Amin Maalouf : The author Bibliography Born in Beirut in 1949, Amin Maalouf has lived in France since Les Désorientés, Grasset, 2012 1976. Disordered World. Originally published as Le Dérèglement du After studying sociology and economics, Maalouf joined the Le- monde, 2009. banese daily An-Nahar, for which he travelled the world covering Adriana Mater (libretto, music composed by Kaija Saariaho, numerous events, from the fall of the Ethiopian monarchy to the first performed in 2006 at the Opéra Bastille, directed by Peter last battle of Saigon. Forced to emigrate by the war in Lebanon, Sellars). he settled in Paris, where he resumed journalism, and from Origins: a Memoir. Originally published as Origines, 2004. where he started to travel again, from Mozambique to Iran and Love from Afar (libretto, music composed by Kaija Saariaho, from Argentina to the Balkans. He became editor of the inter- first performed at the 2000 Salzburg Festival, directed by Peter national edition of An-Nahar, then editor-in-chief of the weekly Sellars). Originally published as l’Amour de loin, 2001. Jeune Afrique, before giving up all his posts to dedicate himself Balthasar’s Odyssey. Originally published as Le Périple de to literature. Baldassare, 2000. His literary work, written in French, is today translated into more In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong (US than 40 languages. It includes novels, essays and opera libret- edition), or On Identity (UK edition). Originally published as Les tos. In 2007-2008, at the European Commission’s request, Amin identités meurtrières, 1998. Maalouf chaired a think tank on multilingualism. A report was Ports of Call. Originally published as Les Echelles du Levant, produced, titled « A Rewarding Challenge: how the multiplicity 1996. of languages could strengthen Europe ». The Rock of Tanios. Originally published as Le Rocher de Tanios, Maalouf has been awarded honorary doctorates by the Catho- 1993, winner of the Prix Goncourt. lic University of Louvain (Belgium), the American University of The First Century after Beatrice. Originally published as Le Beirut (Lebanon), the University of Tarragona Rovira i Virgili Premier siècle après Béatrice, 1992. (Spain) and the University of Evora (Portugal). The Gardens of Light. Originally published as Les Jardins de lumière, 1991. Zoom Samarkand. Originally published as Samarcande, 1988. Leo Africanus (US edition) or Leo the African (UK edition). Disordered World. Originally published as Le Dérèglement du Originally published as Léon l’Africain, 1986. monde, 2009. The Crusades through Arab Eyes. First English language edition Examining tensions between the Arab and in 1985. Originally published as Les Croisades vues par les Western worlds, Maalouf sees something Arabes, 1983. beyond a «clash of civilizations.» Both cultures have their own continuity, integrity, and morality. Yet in our times, both have Press become exhausted and debased. We fall short of ideological debate not only because we lack common ground, but because we « Disordered World is full of insight, most particularly into the mind and preoccupations of the Arab world. » © Jérôme Bonnet are fast losing what ground we stood on. Maalouf looks at a century of confrontations Justin Cartwright, The Guardian between our cultures. Yet he turns to the global challenges we face today - climate change, financial « With his consciously nurtured multiple identity, Maalouf is just Amin Maalouf collapse, humanitarian disaster - with remarkable hope that the sort of interlocutor this period needs. He reaches deep into they may yet unite us in a bid to save what is truly common to unmined seams of cultural history, scything elegantly through Lebanon - France us all. Intelligent, impassioned yet measured, Maalouf envisions cliché and conventional models of received wisdom. » renewed cohesion in our currently disordered world. David Gardner, Financial Times Adriana Mater (libretto, music composed by Origins: a Memoir. Originally published as Love from Afar (libretto, music composed by Balthasar’s Odyssey. Originally published as Le Kaija Saariaho, first performed in 2006 at the Origines, 2004. Kaija Saariaho, first performed at the 2000 Périple de Baldassare, 2000. Opéra Bastille, directed by Peter Sellars). Salzburg Festival, directed by Peter Sellars). Originally published as l’Amour de loin, 2001. The opera is set in the present Origins, by the world- The action is set during the An ambitious, stunning new day, in a crisis zone in an renowned writer Amin 12th century in Aquitaine, novel by Goncourt Prize- unnamed country. The story Maalouf, is a sprawling, Tripoli and at sea. winner Amin Maalouf, set in reflects on motherhood. hemisphere-spanning, the tumultuous, fateful Year Adriana, her son Yonas and intergenerational saga. Set Jaufré Rudel, prince of of the