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The Untranslatable Soul of the Sahara: Hermeneutic Loss in the World Literature of Ibrahim Al-Koni
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Literary CriticismWriting Instruction
Publisher Price: $19.99
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ISBN10: 2487124180
ISBN13: 9782487124189
Publisher: Aram Publishing & Translation
Published: Feb 16 2026
Pages: 228
Weight: 0.72
Height: 0.52 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
ISBN13: 9782487124189
Publisher: Aram Publishing & Translation
Published: Feb 16 2026
Pages: 228
Weight: 0.72
Height: 0.52 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
Is the global Ibrahim al-Koni the real one?With over eighty works translated into more than forty languages, the philosopher of the desert has achieved global stature. Yet, as al-Koni himself lamented, his works have never reached the non-Arabic-speaking world in their flesh and bone. The Untranslatable Soul of the Sahara is a profound investigation into this loss.
This study argues that translating al-Koni is not merely a linguistic challenge but a cosmological rupture. His work is woven from three interdependent threads-Qur'anic resonance, Tuareg orality, and Sufi metaphysics-that form a coherent, self-sustaining universe. Through a meticulous hermeneutic reading of key novels like Gold Dust and The Bleeding of the Stone, and an in-depth analysis of his crystallized aphorisms, Dr. Saleh Belgacem Belhassen exposes what standard translations systematically filter out: the desert as a sentient protagonist, myth as lived epistemology, and the elemental metaphysics of water, blood, and the heart.Far from a condemnation of translation, this book is an invitation to approach al-Koni with humility. It reveals that the untranslatability of his work is not a failure but the very measure of its integrity-a sacred, unfathomable core that resists domestication and secures his lasting place in world literature.
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