121 Roger Allen – A genuine modernity 122 Khaled Mattawa – On the road with Adonis 125 Hassouna Mosbahi – Between Goethe and Adonis 128 Hassan Najmi – Adonis the Lighthouse 130 Aziz Shaibani – Adonis in Texas 134 Stephen Watts – The Human is the Poetry of the Universe 141 GUEST LITERATURE – SLOVENIA 142 Mojca Pišek – Introducing five Slovenian poets 145 Uroš Zupan – Two poems 148 Jure Jacob – Two poems 150 Katja Perat – A poem 152 Primož Čučnik – Two poems 154 Veronika Dintinjana – A poem 156 Gabriela Babnik – Six stories from society’s margins 159 Feri Lainsček – The Untouchables 164 Dušan Šarotar – Billards at Hotel Dobray 170 Jani Virk – A View of Tycho Brahe 180 Polona Glavan – The Unusual Identity of Nina B. 185 Vesna Lemaić – The Dumping Ground 191 Gabriela Babnik – In the Tall Grass BOOK REVIEWS 198 Mona Zaki: A Palace in the Old Village by Tahar Ben Jelloun 200 André Naffis-Sahely: Beer in the Snooker Club by Waguih

Ghali 203 Susannah Tarbush: I Shall Not Hate by Isseldin Abuelaish 206 Olivia Snaije: Bye Bye Babylone by Lamia Ziadé 208 Mona Zaki: Spectres by Radwa Ashour 210 Norbert Hirshhorn: Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa 213 BOOKS IN BRIEF EVENT 221 London: Ramsey Nasr at World Literature Weekend 222 CONTRIBUTORS LAST PAGE 224 Hamdy el-Gazzar – Letter from Cairo For subscription information, go to page 212

Banipal, founded in 1998, takes its name from Ashurbanipal, last great king of Assyria and patron of the ar ts, whose outstanding achievement was to assemble in Nineveh, from all over his empire, the fir st systematically organised librar y in the ancient Middle East. The thousands of clay tablets of Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian writings included the famous Mesopotamian epics of the Creation, the Flood, and Gilgamesh, many folk tales, fables, proverbs, prayers and omen texts.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

BANIPAL 41 – SUMMER 2011 3