Russia (Medina)
A highly dramatic scene: a father leans over the defenceless boy, the knife flashing in his hand – when, at the last moment, an angel orders him to sacrifice a ram instead of his own son. The biblical story of Abraham and Isaac is well-known. That it caused the philosopher Kierkegaard a sleepless night at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin, during which a divine power appeared to him to discuss the question of mercy – this is something only Sibylle Lewitscharoff knows. How the Quran deals with...
A highly dramatic scene: a father leans over the defenceless boy, the knife flashing in his hand – when, at the last moment, an angel orders him to sacrifice a ram instead of his own son. The biblical story of Abraham and Isaac is well-known. That it caused the philosopher Kierkegaard a sleepless night at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin, during which a divine power appeared to him to discuss the question of mercy – this is something only Sibylle Lewitscharoff knows. How the Quran deals with this material in turn, how it relegates Isaac to the background and elevates Abraham’s firstborn Ismail to his position instead, that’s what Najem Wali tells us about.
From Abraham to Eve, from Noah to Satan: powerful writer and theologist Sibylle Lewitscharoff and Iraqi-German author Najem Wali have chosen eight figures from the Bible and the Quran. They each trace their stories from their respective point of view, spirited, enthusiastically, not missing the occasional nod to irony. They wonder about divine justice with worry-stricken Job, about courage and tolerance with Jonah, the frightened whale traveler and with the ensuing dialogue between the world religions, they touch upon the hot spots of our times.
»This book is a jewel, above all thanks to the brilliant texts to which Sibylle Lewitscharoff was enticed on account of the figures selected. You only wish she would bring even more Biblical figures back to life through her linguistic power and imagination.« Wolfgang Huber, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
»This book is a jewel, above all thanks to the brilliant texts to which Sibylle Lewitscharoff was enticed on account of the figures selected. You only wish she would bring even more Biblical figures back to life through her linguistic power and imagination.« Wolfgang Huber, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Najem Wali was born in Basra, Iraq, in 1956. He fled to Germany in 1980, after the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War. After studying in Hamburg and Madrid, he now lives in Berlin where he works as an author and journalist. He was a correspondent for the Arabic daily newspaper Al Hayat and still writes for Süddeutsche Zeitung, Der Spiegel and DIE ZEIT, among others.
Najem Wali was born in Basra, Iraq, in 1956. He fled to Germany in 1980, after the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War. After studying in Hamburg...
Things aren’t great with our flighty hero. Not even the clear night sky can entice him from his bed. The disappointment about the humiliation his »so-called friend« inflicted on him is too great.
Gloomy weeks skulk by until the phone rings one morning and a not entirely unlikable lady whom Pong has just met voices interest in the empty flat in his house. The background check comes...
Sibylle Lewitscharoff’s narrator is looking down onto his own grave, the bereaved friends and neighbours, onto the strange and the familiar in the city that is moaning under the oppressive heat...
Arabic world rights (Fawasel)
Renowned Dante scholars from all around the world meet in the ancient hall of Maltese at the Roman Aventine, within view of the St. Peter‘s Basilica. The center of interest is Dante’s Divine...
France (Piranha)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Audiobuch); German Entire Radio Reading (NDR)
France (Piranha), Italy (Del Vecchio)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Random House Audio)
English world rights (Seagull), Spanish world rights (Adriana Hidalgo), Chinese simplex rights (Shanghai Translation Publishing House), France (Les Belles Lettres), Italy (Del Vecchio Editore), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Slovenia (Sodobnost)
English world rights (Seagull), Spanish world rights (Hidalgo), Chinese simplex rights (Beijing Qingyan), Chinese complex rights (China Times Publishing), France (Piranha), Italy (Del Vecchio Editore), Hungary (Bookart), Bulgaria (Atlantis), Republic of Moldova / Romanian Rights (Cartier), Estonia (Atlex), Serbia (Presing Izdavastvo), Macedonia (Ars Lamina)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Book Club (Bertelsmann), German Audiobook (Der Hörverlag)