Beast. her sister Rafka are caught during the last quarter of the Blaye, is weary of the life of in the midst of civil war. Years nineteenth century and the pleasure led by the young It is 1665, and all the signs ago, Tsargo, a soldier from first quarter of the twentieth — people of his rank. He yearns and portents foretell that next their village, raped the young in the mountains of Lebanon for a different, distant love, year the Antichrist will appear Adriana, and Yonas was and in Havana, Cuba — Origins but he is resigned to the idea and the world will come to an born despite Refka’s efforts recounts the family history of that he will never find it. A end. Antiquarian merchant to prevent her sister having the child. Adriana the generation of Maalouf’s paternal grandfather, group of his former companions tell him that the and sage, Balthasar sets out in search of a rare now anxiously watches Yonas as he grows into Boutros Maalouf. Maalouf sets out to discover the woman of whom he sings does not exist. However, book that may bring salvation to a distraught a man, and wonders whether he will grow up truth about why Boutros, a poet and educator in a Pilgrim who has arrived from overseas asserts world, a mysterious work entitled The Hundredth to be as violent as his father or gentler like his Lebanon, traveled across the globe to rescue his that there is such a woman, and that he has met Name. In the course of his odyssey throughout mother. younger brother, Gabrayel, who had settled in her. Jaufré can no longer think of anything but the Mediterranean and beyond, Balthasar travels Havana. What follows is the gripping excavation her. Having returned to the East, the Pilgrim through countries in ruin, cities in flame, and of a family’s hidden past. Maalouf is an energetic meets Clémence, Countess of Tripoli, and reveals stricken communities awaiting the Apocalypse. and amiable narrator, illuminating the more to her that in the West there is a troubadour- He encounters fear, falsehood, and disillusion, obscure corners of late Ottoman nationalism, prince who fetes her in his songs and calls her but he also discovers love at a time when he had the psychology of Lebanese sectarianism, and his ‘love from afar’. At first she is offended, but given up all hope. the dynamics of family quarrels. He moves with then begins to dream of this strange and distant great agility across time and space, and across lover, and wonders if she deserves such devotion. genres of writing. But he never loses track of The Pilgrim has returned to Blaye. He tells his story’s central thread: his quest to lift the Jaufré that the lady now knows that he sings of shadow of legend from his family’s past. Origins her. At this news Jaufré resolves to visit her in is at once a gripping family chronicle and a timely person. Clémence, for her part, prefers that the consideration of Lebanese culture and politics. relationship remain distant. Jaufré is impatient to find his ‘love from afar’. He regrets having set off on impulse, and his anguish is such that he falls ill. He arrives there dying. When the ship docks, the Pilgrim goes ahead to warn Clémence that Jaufré is here but that he is on the point of death and is asking to see her. The troubadour-prince arrives at the citadel unconscious, carried on a stretcher. In the presence of the woman of whom he sang, he slowly revives. Thus the two ‘lovers from afar’ meet, and with tragedy approaching they throw caution to the wind. They declare their passion, embrace, and promise to love each other. When Jaufré dies in her arms, Clémence rebels against heaven; then, believing herself to blame for his death, she decides to take the veil. In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Ports of Call. Originally published as Les The Rock of Tanios. Originally published as The First Century after Beatrice. Originally Need to Belong (US edition), or On Identity (UK Echelles du Levant, 1996. Le Rocher de Tanios, 1993, winner of the Prix published as Le Premier siècle après Béatrice, edition). Originally published as Les identités Goncourt. 1992. meurtrières, 1998. A thoughtful inquiry into Ossyane, a young Lebanese Prix Goncourt 1993. What would happen if a our concept of identity man and his Jewish wife Tanios was a child of the drug could guarantee the and its impact on society. Clara return to live in Haifa mountains of Lebanon in the birth of male children? The The author considers how after World War II. Just as 1880s when the Egyptian First Century After Beatrice we define ourselves, how war breaks out in the new- Pashas were struggling chronicles the events identity is understood in the born state of Israel, Ossayne against Ottoman domination following the development world’s different cultures, is forced to go to Beirut. The and the British and French of just such a chemical.