The Madman of Freedom Square

Объркващи, сломяващи неща. Някога питали ли сте се какво им е на хората в Ирак? И когато децата си играят с останките от бесилки, бомбардировки, камикадзета и други, какво сънуват и какво си фантазират, ако пораснат и успеят да избягат през границите в места, където ако не ги м [...]

Бруталната реалност на Бласим(Цялото ревю е тук: knijenpetar.wordpress/201) „Бях поет, а живеех като бежанец в този обор за хора, и може би сърцето ми бе закоравяло, а мозъкът ми се беше отворил за летливата мъдрост на абсурда и затова се мъчеше с пестеливи думи да даде израз както на гне� [...]

От дишане се хранят кошмарите. Не дишаш, докато четеш. Не ти трябва сън, сънищата са неконтролируеми. Не спиш, докато четеш. Не ти е нужна храна, храната е отровена. Не се храниш, докато четеш. Докато четеш, живеят задушените, разкъсаните, отровенитеТова е техният миг да бъдат з [...]

Книга сурова и почти непоносима в истината си. Не знаeм, нищо не знаем за войната, за разкъсаното ежедневие, за онзи паралален несбъднат живот. Два цитата. Първия го сънувах:"Празни найлонови торби във всякакви цветове и форми кръжаха над мен с бясна скорост, сякаш ми предлаг� [...]

…песните на майката, чиято глава се изгубила в гората.: knigolandiafo/book-review/l“Лудият от площад Свобода“ може да ви срещне с тамошната версия на Мунчо – чалнат композитор, който крещи истината, че няма бог, обижда това нямане, и получава очакваната участ заради тези си деяния срещ [...]

Kнигата на Хасан Бласим е разтърсваща. Още не мога да се прибера в себе си след прочита й. Тя е като рана – няма да зарасне, докато има хора, които се държат като вълци един за друг.Препоръчвам горещо, дори с риск да заболи!!!P.S. Великолепен превод на любимата ми Мая Ценова! Браво [...]

One thing I feel I ought to do more often as a reader and reviewer is engage with the issues; I tend to think more about how novels and stories work as pieces of fiction, and park the issues they deal with to one side. I probably shouldn’t do that, and certainly couldn’t do that with the stories in the Iraqi writer Hassan Blasim’s collection, The Madman of Freedom Square (translated by Jonathan Wright), because they’re all about how stories shape people’s experiences of war and its con [...]

واقعية حسن بلاسم الكثيفة والصادمة التي نقلتني في أول نص منها "الأرشيف والواقع" إلى أن أكون أنا سائق سيارة الأسعاف في بغداد ٢٠٠٦ التي تنقل جثث مقطوعة الروؤس ليلاً في أوج عمليات العنف الطائفية.بلاسم ركز كامرتهُ على فضائع ونزوات الكائن البشري الذي تثيرةُ أتفه الأمور والقضايا و [...]

Призив към човечност, това е сборник, който осъзнава и признава безсилието, слага сам въжето на шията си, но завършва с усмивка. Онази злокобна усмивка, която се разтяга лист подир лист, сред мрака и безизходицата. Усмивката за една бъдеща надежда, която се вие като змия окол� [...]

През цялото време, докато четях, си представях прашни улици, по които някой тича, за да се спаси; огромни камиони, в които мракът е всичко, което имат поелите на път; виждах бурки и трупове, чувах викове, бомби, непознат език и много страх.И какво значи да си луд в свят, в който н� [...]

Tarinat liukuvat irvokkaasta runolliseen pilkunkaan varoittamatta. Muistumia itäeurooppalaisesta surrealismista tai absurdismista, mutta juonekkaampaa, loistokkaampaa, sujuvalukuisempaa - mistä kiitos myös kääntäjälle Sampsa Peltoselle. Henkeäsalpaava lukukokemus!

عند الشعور بالخوف من مسبب معين قد ينصح بمواجهته كي لاتعاودنا حاله الخوف تلك .حسن بلاسم قام بالمثل بالرغم من عدم معرفتي ان كان يقصد فقط التعريه ام التخلص من الوجع وكل انواع ماقاساه يوما شخوص قصصه .

Покъртителни истории.

This brief first collection by the Iraqi-Finnish short story writer is good, but not quite as stunning as his second, The Iraqi Christ (which, in an unusually perspicacious decision by award judges, won the 2014 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize). It's quietly structured like a journey, with the earlier stories taking place in Iraq, some later ones on the road with illegal immigrants and in refugee holding centres, and the last two among Iraqi men settled in the Netherlands and, finally, Finland [...]

Hassan Blasim's short story collection 'The Madman of Freedom Square' centers around the conditions in Iraq before and during the Iraq war and around the individual as well as universal experience of a refugee. The stories themselves are shocking tales of cruelty, but also oddly comical in their cannibalistic views. Especially the story 'Corpse Exhibition' is a surprisingly fascinating monologue on the rites and codes of a secret society specialising in placing corpses on public spaces – highl [...]

