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The Traveler and the Innkeeper (Modern Arabic Novels
This timely, elegant novel’s hero is an Iraqi secret police inspector who routinely uses enhanced interrogation techniques, which even he considers torture. Convinced that he is protecting society from anarchy, he is at peace with the world until ordered to interrogate a childhood friend, a journalist with possible links to violent subversives. Then he falls in love with his friend’s wife. The plot of this novel, which was written in Iraq in 1976 and published in Arabic in Germany in 1989, is further complicated by street protests in Baghdad following the Six-Day Arab–Israeli War of June 1967. Despite the grim subject matter of this novel, it is at heart a love story, lyrically narrated.
132 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
20 people want to read
About the author
Fadhil al-Azzawi
39 books39 followersFadhil Al Azzawi (Arabic: فاضل العزاوي ; born 1940 in Kirkuk, Iraq) is an Iraqi writer highly respected in the Arab world, as he has published seven volumes of poetry, six novels, three books of criticism and memoir, and several translations of German literary works. He participated in Iraq's avant-garde Sixties Generation, and his early controversial work was lauded with great enthusiasm.
He holds a BA in English Literature from Baghdad University, however Fadhil soon left Iraq in 1976, as the Baathist-controlled regime was becoming increasingly powerful. He later earned a doctorate in communications studies from Leipzig University. He has worked as a freelance journalist and translator for Arab newspapers and cultural reviews. He also founded the poetry magazine Shi’r 69.
He currently resides in Berlin, where he works as a full-time writer.
(from Wikipedia)
He holds a BA in English Literature from Baghdad University, however Fadhil soon left Iraq in 1976, as the Baathist-controlled regime was becoming increasingly powerful. He later earned a doctorate in communications studies from Leipzig University. He has worked as a freelance journalist and translator for Arab newspapers and cultural reviews. He also founded the poetry magazine Shi’r 69.
He currently resides in Berlin, where he works as a full-time writer.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 17, 2019
The negative ratings of this book are all correct. The concept might have been executed into a good book instead I get 100 pages of the main character hitting on this guys wife and then bitching about what kind of person she must be for agreeing to see him. Ok.
Having said that, I still found it more entertaining than Cell Block Five which is objectively a better novel but quite dull.
2.5
Having said that, I still found it more entertaining than Cell Block Five which is objectively a better novel but quite dull.
2.5
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November 16, 2011Reviewed by The Complete Review
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews