A Yemeni Passage

By Derek Franck

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0965657000
• ISBN13: 9780965657006
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Azimuth Press
• Length: 430 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.7" x 1.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Yemen Perceived

The literary quality of this novel is excellent. The scribe has clear eyes, the perceptions of an empathetic soul, and a sure pen.The story begins slowly as the complex setting is prepared. Once the reader realizes that mysterious happenings are afoot, the tale becomes compelling as it unfolds in all its complexities and many surprising turns. The choice of words is exact, never to excess. The scenes and characters are vivid and well developed.There are an abundance of metaphor and philosophical searching. A music pervades the whole. Are these qualities enhanced perhaps from the author's appreciation and absorption of the Arabic language and culture? There are many issues on which to chew as did the Yemeni their qat.The numerous illustrations have the beauty and mystery of those woodcuts in fine books remembered. Many scenes are accompanied by the lines of text that they illustrate. One is reminded of a favorite scene in The Arabian Nights: "Transported instantaneously into Princess Nouronnihar's chamber."Historically, a country and its societies are revealed through the lives of their populace. Serious students of them will read and re-read these words and search their meanings. Enjoy this book first for pleasure. Then return and plunge into its depths.This novel is a wonderful cultural experience. Yemen is nearer than we might think from its setting in time. After all, Montesquieu's Persian Letters was not about Persians. Indirection can be powerful.

Challenging and thought-provoking literature

This is intensely written literature that puts the reader in a different century, on a different continent, and forces him to question his own language. The story unfolds through the experiences of a young (Asian) Indian traveller in the 18'th century who travels to Yemen and is suddenly faced with new linguistic circumstances. The story is cleverly crafted and ultimately so absorbing that I found myself starting to challenge my own linguistic presumptions. This is obscure literature, a hidden gem. I would guess that the author lived what he wrote.