Poetry of the Taliban
by Edited by Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, Preface by Faisal Devji
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Pub Date Jul 17 2012 | Archive Date Nov 28 2012
Description
Whether they are describing a wedding party annihilated by an air strike or lamenting, "we did all of this to ourselves," these poems are concerned not with politics but with identity and a full, textured, and deeply conflicted humanity. Such impassioned works-defeated, enraged, triumphant, bitterly powerless, and bitingly satirical-ultimately endure as a record of the war in Afghanistan. Two introductory essays contextualize the anthology's poems, relating their significance to Pashtun history and their reflection of a culture inundated by thirty years of war. Faisal Devji, noted Taliban scholar, underscores the link between these poems and the Taliban's emotional and ethical character in a preface.
Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn are researchers and writers who have worked in Afghanistan since 2006. Their research focuses on the Taliban insurgency and the history of southern Afghanistan over the past four decades. Their academic interests also extend to other Muslim countries. They are regular commentators on major Western news channels and editors of the acclaimed memoir of Abdul Salam Zaeef, My Life With the Taliban.
Faisal Devji is university reader in modern South Asian history at St. Antony's College, Oxford University, and the author of The Terrorist in Search of Humanity: Militant Islam and Global Politics.
Advance Praise
"Afghanistan has a rich and ancient tradition of epic poetry celebrating resistance to foreign invasion and occupation. This extraordinary collection is remarkable as a literary project-uncovering a seam of war poetry few will know ever existed. Yet it is also an important political project, humanizing and giving voice to the aspirations, aesthetics, emotions, and dreams of the fighters of a much-caricatured and little-understood resistance movement about to defeat yet another foreign occupation."
--William Dalymple, author of The Return of a King: Sha Shuja and the First Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42
"These poems expose something of the full, textured, deeply conflicted humanity of those who actively consume and recirculate them; those who may be insurgents while also being human. In providing such a picture, the ‘insurgent' is restored a sense of humanity and agency, and even (as the editors note) an accountability for violence that would be impossible from a mere avatar."
--James Caron , University of Pennsylvania
"An essential work. In compiling the poetry of the Taliban, these young scholars have preserved the intimate and the expansive, ranging from pastoral imagery of the Afghan countryside to satire on global politics and rich references to Afghan, Muslim, and biblical history. In the process, they go beyond humanizing the Taliban toward understanding them. A Taliban the world knows as culturally backward have in fact inspired a corpus of poetry reflecting the finest accomplishments of Pashto, Farsi, Urdu, and Arabic civilizations. If anyone still wonders which cultural resources the Taliban drew on to inspire a people to resist a dull global plan to modernize them, read on."
--Michael Semple, Harvard University, former European Union representative in Afghanistan
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780231704045 |
| PRICE | $24.50 (USD) |
| PAGES | 176 |
