Paradise (Gurnah novel)

Paradise is a historical novel by UK Zanzibar-born writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, first published in 1994 by Hamish Hamilton in London. The novel was nominated for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Prize for Fiction.[1][2]

For other novels, see Paradise (disambiguation) § Literature.
Paradise
First edition
AuthorAbdulrazak Gurnah
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
PublisherHamish Hamilton
Publication date
1994
Media typePrint (hardcover, paperback)
Pages256
Preceded byDottie 
Followed byAdmiring Silence 

Plot

The novel follows the story of Yusuf, a boy born in the fictional town of Kawa in Tanzania at the turn of the twentieth century. Yusuf's father is a hotelier and is in debt to a rich and powerful Arab merchant named Aziz. Early in the story Yusuf is pawned in exchange for his father's owed debt to Aziz and must work as an unpaid servant for the merchant. Yusuf joins Aziz's caravan as they travel into parts of Central Africa and the Congo Basin that have not been traded with for many generations. Here, Aziz's caravan of traders meets hostility from local tribes, wild animals and difficult terrain. As the caravan returns to East Africa, World War I begins and Aziz encounters the German Army as they sweep Tanzania, forcibly conscripting African men as soldiers.

Major themes

African literary scholar J. U. Jacobs claims that Gurnah is writing back to Joseph Conrad's 1902 novel Heart of Darkness. In Aziz's easterly journey to the Congo, Jacobs says that Gurnah is challenging the dominant Western images of the Congo at the turn of the twentieth century that continue to pervade the popular imagination.[3]

Literary reception

The book was well received on publication. Writing in The Independent, Anita Mason described the novel as "many-layered, violent, beautiful and strange".[4]

Publication history

References
  1. "The Booker Prize 1994". Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  2. "A Note on the Author." In Desertion, by Abdulrazak Gurnah, 263. London: Bloomsbury, 2006.
  3. J. U. Jacobs, "Trading Places in Abdulrazak Gurnah's Paradise." English Studies in Africa 52.2 (2009):77–88, p. 81.
  4. Anita Mason. 'Of Earthly Delights'. The Independent, 13 March 1994. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
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