Abandonment

Name: Abandonment
ISBN: 9787532792955

阿卜杜勒拉扎克·古尔纳 / 孙灿Shanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaAug 2023

4.2

Word count: 178K words
Chapters: 15
ISBN: 9787532792955

Report an error Find this book

Summary

First published in 2005, the novel Desertion is one of Gurnah's major works and was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. It tells the tragic love stories of two generations, both at odds with social convention. The first story takes place in late nineteenth-century colonial Kenya. Martin Pearce, a British writer, traveler and Orientalist, is stranded in the desert and rescued by a young Muslim man named Hassanali. Pearce later calls on Hassanali to thank him and meets his sister Rehana; the two fall in love at first sight and come together despite colonial and religious constraints. The second story is set in Zanzibar and London around the middle of the twentieth century, before and after independence, and follows the brothers Amin and Rashid. Amin falls in love with Jamila, a beautiful local woman with a bad reputation—she is in fact the granddaughter of Pearce and Rehana from the first story—but is forced to break with her by his parents' firm opposition, and thereafter lives with the guilt and remorse born of his "desertion." His younger brother Rashid wins a scholarship to study in Britain and "deserts" his troubled homeland.

Editor's review

With two stories set more than half a century apart, Desertion unpacks the word "desertion" on three levels: love, family and homeland. In the late nineteenth century, the British writer Pearce is stranded in the desert and rescued by Hassanali, then falls in love with Rehana; their relationship crosses the lines of colony and religion and is destined to be rejected. In the mid-twentieth century, their granddaughter Jamila is reluctantly given up by Amin because of her bad reputation, while his brother Rashid "deserts" his troubled homeland with a scholarship. Gurnah writes with restraint, defending no one, letting the betrayals of different eras mirror one another. As you read, watch the silences and hesitations behind the characters' choices; they often say more than any argument. For readers who want to feel the weight of history inside a love story.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Serious fiction readers who enjoy multigenerational narratives and mapping character relationships
Readers interested in colonial history, religious constraints and cross-cultural love
Fans of Gurnah who want to read one of his major works
Book-club members comfortable with open endings and restrained prose

Not a good fit for

Readers who want a single plotline and tight pacing
Those wearied by blocked love and feelings of guilt and remorse
Readers expecting clear moral judgments and a happy ending

Reading tips

First fix the time and place of each story: late nineteenth-century Kenya, and mid-twentieth-century Zanzibar and London.
Note the grandmother–mother–granddaughter link between Pearce, Rehana and Jamila; it is the key connecting the two stories.
Set the choices of the brothers Amin and Rashid side by side to see the different meanings of "desertion."
Pause after the first story before entering the second; the relationships will be clearer.

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

版权信息
第一部分
1.哈桑纳利
2.弗雷德里克
3.蕾哈娜
4.皮尔斯
插叙
第二部分
5.阿明与拉希德
6.阿明与贾米拉
第三部分
7.拉希德
8.阿明
后续
附录 2021年诺贝尔文学奖得主阿卜杜勒拉扎克·古尔纳获奖演说写作

FAQ

How are the two stories connected?

By blood. In the first story Pearce and Rehana fall in love; their granddaughter Jamila is the woman Amin loves in the second. Amin is forced by his parents' opposition to break with Jamila, while his brother Rashid leaves to study in Britain. Both generations make a similar choice of "desertion" under different circumstances.

What exactly does the title "Desertion" refer to?

At least three layers: Amin is forced to give up Jamila, deserting the woman he loves; Rashid leaves his troubled homeland to study in Britain, deserting his native place; and earlier, colonial-era rejection of cross-racial, cross-religious love is itself an institutional desertion. The novel offers no single answer; it lets these meanings accumulate.

Is this a heavy read?

It is heavy, but the writing is restrained rather than expressive. Blocked love, guilt and remorse run through both generations, with emotion mostly held in silence and hesitation. If you prefer light reading, it may feel oppressive; if you can accept a slowly unfolding tragedy, it rewards patience.

Is one of Gurnah's major works a good place to start?

It can work as an entry point, but it asks for patience. Two stories are set side by side and relationships span generations, so first-time readers may need to sort out the threads. It shows his enduring attention to colonialism, migration and emotional impasse; if you want a more concentrated central plot, another of his works may suit you better.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

阿卜杜勒拉扎克·古尔纳 Author

Abdulrazak Gurnah is an important contemporary novelist whose works have been translated into Chinese in more than a dozen editions, often classified under foreign literature and classics. His writing centers on migration, diaspora and identity, with a quiet, restrained style that reveals the psychological tensions of characters crossing geographical and cultural boundaries through everyday detail. Representative works include Paradise, Afterlives, Admiring Silence, By the Sea, Gravel Heart and The Pilgrims' Way, along with two five-volume collected editions of his works. Because public information is limited, basic details such as his dates and nationality remain to be confirmed; yet the translated works show his concern with colonial legacies, memory and belonging, and a narrative that combines realism with symbolic depth, offering a distinctive perspective on contemporary African and migrant experience.

孙灿 Author

Public information about Sun Can is limited, and details such as nationality and dates of birth and death cannot currently be confirmed. Judging from the five works held in the database, Sun Can's translation and editorial work spans foreign literature, biography, and prose. Representative works include The Dispossession, the Gurna Collected Works, Volume II (5 volumes in total), Extreme Pressure: Tesla, Elon Musk and the Century's Bet, The Simple Art of Murder, and The Literary Map of London. These works cover a wide range of subjects, including translations of contemporary foreign fiction, biographical works about entrepreneurs and business events, and prose writing that combines literature with urban space. This shows a sustained engagement in literary translation and cross-genre editing.