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The Immigrant's Lament
The Immigrant's Lament, first published in hebrew in 1994 and in English in 2002. Hailed as one of the leading Israeli poets, Benarroch´s poetry has been published in a dozen languages, including Urdu and Chinese. Julia Uceda considers that Benarroch holds the memory of the world in his poetry, while Jose Luis Garcia Martin thinks that his poems are more than poetry, they are a document. A witness of his time, Benarroch started writing poetry when he was 15, in English, and has always written in his mother tongue Spanish. When he was 20 he also added Hebrew to his poetry languages and he has published six poetry books in Israel. This collection includes all Benarroch's poetry translated into English or written in English and all his books The Immigrant's Lament, Take Me To The Sea, Horses and Other Doubts, The Day The Jihad Destroyed Berlin, The Teachings Of Baraka.
"If I had a nomination vote for the nobel prize he'd be in the running." Klaus Gerken, Ygdrasil editor.
His reputation has been steadily growing and his books have been published in Spain, Israel and the U.S.A. He was awarded the prime minister literary prize in 2008.
"If I had a nomination vote for the nobel prize he'd be in the running." Klaus Gerken, Ygdrasil editor.
His reputation has been steadily growing and his books have been published in Spain, Israel and the U.S.A. He was awarded the prime minister literary prize in 2008.
94 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 27, 2007
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27 people want to read
About the author
Mois Benarroch
221 books39 followersMois Benarroch is one of the most enigmatic figures in today's world literature. Born in Morocco, his writings are rooted in the country's landscapes and history; as a Sephardi Jew he travels the world of Jewish literature; and as in Israeli living in Jerusalem he incorporates the day to day life and politics of his country. A prolific novelist and poet who writes in three languages he never sets for one secure path and is always exploring new ways to make his literature a fresh one with a long time vision.
His poetry is one of compassion, social-political fight, and human. Multicultural by force, where others take multiculturalism as an idea, his life is forced to live within cultures. His novels take us from literary travel, to science-fiction, time travel back and forth, and a view that encompasses the past and the future, the relationships between Jews and Muslims, the life within cultures and the tragic fate of Christian-Jewish relations, always living a place for hope a belief in better days to come.
Known mainly as a poet in the English language world, thanks to a massive support from independent writers many of his novels are seeing light in English. Gates to Tangier, The Cathedral, Muriel, the Nobel Prize, Lucena, Raque Says (Something Entirely Unexpected), have been published in 2015 and many more are on their way in the next year.
A best-selling novelist in Spain, an award winning poet in Israel, and often featured in the bestselling list of poetry books sold in amazon, now is the time to discover this old new writer with more than 30 books to his name.
Mois Benarroch was born in 1959, and has been awarded with the prestigious Amichay poetry prize in 2012.
"GATES TO TANGIER/EN LAS PUERTAS DE TÁNGER is not primarily a critique of the marginalization of the Sephardim in Israel, but rather an exploration of the Moroccan component of Sephardic identity. The Benzimra's pilgrimage to Tangiers, however is not suggesting that this Moroccan component is the essence of Sephardic identity. Benarroch follows Khatibi's bilingual paradigm in suggesting that identity is expressed in the intersection of languages. At one point in the novel, Alberto reflects on the significance of his own bilingual écriture... Unlike Bendahan, who translates Sephardic identity as ultimately European, the Sephardic communities are after all "embajadas españolas" Benarroch explores the Moroccaness of Sephardic identity as it is rearticulated, deferred, by Spanish and Hebrew... The search for the missing brother represents the promise of a stable identity, a mirage that in EN EN LAS PUERTAS DE TÁNGER is constantly metamorphosing. Toward the end of the novel, we find out Yusuf was injured during his circumcision and the doctors decided to treat him with hormones transforming him into Zohra Elbaz. While in Tangiers, Zohra runs into Fortu/Messod and they spend the night together at fortu-Messod's hotel. Benarroch has Zohra run into not one, not two, but three Benzimra men."
Adolfo Campoy-Cubillo. Memories of the Maghreb: Transnational Identities in Spanish Cultural Production,
Mois Benarroch nació en Tetuán, Marruecos en 1959. A los trece años emigra con sus padres a Israel y desde entonces vive en Jerusalén. Empieza a escribir poesía a los quince años, en inglés, después en hebreo, y finalmente en su lengua materna, el castellano. Publica sus primeros poemas en 1979. En los años 80 forma parte de varios grupos de vanguardia y edita la revista Marot. Su primer libro en hebreo aparece en 1994, titulado "Coplas del inmigrante". Publica también dos libros de cuentos, varios libros de poemas en Hebreo , Inglés y Español, y cuatro novelas. En el 2008 es galardonado con el premio del primer ministro en Israel.
