Author: Ghalib Lakhnavi
Abdullah Bilgrami/
Translator(s)/ Editors(s): Musharraf Ali Farooqi
Publisher: Aleph Book Company
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: 566
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9789382277125
Description
The first translation into English of a beloved medieval Indo-Persian epic, The Adventures of Amir Hamza is the gripping account of the exploits of Amir Hamza, the greatest warrior of his time, defender of the True Faith, lover of blindingly beautiful women and scourge of infidels, demons, trolls, devs and assorted evil-doers.
In Musharraf Ali Farooqi's extraordinary translation, which took nearly a decade to finish, Hamzas magical world comes thrillingly alive.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR:
Musharraf Ali Farooqi is an author, novelist and translator. His novels include Between Clay and Dust and The Story of a Widow. He is also the author of the critic ally acclaimed translation of the Urdu classic, Hoshruba: The Land and the Tilism, the first book of a projected 24-volume magical fantasy epic; Urdu writer Syed Muhammad Ashraf's novella, The Beast; and a selection of contemporary Urdu poet Afzal Ahmed Syed's poetry, Rococo and Other Worlds.
COMMENTS:
“The Iliad and Odyssey of medieval Persia, a rollicking, magic-filled heroic saga… in an interpretation so fluent that it is a pleasure to sit down and lose oneself in it.”
= William Dalrymple in The New York Times Book review
“It’s hard to think of an epic poem more dazzlingly splendid… Farooqi has given world literature a gift.”
= Time
“It is a testament to the quality of Farooqi’s rendering of the text into English that he both conveys a sense of the art of the ‘sweet-lipped historians’ and nimble scribes of fancy”, and produces a real page-turner.”
= The Times Literary Supplement
“It is indeed a wonderful book, replete with poetry, elegant turns of phrase, choice abuses, jokes, drama and suspense… Quite simply, this dastaan in any language is an antidote to the cares of this world .”
= Gillian Wright in India Today
“The translation by Musharraf Ali Farooqi is a bravura performance… nothing that readers in India, or elsewhere, have read would have prepared them for its lightness, deftness and frothiness.”
= Hindustan Times
“Stupendous… a major Achievement... Farooqi has opened a window to a very different world.”
= The Telegraph
“This sensitive new translation by Musharraf Ali Farooqi is Filled with lyrical resonance… a marvelous dovetailing of fantasy, history and religion. [Readers] will love losing themselves in this complex yet ancient world of the imagination.”
= The Washington Post
Contents
Contents
Introduction by Musharraf Ali Farooqi
The Adventures of Amir Hamza
Book one
Book two
Book three
Book four
A Note on the Tex
The History of the Legend
List of Characters, historic Figures, Deities, and Mythical Beings
Selected Sources
Note
Acknowledgements