Special bilingual edition, French and English

Translated from the French by Frank Wynne

Banquet of Lies is the story of Koussaila or ‘Nems’ (weasel), and the awakening of his unbridled passion for older women. In spite of the fact that his family is Sharif, direct descended from the prophet Muhammad, Koussaila cannot resist seeking forbidden pleasure in the arms of inappropriate women; his aunt, a cleaning lady, a Jewish neighbour and even a Catholic nun.

After his first sexual experience, on the same day as Algeria’s 1965 coup d’état, Koussaila continues on a chaotic path of desire, self-disgust, literature and sex, trying to reconcile the world of Islam (in the pages of the Koran) with that of the ‘Roumis’; Europeans (in the pages of Les Fleurs du Mal and Madame Bovary).

AMIN ZAOUI is a writer and bilingual scholar (Arabic and French). He is currently in charge of the National Library in Algiers, and is the author of five novels which have been translated into a dozen languages, but never before into English.

'Amin Zaoui treats the theme of obsession with older women in a subtle and unsettling manner...A succession of short scenes interspersed with terse observations, it achieves internal coherence thanks in no small part to the symbolic interplay of character and context...Frank Wynne has produced a fluent English translation.' Times Literary Supplement

'It’s a stream-of-consciousness/semi autobiographical/confessional tale -shades of Henry Miller with some Gustave Flaubert thrown in for good measure. A sensational and shocking read in the true sense of the word.' Jay Benedict, Vulpes Libris

'It makes for a lot of overwrought writing, but for long stretches it's surprisingly engaging...an odd -- and sexually excessive (and bizarre) -- testament of the times, but there's something to it. Admirably, the English edition is, in fact, a bilingual one. Frank Wynne's translation reads well, but with language like this there's a lot to be said for having the original side by side with the translated text.' – Complete Review

'It is clear that verisimilitude isn't the order of the day...time and place here are elastic; this energetic imagination, burning with rage and sensuality, is almost all we have to hang on to...Zaoui can be a wonderfully sensual writer and when he sets a scene the detail can transport us. It is a real treat to have a bi-lingual edition: the translator's art is laid bare and the reader becomes critic...' Banipal

ISBN: 978-0-7145-3160-1
Pub Date: 21 May 2008
Price: £9.99/ $14.95
FICTION