Omani author Jokha al-Harthi: "Everywhere the same feelings" | Books | '
"The world has one thing in common," says Jokha al-Harthi, and that is the authors' joy in writing or in art. With this joy, the Omani writer won the jury of the prestigious Man Booker International Award this year. Her work "Celestial Bodies" (celestial bodies) is one that "wins the mind and heart alike and is worth it to linger about it," it says in the jury's statement.
Al-Harthi's novel gives an insight into a culture that is rather unknown to many people in the West. It tells the story of three sisters in a village in Oman, their lives, their love and their past – the country's postcolonial history.
There is Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a heartache; Asma, who marries out of sense of duty; and Khawla waiting for her lover who has emigrated to Canada. The three women experience the transformation of their country from a traditional slave-owner society to a modern and complex structure.
Translation from Arabic: "Celestial Bodies"
"I wanted to portray life so that young Omanis can do something about it, and also paint a picture of Oman in the 21st century, especially for those who do not know this part of the world so well," al-Harthi said in one Interview with the organizers. "Omanians invite others through their letter to open mind and heart to Oman, no matter where you are – love, loss, friendship, pain and hope are the same feelings everywhere."
"Window opened to rich Arab culture"
Jokha al-Harthi studied classical Arabic literature in Scotland and graduated there in 2010 with a doctorate. Today she teaches at a university in Oman. Since 2001 she has been publishing novels and short stories, some of which have been published in translations in European literary magazines.
Now she is the first Arabic author to have been awarded the renowned literary prize Man Booker International. She was a "visually strong, captivating and poetic interior view of a transitional society" succeeded, so the verdict of the jury. "Elegantly composed" shows the story through the "prism" of a family history the "growing up" of Oman.
"I am thrilled that a window has been opened to the rich Arab culture," al-Harthi said after the award ceremony at the Roundhouse in London. "Oman inspired me, but I think that international readers can relate to the human values in the book – freedom and love."
Jokha al-Harthi (l.) And Marilyn Booth at the Man Booker International Awards ceremony in London
Challenge for the translator
Jokha al-Harthi shares the prize money of around 57,000 euros with her translator Marilyn Booth, who teaches Arabic literature at the University of Oxford. Booth translated al-Harthi's book from Arabic into English – a task that was not easy, but gave her great pleasure, as she says herself. "What I like most is the use of language or languages: the different idioms or sociolects of differently placed characters, the vivid use of local expressions and customs, especially the conversations among women I really like that Jokha is not for readers writes that do not know Oman: she does not try to explain things. "
For her as a translator that was a challenge – but one that is worthwhile. "What you really learn here is that there are amazing fictionalists throughout the region, not just in the more well-known centers of literary creation like Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Morocco and many other places, but in a less literary country is like Oman, and perhaps you learn the most how similar they are in their grace, their human exchange and their emotions, and how societies that look so different really resemble each other. "
pl / bb (dpa, afpe, themanbookerprize.com)
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