En España ha publicado el poemario "Esquina en Tetuán" (Esquío, 2000) y en 2005 la novela "Lucena" (Lf ediciones). En el 2008 la editorial Destino publica la novela "En Las Puertas De Tánger"que llegó al TOP5 en Kindle Espa
His poetry is one of compassion, social-political fight, and human. Multicultural by force, where others take multiculturalism as an idea, his life is forced to live within cultures. His novels take us from literary travel, to science-fiction, time travel back and forth, and a view that encompasses the past and the future, the relationships between Jews and Muslims, the life within cultures and the tragic fate of Christian-Jewish relations, always living a place for hope a belief in better days to come.
Known mainly as a poet in the English language world, thanks to a massive support from independent writers many of his novels are seeing light in English. Gates to Tangier, The Cathedral, Muriel, the Nobel Prize, Lucena, Raque Says (Something Entirely Unexpected), have been published in 2015 and many more are on their way in the next year.
A best-selling novelist in Spain, an award winning poet in Israel, and often featured in the bestselling list of poetry books sold in amazon, now is the time to discover this old new writer with more than 30 books to his name.
Mois Benarroch was born in 1959, and has been awarded with the prestigious Amichay poetry prize in 2012.
"GATES TO TANGIER/EN LAS PUERTAS DE TÁNGER is not primarily a critique of the marginalization of the Sephardim in Israel, but rather an exploration of the Moroccan component of Sephardic identity. The Benzimra's pilgrimage to Tangiers, however is not suggesting that this Moroccan component is the essence of Sephardic identity. Benarroch follows Khatibi's bilingual paradigm in suggesting that identity is expressed in the intersection of languages. At one point in the novel, Alberto reflects on the significance of his own bilingual écriture... Unlike Bendahan, who translates Sephardic identity as ultimately European, the Sephardic communities are after all "embajadas españolas" Benarroch explores the Moroccaness of Sephardic identity as it is rearticulated, deferred, by Spanish and Hebrew... The search for the missing brother represents the promise of a stable identity, a mirage that in EN EN LAS PUERTAS DE TÁNGER is constantly metamorphosing. Toward the end of the novel, we find out Yusuf was injured during his circumcision and the doctors decided to treat him with hormones transforming him into Zohra Elbaz. While in Tangiers, Zohra runs into Fortu/Messod and they spend the night together at fortu-Messod's hotel. Benarroch has Zohra run into not one, not two, but three Benzimra men."
Adolfo Campoy-Cubillo. Memories of the Maghreb: Transnational Identities in Spanish Cultural Production,
Mois Benarroch nació en Tetuán, Marruecos en 1959. A los trece años emigra con sus padres a Israel y desde entonces vive en Jerusalén. Empieza a escribir poesía a los quince años, en inglés, después en hebreo, y finalmente en su lengua materna, el castellano. Publica sus primeros poemas en 1979. En los años 80 forma parte de varios grupos de vanguardia y edita la revista Marot. Su primer libro en hebreo aparece en 1994, titulado "Coplas del inmigrante". Publica también dos libros de cuentos, varios libros de poemas en Hebreo , Inglés y Español, y cuatro novelas. En el 2008 es galardonado con el premio del primer ministro en Israel.
En España ha publicado el poemario "Esquina en Tetuán" (Esquío, 2000) y en 2005 la novela "Lucena" (Lf ediciones). En el 2008 la editorial Destino publica la novela "En Las Puertas De Tánger"que llegó al TOP5 en Kindle Espa
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 2, 2019
This collection of poetry tells the life story of a Moroccan man who was born into a Jewish family. The first poems are about Moshe’s childhood in Morocco with his parents, but they soon switch to poems about his adult life. To be honest, when I started reading the poems, I expected a collection of poems about a man adjusting to life in a new country. Most of the poems were just about a confused man who didn’t know where to go in life. This confusion bled into the poems, and eventually, I didn’t know if they were all even being written about the same person.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book unless you were interested in deciphering abstract poetry or reading the few hard-hitting cohesive poems around the middle of the novel.
I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
Read my full review here:https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book unless you were interested in deciphering abstract poetry or reading the few hard-hitting cohesive poems around the middle of the novel.
I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
Read my full review here:https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...
February 16, 2019
I was gifted a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I was most intrigued by the title of the book and was delighted by the first poems it presented, they are heartfelt. From trying to convey to us the fact that poetry thrives within disturbance, which can definitely be defined by leaving everything you have ever known and starting anew in unknown territory. It was palpable within the lines how one can lose their identity, it is the little tweaks, having to modify customs, mannerisms, words, all in order to adapt. One of the lines "...with all the things you are and aren’t..." made me think of what a patient -I work within the healthcare field- told me the other day when I asked him about his level of education, he is an immigrant, his answer was "I went to college for 5 years, but here that amounts to nothing"; he said it with a tinge of humor but with a bitter undertone and that line brought me to that moment.
