Novel
Clamor of the Lake
صخب البحيرة
Mohamed El-Bisatie · 1994
Synopsis
On the land that lies between a lake and the sea, in the province of Damietta according to ArabLit, an enigmatic fisherman with a black boat takes a woman and her twin sons on board. In a neighbouring village, Gomaa and his wife gather what the storms cast up on the shore, until the day the water brings them a chest that speaks a language no one understands, and whose song obsesses Gomaa. Other villagers, Karawia and Afifi, are in turn seized by the call of the lake, the true hero of the book.
Context
The book appeared in 1994 and received the prize for best novel at the Cairo Book Fair, in 1994 according to ArabLit, in 1995 according to Arab World Books. ArabLit describes it as a prose poem and a foundation myth; the Arab British Centre sees in it a poetics of space. Edwige Lambert translated it into French for Actes Sud as early as 1996, under the title La Clameur du lac; Hala Halim produced an English version at AUC Press in 2004, a finalist for the Banipal Prize in 2006.
Who it is for
A short narrative of about one hundred and thirty pages in English, with lyrical prose; translated into French and English.
Prizes and reception
A novel awarded a prize on its publication in Cairo, and translated two years later in France by Actes Sud.
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