Kamal Abdulla

Valley of the Sorcerers Kamal Abdulla

Kamal Abdulla is a well-known Azerbaijani writer and scholar. He has written works on linguistics, culturology and mythology, and is the author of poetry, essays, plays, stories, and novels. His prose has been published and translated into French, Turkish, Russian, English, Portuguese, German, Polish, Bulgarian, Georgian, Arabic, Lithuanian, Japanese, and other languages. His plays have been performed in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Estonia. His work is not without its detractors. Many articles and books have been written about his work, some positive, some negative. He has won literary awards in his own country, and been subject to unfair criticism. In the early years of Azerbaijan's independence, liking his novels was considered a sign of good literary taste. In later years, not liking these works is considered a sign of good literary taste. Original language, world view, philosophical foundation, and mythological sense characterize his work. His writing features mountains invisible to the eye, and valleys of sorcerers where it is forever spring. Here ancient manuscripts come to life and history is re-read in a completely different way. Centaurs roam his favourite city, Baku, while in ancient Egypt, people turn into flowers, and flowers into people. The idolized heroes of his mythological texts are fleshed out as ordinary, everyday people. Sometimes dead people emerge from their images, restore justice, and then return to their images. Not satisfied with living in their own worlds, characters lead very different lives in parallel worlds. The story of Theseus and the Minotaur enters our own time, and finally the phantasmagoria reaches such a point that Paris gives the apple to Hera, not Aphrodite... Publisher's website: http://sbpra.com/KamalAbdulla