Most recent articles by Sherif Dhaimish
-
America’s partisan war
Benghazi 9/11 casts a long shadow
Cries of "Benghazi!" still resonate across the USA ten years after a deadly terrorist attack in Libya killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. Ethan Chorin re-tells Benghazi as a watershed moment, one that has helped create today's America: polarised, fearful and dangerously unstable. Sherif Dhaimish read the book
-
The Book of Exposition
An archaeology of erotica
Nowadays credited to a fifteenth-century Egyptian polymath called Jalal adʹDin al-Suyuti, "The Book of Exposition" is an exploration of promiscuity under the societal constraints of the Arab-Islamic world, using bawdy and salacious scenarios to stimulate and evoke fantasies in the readerʹs mind. By Sherif Dhaimish
-
Book review: Yasmina Khadra′s ″The Angels Die″
A quixotic narrative
In ″The Angels Die″, released this August, the perils of boxing intersect with the precarious arena of colonial politics. Broached with the reflections of a convicted fighter awaiting the guillotine, celebrated Algerian-Francophone author Yasmina Khadra brings to life a psychological exploration of Algeria′s 20th century interwar period. By Sherif Dhaimish
-
Alsatoor, Libya′s caricaturist
The pen is mightier
Since the 1970s, the Libyan Hasan Dhaimish, aka Alsatoor, has furnished a mostly Arabic public with daringly acerbic political observations about his former homeland. His son, Sherif Dhaimish, looks back over his long career – a career that is far from over
-
Book review: Youssef Fadel′s ″A Rare Blue Bird Flies With Me″
Behind the prison wall
Shortlisted for the International Prize for Arab Fiction, Fadel′s ninth novel, ″A Rare Blue Bird Flies With Me″ is set during Morocco′s Years of Lead. Exploiting the injustice of the status quo under Hassan II, this poignant tale also addresses the domestic vulnerability of its female characters within a heavily patriarchal context. Sherif Dhaimish read the book
-
Libya
Miss Tully′s ″Narrative of a Ten-Year Residence at Tripoli in Africa″
In 1816, a collection of letters written by the sister-in-law of the British Consul in Tripoli was published as Narrative of a Ten Year Residence at Tripoli in Africa. Between 1783 and 1793 Miss Tully wrote over 100 epistles, painting an incredibly vivid picture of life on the Barbary Coast. A review by Sherif Dhaimish
-
"The Happy Marriage" by Tahar Ben Jelloun
"A war won through subterfuge"
The institution of marriage takes a battering in this sour tale of romance, masterfully presented by Tahar Ben Jelloun. Sherif Dhaimish read the book