خمس رسائل من إمبراطورية شرقية

by Alasdair Gray, ألسدر جراي, سهيل نجم (ترجمة)

في أحد الأيام وجدنا جثة امرأة ترتدي حزاماً وقلادة من نقود. لا بدّ أن العاصمة القديمة كانت قد جُنّت في ذلك العام، فالعديد من جثث أفراد طبقة ضيوف الشرف قد طفحت في مياه القنوات، وقد أشعل الامبراطور الحرائق في أحياء الفقراء في الجهة الجنوبية الشرقية. ولم ألاحظك، يا أبي، من قبل وأنت تتصرّف بهذه الغرابة؛ فقد جررتني إلى أقرب سوق (وكانت رائحة الحريق منتشرة في كل مكان) واستأجرت أكبر طائرة ورقية وعُدتها. أنت الذي كنت تكره الحديث أخذت تلك الطائرة الورقية عبر الشارع الطويل نحو البوابة الشرقية بينما تصرخ طوال الطريق منادياً الكاهن، أخاك، الذي كان يساعدنا. لقد قلت يجب يُسمح لجميع الأطفال، وليس فقط أطفال طبقة ضيوف الشرف، بأن يطيروا قبل أن يصبحوا ثلاثاً جداً.

Added by: @ahmed_k_masterly

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

79 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Alasdair James Gray was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, Lanark (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and wrote on politics and the history of English and Scots literature. His works of fiction combine realism, fantasy, and science fiction with the use of his own typography and illustrations, and won several awards.

He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957. As well as his book illustrations, he painted portraits and murals. His artwork has been widely exhibited and is in several important collections. Before Lanark, he had plays performed on radio and TV.

His writing style is postmodern and has been compared with those of Franz Kafka, George Orwell, Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino. It often contains extensive footnotes explaining the works that influenced it. His books inspired many younger Scottish writers, including Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, A.L. Kennedy, Janice Galloway, Chris Kelso and Iain Banks. He was writer-in-residence at the University of Glasgow from 1977 to 1979, and professor of Creative Writing at Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities from 2001 to 2003.

Gray was a civic nationalist and a republican, and wrote supporting socialism and Scottish independence. He popularised the epigram "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation" (taken from a poem by Canadian poet Dennis Leigh) which was engraved in the Canongate Wall of the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh when it opened in 2004. He lived almost all his life in Glasgow, married twice, and had one son. On his death The Guardian referred to him as "the father figure of the renaissance in Scottish literature and art".

Reviews

[Lubna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this in a book theift store and the keeper really advised me to read it, I don't regret it in the least. It is very short yes as it is an excerpt from a novel but boy does ut deliver! It is so powerful and complex, it tells a story that is so deep you get chills reading it. If you're a fan of dictatorships and broken political systems this is for you.
Also despite it being short it was not easy to read, it carries such heavy themes. I am so impressed by every page.

[Marija · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in a thrift store and decided to buy it since I wanted a quick read , read it over a series of train journeys and it really opened my eyes to a whole new genre of books . It was held my star book for quite a while , the commentary on institutional organisations and gaslighting of the government and authority was so smoothly developed through relationships between characters and events in the book . It also did not stray away from taboo topics and included them quite casually which I appreciated as it did not feel like there was a focus around them specifically but rather they were just there as details to the story . Would highly recommend and to no one in specific , I think this is something anyone could enjoy and benefit from .

[Coenraad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This set of five letters by Alasdair Gray forms a breathtaking satire on absolutism, showing how absolute power can corrupt absolutely. The writer of the first four is Bohu, who has been trained from an early age to become the emperor's premier tragic poet. His keen eye at first reports ecstatically about the emperor's achievements, but reality bites and his eyes open slowly but surely. His great poem is discussed in the final letter. This is a powerful introduction to Gray's work: surely a lot of pleasant discoveries like this await!

Alasdair Gray se hoogs verbeeldingryke analise van absolute mag wat absoluut korrup maak, is verfrissend en asembenemend. 'n Fassinerende inleiding tot Gray se oeuvre, wat hopelik veel meer sulke aangename verrassings bevat.

[Dougie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very strange little book, this story comprises five letters written in a somewhat fantastical kingdom, describing the social and political situation of this extremely weird place, as told by Bohu, a ten foot tall imperial poet.

