São Paulo – The newest release by Brazilian publishing house Tabla, which specializes in Middle Eastern literature, is Samarkand by Lebanese author Amin Maalouf. Written in French in 1988, the volume was translated into Portuguese by Marília Scalzo.
In the novel, the award-winning Lebanese author takes the reader through the Silk Road across centuries and continents. Samarkand revolves around the 11th-century poetry collection Rubaiyat by Persian poet Omar Khayyám from its composition to its loss in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
Accused of mockery, Omar Khayyám is brought before the local judge. Acknowledging the poet’s genius, he spare Khayyám’s life and gives him a blank notebook to write only in it. Thus was born Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyám.
The poet crosses path with vizir Nizam Al-Mulk and Hassan al-Sabbah of the order of the Assassins, who would later hide the precious manuscript in the famous mountain fortress of Alamud. In the late 19th century, the book kindled the imagination of the West in the evocative translation by Edward Fitzgeral. In the early 20th century, an American scholar hears of the survival of the manuscript and retrieves it with the help of a Persian princess. Together, they take it to fateful trip of the Titanic.
Amin Maalouf is a journalist and author and was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1949. He worked as reporter for 12 years and went on missions to 60 countries. He has lived in Paris since 1976 and has been a member of the Académie française since 2011. His books are historical fiction novels set in the Middle East, Africa and the Mediterranean. He received several awards, and his work has been translated into over 40 languages.
The book is in pre-sales, with an estimated shipping of March 22.
Quick facts
Samarcanda
Amin Maalouf
Translation by Marília Scalzo
Editora Tabla
ISBN 978-65-86824-26-1
352 pages
1st edition
BRL 82
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
