Ammon News - Shepherd of Solitude
Amjad Nasser
Translated by Khaled Mattawa
London: Banipal Books, 2009
Pp. 175

It is not an easy task summarising a quarter-century of work by one of Jordan’s most prolific modern poets - let alone in English, but Shepherd of Solitude attempts to do just that.

The book places the reader right alongside the Mafraq-born Nasser on a journey in which he struggles, and often succeeds to explore the questions of identity, his ancestors’ bedouin roots, the triumphs and losses of youth, the state of exile, and Arab identity.

Shepherd of Solitude takes selected works from Nasser’s first collection “Praise for Another Cafe”, (published in 1979) up to his latest volume “Life Like a Broken Narrative” (2004), during which the poet spent time in Beirut, Cyprus and London.

Selections from Nasser’s first collection, Praise for Another Café (originally published in 1979), see the poet distancing himself from overly dramatic, romanticised Arabic poetry of the early 20th century and instead focuses on scenes that are never to take place, hints of dreams that are never to be.

In his follow-up volumes, Climbing the Mountain Since Gilead (1981) and Shepherds of Solitude (1986), Nasser focuses on the theme of exile - attempting to reconcile his listless wandering and a glorified past that he, along with so many Arabs in the 20th century, were forced to leave behind.

There is a sense of stark realism that runs throughout the poems from this period, as he tries to explores the glorified bedouin life of his youth. “Night and horses - is this what history is all about?” he asks, almost demanding a deeper meaning in vain.

In The Strangers Arrive (1990), Nasser weaves a tapestry of almost-Biblical scenes, depicting lords, princes, holy-men, lovers and fighters in an Eastern fantasyland. The characters and scenes are somewhat familiar, seemingly drawing on childhood fables. Yet each poem holds a twist, a constant commentary ridiculing what we hold to be heroic, gently highlighting hypocrisy in a very Nasseristic tone.

The fourth volume featured in the book, Joy to All Who See You (1994), steps away from themes of solitude as the poet praises love and intimacy. Nasser borders on worshiping the human body with softer imagery, again invoking nature in praising lovers; “We see you on the edge of the bed, wearing your black stockings, your hair a rainstorm, your naked back gleaming, and we fall into a stupor...”

The book also includes excerpts from the volume Ascent of Breath (1997), which vividly depicts the life of Abu Abdullah Mohammed Al Saghir, the last Arab prince of Granada. Nasser’s thought-provoking imagery thrives in the last days of Saghir, whose ousting from Andalusia marked the end of Arab and Muslim presence in Europe and a decline in Arab civilisation. Through Saghir, Nasser explores human nature- doubt, anxiety, euphoria and despair are all on display against the rich backof the Arab Iberian peninsula, leaving the reader enchanted by a paradise long lost.

The book concludes with excerpts from Life Like a Broken Narrative (2004). In the volume, Nasser steps away from verse and reverts to prose to confront his past, forming a disjointed narrative through steady sentence structure. Characters from his life, ranging from a British neighbour to his sisters and bedouin ancestors, all take a curtain call in a dramatic, albeit anti-climatic, last

In his later years, Nasser is heavily reflective. In one of the final poems included in the anthology, he reflects in a bittersweet tone on the state of the Arab world. After a British friend mistakes him for an Indian, he muses that much like the dreary weather in London, where he now calls home, the hopes and aspirations of yet another generation across the Middle East is dampened with oppression and corruption.

Mattawa’s translation stays true to Nasser’s rich use of imagery, although at times the poet’s edgy experimental Arabic grammar is somewhat lost in the simple yet powerful English phrasing. At the end of the day, Shepherd of Solitude is not a standard collection of Nasser’s poems, but a breathtaking journey following the evolution of a modern Arab poet. In that sense, the volume thoroughly succeeds.
( Taylor Luck/ Jordan Times)