FUROR

Nizar Abd al-Sattar

Sabir could not shed his mother’s first skin, nor her second skin made of fur. Fur is a pretext for tracing her story from the “Moulin Rouge” cabaret in Baghdad, all the way to Egypt, Lebanon, and London. In his new novel, Nizar Abd al-Sattar imagines what did not happen, but what was supposed to happen. A scene from the film “Love Story” will be the narrative's turning point, and the moment Mariam Fakhr Eddine appears in the song “Betloumouni Leh” with Abdel Halim Hafez will be the starting point for delving into a romantic era. The Iraqi novelist moves between several cities and interacts with heroes and celebrities: Philemon Wehbe, Farid al-Atrash, and Shahbanu Farah Diba Pahlavi... He also delves deeply into the worlds of famous auctions in London, specifically Christie's auction house, and the behind-the-scenes of art trade, the world of money, and glamorous life. It is a son’s journey searching for his mother's scent, tracing it through his quest for a fur shawl that once touched her shoulders before passing from one shoulder to another among celebrities and the wealthy. Nizar Abd al-Sattar is one of the great names in Arab fiction. The themes of his novels, with their magical, historical, and realistic backgrounds, are open to deconstruction, analysis, extrapolation, or inference over wide temporal expanses. Dr. Yaqzan Al-Taqa - Lebanese Academic Nizar Abd al-Sattar - Iraqi short story writer and novelist born in Baghdad in 1967. His first novel “Laylat al-Malak” (The Night of the Angel) received wide attention and was awarded the Best Iraqi Novel Prize by the "Union of Iraqi Writers" in 1999, as well as the Official Creativity Award. His short story collection “Raihat al-Cinema” (The Scent of Cinema) (2002) achieved great popularity and was considered by critics as one of the most important Iraqi short story collections. After 2003, he worked in journalism as managing editor of “Al-Mada” newspaper, and founded the cultural newspaper “Tattoo”. “FUROR” is his fourth novel published by Dar Nofal, following “Juliana” (2016), “Taratar” (2018), and “Monsieur Duck” (2020). More >