"Лудият от площад Свобода" ме срази. Бруталността в разказите на иракския автор Хасан Бласим може да се мери единствено с тяхната неизменна честност. Има моменти в тях, които наистина втрещяват със своя ужас, който е особено ефективен, защото идва от реалния живот, от нещо ви [...]

Blasim is an Iraqi writer, dealing with what it means to be an Iraqi in a post-sanctions/post-invasion world. The country's relationship with the West and the impact of that relationship is central to these short stories -- whether they deal with migration, exile, fundamentalism or corruption. There is a violence streaking through most of these stories, perhaps reaching an apex in 'The Corpse Exhibition', one of the collection's strongest stories. In the ways in which they communicate the pain o [...]

These Iraqi short stories could pass as the work of a very imaginative horror fiction writer you remind yourself they most probably happened in real life. Disturbing, revelatoryportant!

Любимите разкази - "Кошмарите на Карлос Фуентес" и "Пазар за истории".

Движенията ми, както знаеш, са на алкохолик, комуто алкохолът е престанал да доставя радост.

Boy did this collection mess me up. It was a "This is so gross but I. Can't. Stop. My. Eyes" reading experience about insanity, cannibalism and corpses.~Some of my favourite short stories were:⚰️ An Army Newspaper - Where a war journalist goes crazy struggling to hide large amounts of story submissions by a deceased soldier after publishing them and taking the credit.⚰️ The Virgin and the Soldier - In which U.N. inspectors discover Hamid and a dead girl missing three fingers in the cabin [...]

Kiinnostavaa tutustua tähän kansainvälisesti noteerattuun kirjailijaan. Vaikkeivät novellit yleensä ole minun juttuni, tämän kokoelman groteskeja juttuja luki kuitenkin nopeasti ja sujuvasti.

Reading the world in books: Iraq.

21st century prose at its best.

Hassan Blasim was born in Iraq, but has lived in Finland since 2004. He has directed movies in both countries. He writes in Arabic, and the English translation of this short story collection won him some acclaim in Britain in 2010. In a way it could be said that he embodies the fears of some Europeans at the moment: multicultural, Muslim, The Other. But in terms of reviewing the book, that's probably neither here nor there. What's important is that The Madman of Freedom Square is quite a good bo [...]

En surkutellut enää kohtaloani. Tuntui kuin koettelemukseni olisi tapahtunut jo joskus aiemmin, ja nykyhetki oli vain nopeasti ohi menevä vaihe, jonka oma tietoisuuteni ajasta sai tuntumaan junnaavalta ja pyörryttävältä.s. 18Itkin kivettynyttä sydäntäni, ja itkin sitä että maailma onkin paljon tahrattomampi ja kauniimpi kuin miltä näyttää.s. 70Teidän sukupolvenne on mahdottoman onnekas, kun saatte elää tätä kultaisten tilaisuuksien aikakautta. Nykymaailmassa, huudon ja tanss [...]

Hassan Blasimin novellit ovat kuvauksia sodan kauhuista mutta myös sellaisista järkyttävyyksistä, joita voitaisiin kertoa urbaaneina legendoina. Arkipäiväisyyksien ja raakuuksien jaksottuminen tuo vahvasti mieleen Quentin Tarantinon elokuvat. Mitä yksityiskohtaisemmin ja pidemmin selitetään jotakin sinänsä yksinkertaista tilannetta, sitä varmemmin joku henkilöistä räjähtää hetken kuluttua kappaleiksi.Kaikenlaisen kafkamaisen kamalan kuvaaminen ei kuitenkaan muutu itsetarkoituks [...]

A lot of reviews here are saying the book was hard to digest, either because so much goes unexplained or is confusing, or because it's so gruesome and dark. But Blasim's point - his characters themselves say this - is the bleak surreality of life in general and especially in or after Iraq, with all its horror, and of the menacing weirdness of the Western eye. Shit happens and it often doesn't make sense, especially in Iraq. Another complaint in these reviews was that this kind of storytelling is [...]

Everything it says on the book cover about these stories is true - well, leaving aside the bit about metaphor, because I'm never sure that I've grasped them. They're a tough read - and why not? They couldn't and shouldn't be anything else, given the subject. They're violent, gruesome, horrifying, bleak and tragicomic. They provide an insight into the chaos that the Americans and the British created by their arrogant invasion of Iraq, and the desperate behaviours to which some Iraqis then resorte [...]

Blasim's short stories are disturbing, difficult to understand, and hard to put down. The form of his stories perhaps tells as much about contemporary Iraq as the content. I would say that his bizarre, unpredictable, and jagged style is an acquired taste. I would compare him to Saadat Hasan Manto, who also is fearless in getting to the point. Except Manto is more lyrical and allows you inside his prose. Blasim seems almost indifferent to his reader, seeming not to care if he has provided enough. [...]