Tunisian Poet and Essayist Abdelwahab Meddeb, 1946-2014

Tunisian poet and essayist Abdelwahab Meddeb died in Paris on November 5:

800px-Abdelwahab_Meddeb_-_Comédie_du_Livre_2011_-_Montpellier_-_P1150907According 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

From Phantasiaon Nomadics

“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