenza all'occupazione italiana fino agli eventi recenti. In mezzo all'orrore, emerge la luce dell'arte e della bellezza come espressioni autentiche dell'umanità. Anche quando la speranza di ritrovare un padre vivo svanisce, Hisham riflette sulla complessità della sua esistenza: «Mio padre è morto ed è anche vivo. Vivo, come tutti viviamo, nell'indomani».

"Gita al Faro" viene dal ricordo e dal rimpianto di un'infanzia felice, protetta da madre e padre, allietata da fratelli e sorelle, nella casa delle vacanze al mare. Virginia Woolf scrive questa elegia mentre sta leggendo Proust, forse in gara con lui. Progetta il libro in tre parti: alla finestra del salotto, sono passati sette anni, la gita al Faro che finalmente è compiuta dal padre, ormai vecchio, da due figli ormai adolescenti. La madre è morta, e anche i due figli più grandi. Della terribile guerra che intanto è accaduta non parla: è il suo modo di condannarla. Inserisce nel quadro un alter-ego di se stessa, Lily Briscoe, una pittrice che vorrebbe fissare sulla tela la bellezza misteriosa e appassionante della madre, la signora Ramsay, e vi riuscirà solo alla fine, nello stesso momento in cui Virginia Woolf finisce la sua scrittura.

A masterful, intensely moving novel about three friends living in political exile and the emotional homeland that deep friendships can provide - from the Booker-shortlisted, Pulitzer prize-winning author of THE RETURNKhaled and Mustafa meet at university in two Libyan eighteen-year-olds expecting to return home after their studies. In a moment of recklessness and courage, they travel to London to join a demonstration in front of the Libyan embassy. When government officials open fire on protestors in broad daylight, both friends are wounded, and their lives forever changed.Over the years that follow, Khaled, Mustafa and their friend Hosam, a writer, are bound together by their shared history. If friendship is a space to inhabit, theirs becomes small and inhospitable when a revolution in Libya forces them to choose between the lives they have created in London and the lives they left behind.'I have always admired Matar's tender and compassionate but equally strong and compelling voice' Elif Shafak

"Hisham Matar was nineteen when his father was kidnapped and taken to prison in Libya. He would never see him again. Twenty-two years later, the fall of Gaddafi meant he was finally able to return to his homeland. In this moving memoir, the author takes us on an illuminating journey, both physical and psychological; a journey to find his father and rediscover his country. The Returnis at once a universal and an intensely personal tale. It is an exquisite meditation on how history and politics can bear down on an individual life. And yet Hisham Matar's memoir isn't just about the burden of the past, but the consolation of love, literature and art. It is the story of what it is to be human."

Shortly after completing his searing work of non-fiction, The Return, Hisham Matar set off for Siena, a city he had never visited before. His plan was to see the paintings of the Sienese school, to immerse himself in the work of artists he admired perhaps above all others. This month in Siena would be an extraordinary period in the life of this writer- an immersion in art, a consideration of grief and violence, an intimate encounter with the city and its inhabitants. Hisham Matar's short book is the story of how art can console and disturb in equal measure. It is a profoundly moving contemplation of the relationship between art and the human condition.

Nuri is a young boy when his mother dies. It seems that nothing will fill the emptiness her strange death leaves behind. Until Mona. When Nuri first sees Mona, the rest of the world vanishes. But it is Nuri's father with whom Mona falls in love and whom she will eventually marry. Their happiness consumes Nuri to the point at which he longs to get his father out of the way. However, Nuri will soon regret what he wished for. As the world he shares with his stepmother is shattered by events beyond their control, they both begin to realize how little they really knew about the man they loved. In a delicately wrought and beautifully tender voice, Hisham Matar's extraordinary new novel asks, When a loved one disappears how does his or her absence shape the lives of those who are left?

Granta 106 will be a special issue devoted entirely to fiction. Look out for the best short stories of the year, new graphic fiction, extracts from the most exciting autumn books, and exclusive, in-depth interviews with some of the biggest names in fiction.Featuring a mix of established and new voices, Granta’s first summer fiction special offers a complete view of the best international writing, and is a must-have for everyone who loves reading and holidays.

Libya, 1979. Nine-year-old Suleiman’s days are circumscribed by the narrow rituals of childhood: outings to the ruins surrounding Tripoli, games with friends played under the burning sun, exotic gifts from his father’s constant business trips abroad. But his nights have come to revolve around his mother’s increasingly disturbing bedside stories full of old family bitterness. And then one day Suleiman sees his father across the square of a busy marketplace, his face wrapped in a pair of dark sunglasses. Wasn’t he supposed to be away on business yet again? Why is he going into that strange building with the green shutters? Why did he lie? Suleiman is soon caught up in a world he cannot hope to understand—where the sound of the telephone ringing becomes a portent of grave danger; where his mother frantically burns his father’s cherished books; where a stranger full of sinister questions sits outside in a parked car all day; where his best friend’s father can disappear overnight, next to be seen publicly interrogated on state television. In the Country of Men is a stunning depiction of a child confronted with the private fallout of a public nightmare. But above all, it is a debut of rare insight and literary grace.

Ausgezeichnet mit dem Pulitzerpreis und dem Geschwister-Scholl-Preis »Ein literarischer Essay über Familie, Verlust und Trauer - und schon jetzt eines der herausragenden Bücher des Jahres.« Jobst-Ulrich Brand, Focus Hisham Matar wuchs als Kind in Libyen auf, doch die Diktatur unter Gaddafi hat seine Familie früh zerstört. Er selbst lebt seit langem in England, sein Vater wurde in das berüchtigtste Gefängnis von Libyen verschleppt. In dem kurzen Zeitfenster nach Gaddafis Sturz und vor dem neuen Bürgerkrieg kehrt Hisham Matar in seine Heimat zurück, um endlich vor Ort nach seinem Vater zu suchen. Sein Buch ist ein bewegendes Dokument. Ausstattung: Pepper: Ausgezeichnet mit dem Pulitzerpreis

Was es bedeutet, im Exil zu sein: der neue große Roman von Pulitzer-Preisträger Hisham Matar. »Ein brillanter Roman über Freundschaft, Familie und Exil.« Colm Toibin London, im Jahr 1984: Als die beiden Studenten Khaled und Mustafa im jugendlichen Überschwang beschließen, an einer Anti-Gaddafi-Demo vor der libyischen Botschaft teilzunehmen, können sie nicht ahnen, wie sehr das ihr Leben verändern wird. Regierungsbeamte feuern am hellichten Tag auf die Demonstranten, eine Polizistin stirbt, die beiden werden verletzt und müssen erkennen, dass es von nun an keine Rückkehr in die Heimat mehr geben wird, selbst ein Telefonat mit den Eltern ist zu gefährlich. Umso enger wird die Freundschaft, die sich zwischen Khaled und Mustafa sowie die dem regimekritischen Schriftsteller Hosam entwickelt, sie ersetzt ihnen die Familie und die Heimat. Bis viele Jahre später der Arabische Frühling beginnt und das revolutionäre Klima auch Libyen erreicht - plötzlich scheint der Weg zurück nach Hause frei zu sein. Und die drei Freunde sind gezwungen sich zu entscheiden: zwischen dem Leben, das sie sich in London aufgebaut haben, und dem Leben, das sie als junge Männer zurücklassen mussten ...