Description
In this work, Haji Jaber seeks to restore the reputation of a Harari woman who accompanied Arthur Rimbaud in his final years in Abyssinia. The French poet never mentioned his lover, not even once, in his numerous letters to his mother, and she was thus erased from the annals of history.
Jaber gives the Harari woman a name, a voice, a history, and a memory, thereby offering us a chance to see Rimbaud from the Abyssinian perspective. He seems to be turning the tables, relegating Rimbaud to the margins and bringing the Abyssinian lover to the center of the narrative by recounting some of what happened and much that didn’t.
In addition to the stories of truncated love and the interwoven narrative threads, the text explores Harar, the city of coffee and khat, when it was considered the Mecca of Africa, forbidden to non-Muslims. Tales were woven around it, enticing travelers from all over the world at a time when the great powers were reshaping the Horn of Africa. It is worth noting that this book was shortlisted for the 2022 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
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