Adonis, born Ali Ahmad Sa’id, is a Syrian poet. He has been a leading figure in the modernist movement in Arabic poetry since the mid-twentieth century. He lives in France. Khaled Mattawa is professor of English and creative writing at the University of Michigan. He has received a MacArthur grant and many other awards for his writings and translations.
“The poet’s secularist summa, a condemnation of monotheism couched
in the form of a surrealist montage. . . . It is impossible to read
Concerto—the relentlessly high pitch of its language, its emphatic
repetitions and violent imagery—without recalling its Old Testament
and Quranic models. There is no other modern Arab poet who so
successfully conjures the grim beauty of the ancient works even
while casting them in forms taken from the twentieth-century
avant-garde.”—Robyn Creswell, New Yorker
“These sensitively serious reflections imbue us with a much-needed
hope.”—Jade Cuttle, Magma
“Simultaneously cacophonous and sublime. . . . Adonis is a master
of poetic orchestration.”—Eric Ormsby, TLS
Shortlisted for 2018 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary
Translation, sponsored by Banipal Magazine for Modern Arab
Literature
“This universal concerto as translated by Khaled Mattawa has
captured the beauty of the original. It is a beautiful English
verse, faithful and sensitive; it is a great service not only to
the poetry of Adonis, or Arabic poetry, but to world
poetry.”—Bassam Frangieh, author of Arabic for Life
“In Concerto al-Quds, the poet Adonis grapples with the ravages of
history and the ancient, fractious site known as al-Quds, or
Jerusalem. Adonis writes with music in the blood, ferocity of
vision, and bristling intelligence. Fueled by serious duende and a
powerful sense of urgency, Concerto al-Quds is a monumental work
and book of reckoning, masterfully translated by Khaled
Mattawa.”—Jessica Hagedorn, author of Dogeaters
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