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Loading... The Adventures of Amir Hamza (Modern Library) (edition 2007)by Ghalib Lakhnavi (Author), Abdullah Bilgrami (Author), Musharraf Ali Farooqi (Translator), Hamid Dabashi (Introduction)
Work InformationThe Adventures of Amir Hamza by Ghalib Lakhnavi
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This is an extraordinary book for many western readers. It is a modern re-working of a 19th century Urdu version of an Islamic heroic epic. The English prose reminds one at times of Shakespeare, at other times of Homer, and yet at other times as something refreshingly new in its attempt to capture oral story-telling. There are 900 closely-lined pages in four volumes between the covers (condensed from an original 40 volumes). The heroic epic narrates the life and deeds of Amir (Commander) Hamza, and his many enemies, companions, lovers, and relatives, both human and from the world of jinns. Hamza is an Arab, born in Mecca. The epic seems to revolve about the conversion of the Perso-Indian world to Islam through Hamza's exploits and character. However, the real delight of the book lies in its bombastic language, over-the-top descriptions, and rich imagination. The reader will "marvel to the limits of marveling," as the epic's scribe puts it. There are enough plot twists, humorous improbabilities, and weird characters to keep the reader absorbed, although toward the end the epic begins to run out of steam and coasts along on somewhat labored repetition. no reviews | add a review
Folktales about Muhammad's uncle, Amir Hamza. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)891.43934Literature Literature of other languages Literature of east Indo-European and Celtic languages Modern Indic languages Hindi, Urdu Urdu Urdu fiction 1845–1895LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Set in the early times of Islam. it does indeed also talk oh how Amir Hamza, the uncle of Muhammed, through his adventures, helped to spread Islam. If you ignore this aspect and focus on the utterly magical tale of adventure, magic, loyalty, devs, fairies, love, then you are set for a magical ride.
The translation of this edition is magnificent. ( )