Morning in Serra Mattu: A Nubian Ode

A mosaic of interrelated stories exploding with personality, myth, and geohistorical weight, Morning in Serra Mattu is a profound, joyful meditation on life in modern Sudan. Arif Gamal seamlessly blends large-scale political realities with the local and the traditional: "old villages/whose ancient way is so composed/each single blade of grass is known/and in its place." Epic in scope, spellbinding in its intimacy, generosity, and wisdom, Morning in Serra Mattu is the book we didn't know we needed.

how thrilling it was in the earliest morning

to race barefoot down the sandy slopes and dunes

with all the bellowing goats

and dogs and sheep and other animals

for their first morning drink

and to swim in the fresh waters of the flowing river

while the thousand upon thousand

of high unhindered Nubian stars began to fall away

before a tinge of milky line along the hills

until light grew from nearly nothing

to an immensity

—from "Return to Serra Mattu"

© 2014 McSweeney's (E-bog): 9781940450650

Udgivelsesdato

E-bog: 1. august 2014