Curious about 2021 Literature Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, but can’t decide which of his books to start with? We asked three members of the Swedish Academy’s literature committee, which decides on the year’s Nobel Prize for Literature, to give us their recommendations.
anne swärd in ‘by the sea’
In abdulrazak gurnah’s novels, the protagonists often yearn for something they don’t know what it is, something they can’t name. in ‘next to the sea’ (2001), one of my favorite works, this profoundly human internal conflict is subtly present throughout the story. longing for a place that does not exist is the dilemma of both protagonists. Arriving alone in a foggy English seaside town, Saleh Omar is something of an anomaly in that he decided to flee his country so late in life and all alone. latif mahmud, a much younger compatriot who left zanzibar many years ago, seems to share with saleh omar the dilemma that neither the homeland nor the families they left behind could offer them any real sense of belonging. without sentimentality, but with a strong sense of compassion, the author introduces us to his life. and how their destinies are intertwined, or rather, entangled with each other, all due to mistakes and unlucky dealings in the past. ‘by the sea’ contains many of abdulrazak gurnah’s literary qualities. the rhythmic prose, the keen eye for precise detail, the complexity of the characters’ psychologies and backgrounds, and the evocative and sensitive pace with which he tackles the dark core of the story.
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ellen mattson on the ‘defection’
‘Desertion’ (2005) begins in 1899 in a small ruined village on the east coast of Africa, when Englishman Martin Pearce is invited to the home of local merchant Hassanali and falls in love with his Rehana sister. this scandalous affair is the starting point of a long and winding history, uniting two families and stretching across centuries and continents. Fifty years later, two brothers grow up in Zanzibar, representing different approaches to the tradition: the younger Rashid is the dropout who goes to study in England, while the older Amin stays at home to obey and care for his parents. . While Amin’s life is torn apart by a tragic love story and the post-independence political situation, the exiled Rashid becomes a writer to explore and understand the past from which he has been cut off and perhaps find a way to make amends. what has been broken. is a beautifully written novel about memory, loss, and the mysterious ties that bind people together even when separated by time and geographic distance.
anders olsson on ‘later lives’
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one of my favorites is gurnah’s latest novel, ‘beyond’ (2020), which has many affinities with his fourth revolutionary novel, ‘paradise’ (1994), and takes place during the german colonization of east africa at early twentieth century and after. In both cases, Gurnah provides us with a lucid history lesson in the form of a captivating story of individual lives. his way of doing this is to filter the brutality of events through young and vulnerable protagonists with limited awareness of reality. in the breakdown of arab hegemony in the coastal region of east africa, we follow the dramatic fate of the young orphans ilyas, afiya and hamza. Ilyas escapes from his servitude under an Arab slave owner only to be kidnapped by German forces as one of their native soldiers (askaris). Hamza is even owned by a trader in a caravan only to offer himself as a German askari, where he becomes dependent on an officer who sexually exploits him. the capricious winds of history rule, and the fates of the trio are very different. Gurnah’s style is wonderfully clear and nuanced, but can also be sarcastic and hilarious in a deadpan way. One of the highlights of this novel is the delicately written love story of Hamza and Ilyas’s sister, Afyia, a variation of Pyramus and Thisbe. However, the last word must be terrible, when Ilyas’s Nazi commitment is revealed, and the outcome of ‘afterlives’ is as unexpected as it is alarming. if hamza is saved, ilyas is not. what happens to it I will leave to the reader to discover.
first published November 2021
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