It’s allegorical to an extent, covering a lot of ground about the inherent issues of authoritative governments, but is also engaging, funny and full of odd joys from this weird place. Love it.

[Daren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Penguin 60 book is an excerpt from the authors book Unlikely Stories, Mostly, a collection of short stories, so as I understand it, this story is published here complete.

An epistolary novel (ie written in the form of letters), it tells of a futuristic Empire, (or mock futuristic?) in a speculative fiction, sci-fi way.

The Emperor of this unnamed Empire has appointed two poets, Bohu (the author, and poet of high feelings) and Tohu (the poet of low feelings). Both poets have had their lives planned to fulfil these roles, but have not yet been instructed to commence writing. Moving from the old capital to the new capital to accompany the Emperor, the poets are finally instructed to write a poem "celebrating my irrevocable justice".

The strange society in which they exist is unlike any other on Earth, but is described in clever detail for such a short book, and seems plausible - it seems like something that a human society could have come up with in a fantasy based situation.

The poems are written, but the results are unexpected.

Not too much more can be said without the spoiling of a short story!

[فهد الفهد · Rating 5 out of 5]

خمس رسائل من إمبراطورية شرقية

هذه الرواية القصيرة مثال جميل على أن عدد الصفحات ليس شرطاً لإنتاج عمل قوي ومتماسك، يمكن للراوية أن تتكون من 500 صفحة، ولكن يمكن لها أن تكون 50 صفحة فقط، وفي هذه الخمسين تقام إمبراطورية شرقية، وتعرض طقوسها الغريبة، وإمبراطورها المجنون، كما نعاين تحدي شاب صغير لهذا الإمبراطور، الشاب الموهوب الذي جيء به للعاصمة الجديدة ليتقلد منصب الشاعر الإمبراطوري ولكنه يكتشف مدى قسوة وتسلط الطاغية فيقرر أن يكتب قصيدة لا تمجد الإمبراطور ولكن تهاجمه، هل من الصعب كتابة كل هذا في خمسين صفحة !!! ماذا لو أن الرواية كلها كتبت أيضاً على شكل رسائل، أربع منها مرسلة من الشاعر المسكين بوهو إلى والديه، والرسالة الأخيرة من مدير الأدب الكلاسيكي يعلن فيها نتيجة القصيدة التي قدمها بوهو.

رواية جميلة، مكتوبة بعناية وذكاء.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A “black political allegory”, writes David Manderson, Five Letters (1977) “led, and still leads, to an acute political perception as relevant today as when the story was written.”

Set in a fictional orient, with a sprinkling of fantasy, it sits somewhere between George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1944) and Steven Millhauser’s “Cathay” (1986).

[Oliver Silvester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and snappy but sharp as a knife. Complete nonsense on the surface in many parts but only Gray can speak to you through the silliness and tie it up in a poignant little bow tie in such a way.

This feels like it has all the elements of poor things but in a much more compact sketch of a way, so if you haven’t read that, you should. And the film doesn’t work as a substitute for the book, honestly!

[Zachary Ngow · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stilted poet laureate and a nation ruled by a puppet - what more can you ask for!

[Eden MacIsaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

More niche version of animal farm. I think replacing someone’s tongue, right shoulder, arm, and hand is a suitable punishment for writing a bad poem.

[Blogmomme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this book off a table at The Deutches Museum gift shop because everything else was in German. I was residing in Munich and could only read in English. The Penguin 60 p edition intrigued me! I fell easily into Alasadair’s world of high clogs= social status. The book served as an introduction to A Gray’s fantastic writing so forever grateful for museum gift shop book find. I want to create illustrations of photo collage etc to create a visual rendering of the Eastern Empire. I love this book. I buy copies to gift and I have one in a shadow box!

[Ola · Rating 5 out of 5]

محاولات صنع شاعر في إمبراطورية مستبدة، بائت بالفشل، حيث وصلت قصيدته ورسائله، ويقول فيها، لا تدعوا أحداً يدمركم بكراهيته، فهو لأنه أعمى، يراكم غير ضروريين، ولا تجعلوه يأخذ منكم ما لا يستعاد، ارفضوا الروائح النتنة، واغسلوا ما علق بكم أولاً بأول. وأخيراً، طيروا قبل أن تصبحوا ثقالاً جداً، لكن حاذروا أن يستضيفكم الامبراطور تحت الأرض.

Ola Jamous