Poems had a cohesive flow at the beginning, from us being the product of our parents' decisions and circumstances, the consequences of displacement, absorption centers, the feelings of being alien; at some point there's a shift in the narrative and you end up at a lost, what are we talking about now? women, sexuality, selfishness, a piece from a transexual man's perspective, I was left wondering if he had something to base this one on. The point is I felt like it all derailed all of a sudden, we even got to antivaccination campaigning somehow.
There were issues with the editing, where some words were scrambled and I ended up trying to squeeze some sense out of a line to later realize it was just an error since some similar others posteriorly materialized. In one occasion we had poems merging, and again I was left trying to make some sense out lines that didn't belong.
I enjoyed some of the poems featured in this book, "I Will Sing You of Rivers and Seas" and "Global Economy" were two of my favorites. Then again I feel the magic was lost with the last piece, I understand the author's need to relay a piece of his soul and feelings to his readers but to me, it felt a bit anticlimactic. I know it is all human nature, but somehow instead of feeling like I should be rooting for the poet I felt as if somehow I was supposed to feel bad or pity him for the struggle... but why? We are facing the work of an intelligent person, with many talents as defined by the various occupations, languages, multi-culture, knowledge and life experience amassed during the years. I was glad to read that Mois Benarroch got that prize in 2009, the Israel Prime Minister’s Prize for Literature, congratulations.
I still believe this would've been a lot better by cutting some poems off, they felt out of place. I would do 2.5 stars if Goodreads would allow that sort of rating.
I was most intrigued by the title of the book and was delighted by the first poems it presented, they are heartfelt. From trying to convey to us the fact that poetry thrives within disturbance, which can definitely be defined by leaving everything you have ever known and starting anew in unknown territory. It was palpable within the lines how one can lose their identity, it is the little tweaks, having to modify customs, mannerisms, words, all in order to adapt. One of the lines "...with all the things you are and aren’t..." made me think of what a patient -I work within the healthcare field- told me the other day when I asked him about his level of education, he is an immigrant, his answer was "I went to college for 5 years, but here that amounts to nothing"; he said it with a tinge of humor but with a bitter undertone and that line brought me to that moment.
Poems had a cohesive flow at the beginning, from us being the product of our parents' decisions and circumstances, the consequences of displacement, absorption centers, the feelings of being alien; at some point there's a shift in the narrative and you end up at a lost, what are we talking about now? women, sexuality, selfishness, a piece from a transexual man's perspective, I was left wondering if he had something to base this one on. The point is I felt like it all derailed all of a sudden, we even got to antivaccination campaigning somehow.
There were issues with the editing, where some words were scrambled and I ended up trying to squeeze some sense out of a line to later realize it was just an error since some similar others posteriorly materialized. In one occasion we had poems merging, and again I was left trying to make some sense out lines that didn't belong.
I enjoyed some of the poems featured in this book, "I Will Sing You of Rivers and Seas" and "Global Economy" were two of my favorites. Then again I feel the magic was lost with the last piece, I understand the author's need to relay a piece of his soul and feelings to his readers but to me, it felt a bit anticlimactic. I know it is all human nature, but somehow instead of feeling like I should be rooting for the poet I felt as if somehow I was supposed to feel bad or pity him for the struggle... but why? We are facing the work of an intelligent person, with many talents as defined by the various occupations, languages, multi-culture, knowledge and life experience amassed during the years. I was glad to read that Mois Benarroch got that prize in 2009, the Israel Prime Minister’s Prize for Literature, congratulations.
I still believe this would've been a lot better by cutting some poems off, they felt out of place. I would do 2.5 stars if Goodreads would allow that sort of rating.
March 2, 2019
This book wasn't what I was expecting, but interesting nonetheless. I wanted more about an immigrant's thoughts, feelings and observations about being in a new land and how it contrast with his old one.
This though was not that. It talked about his history, life, love, thoughts about the state of the world and being an artist. All in poetry. It was different.
It is okay to be different and subvert expectations.
This though was not that. It talked about his history, life, love, thoughts about the state of the world and being an artist. All in poetry. It was different.
It is okay to be different and subvert expectations.
December 5, 2020
Poetry isn’t my thing
I like poetry, I do, but I’d rather read a book. I know what makes a story a story. I’ve never figured out what makes a poem a poem. I’ve never heard of this poet before, and most of his work didn’t make much of an impression on me. There were three though (Price of a Diamond, Freedom, and Cosmic DNA) really resonated with me.
I like poetry, I do, but I’d rather read a book. I know what makes a story a story. I’ve never figured out what makes a poem a poem. I’ve never heard of this poet before, and most of his work didn’t make much of an impression on me. There were three though (Price of a Diamond, Freedom, and Cosmic DNA) really resonated with me.
March 28, 2019
Descriptive and enjoyable
The poetry shows a lot of the authors life. It goes through different times and I find it enjoyable to be able to connect with his ups and downs.
The poetry shows a lot of the authors life. It goes through different times and I find it enjoyable to be able to connect with his ups and downs.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews