The Arabian Nightmare by Robert Irwin
Requirements: Mobi Reader, 3.19Mb
Overview: The hero and guiding force of this epic fantasy is an insomniac young man who, unable to sleep, guides the reader through the narrow streets of Cairo-a mysterious city full of deceit and trickery. He narrates a complex tangle of dreams and imaginings that describe an atmosphere constantly shifting between sumptuously learned orientalism, erotic adventure, and dry humor. The result is a thought-provoking puzzle box of sex, philosophy, and theology.
Reminiscent of Italo Calvino, and Umberto Eco, this cult classic is finally back in print!
Genre: Modern Fiction. Postmodernism. Novel
"The Arabian Nightmare is obscene and terrible, monotonous and yet horrific. It comes to its victims every night…." Thus the blurb writer, grappling with an exceedingly peculiar book. "As though an mediaeval historian (which the author is) had joined forces with Jorge Luis Borges and Philip K.Dick to rewrite The Arabian Nights as a horror novel." Thus a struggling reviewer — oh, all right, me — trying to convey its flavour in an 80-word viewdata page. As you might gather, I liked it.
The setting is Cairo in 1486, oozing with rich Oriental sleaze. Cairo is inner as well as mundane space, a labyrinth of streets and dreams in which the sort-of-hero, Balain of Norwich, flounders helplessly. Does he wake or sleep? Why does he repeatedly awake (or does he?) with his mouth full of blood? Is he suffering from the dreaded Arabian Nightmare, possibly spread by the sinister Father of Cats, ever-unsleeping researcher of the Alam al-Mithal, world of dreams? Don’t ask:
There are some who hold that talking about it, even thinking about it, is enough to attract it and stimulate its attacks. For this reason we do not name it. But even this may not be enough. Therefore I advised that no one should read this book unless he is already aware of what it is, and let those who know, forget, if they can.
"The Arabian Nightmare is a guide to the Orient of the mind," the blurb concludes, and that’s about it: the meaning of the title keeps shifting and expanding, until it stands for the darker side of that whole complex of fantastic romance conjured up by words like "Cairo", "Orient" or "Arabian Nights". If you like historical fantasy and booby-trapped reality, grab the book.
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