Tunisian poet and essayist Abdelwahab Meddeb died in Paris on November 5:
According to Le Monde, Meddeb died on lung cancer.
Born in Tunis in 1946, he was a prolific writer, poet, novelist and translator, and is the author of some thirty books.
According to his friend and sometimes-translator, Pierre Joris, writing over at Nomadics:
Since 9/11 he had turned most of his energies towards essayistic writings focusing on modernity and Islam, interrogating what was at stake in today’s civilization(s), contrasting and analyzing Occident & Orient but also ranging beyond those areas. His latest book, Portrait of the Poet as a Sufi, came out a few weeks ago from Editions Belin in the series “L’extrême contemporain”edited by Michel Deguy.
Selected work by Meddeb:
“Auschwitz,” on Banipal
“The Stranger Across,” on Cerise Press
“The Pornography of Horror,” also on Nomadics
On the author’s official website.
Books translated into English include-
The Malady of Islam, trans. Pierre Joris and Ann Reid
Islam and Its Discontents
Tombeau of Ibn’ Arabi and White Traverses, trans. Charlotte Mandell
Talismano, trans. Jane Kuntz
Islam and Challenge of Civilisation, trans. Jane Kuntz
A Great loss….