Synopses & Reviews
Now available together for the first time, two of the best works—a novel and a short story—from Ooscar-nominated screenwriter Hanif Kureishi, one of the most original, celebrated, and prophetic voices in British fiction and film. First capturing the attention of audiences and critics in the 1980s with award-winning works such as The Buddha of Suburbia, and My Beautiful Laundrette, and recently described by The New York Times Magazine as “a kind of postcolonial Philip Roth,” Hanif Kureishi remains one of the most compelling artists of our time. These stunningly prescient earlier works of Kureishi’s are more timely and relevant than ever, and they’re now reissued in one volume.
The Black Album, Kureishi’s second novel, is an exhilarating multicultural coming-of-age tale featuring Shalid, a sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll-loving Pakistani student torn between a love affair with a gorgeous free-spirited college professor and his desire to please his conservative Muslim community. In the story “My Son the Fanatic,” which is also an award-winning film, Kureishi reveals the shifting values between a father and son—two generations of immigrants struggling between assimilation and separatist fundamentalism. Praised as an author who “fully entertains while addressing wickedly complex social issues” (San Francisco Chronicle), Kureishi infuses these deft and vivid stories with his love of non-conformity and his understanding of the ties that bind us to family and culture.
Synopsis
Long before Islamic fundamentalism became a household phrase, Hanif Kureishi began visiting mosques in London and witnessing the flocks of young Asians -- many of them second-generation immigrants -- who were turning to Islam. Kureishi was perplexed by these young people, brought up in secular Britain but intent on choosing a strict religious code that denied them the pleasures of the society in which they lived.
First published in 1995, The Black Album is Kureishi's raucous, exuberant, and prophetic examination of this new phenomenon. His protagonist Shahid, from a Pakistani immigrant family, is perilously fond of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. A student at a dismal community college in London, he wants to please the conservative Muslims in the flat next door but is enthralled by the gorgeous Deedee Osgood, a radical, hard-partying college professor with a penchant for sex in taxis.
Also included in this new edition of The Black Album is "My Son the Fanatic," Kureishi's brilliant short story, published in The New Yorker and made into an award-winning film. "My Son the Fanatic" reveals the shifting values between a father and son -- two generations of immigrants struggling between assimilation and separatist fundamentalism.
Available together for the first time, The Black Album and "My Son the Fanatic" are more timely and relevant than ever -- exhilarating and prescient writing from one of the most celebrated voices in British fiction and film.
Synopsis
The second novel from one of the most celebrated voices in British fiction and film, The Black Album is an exhilarating multicultural coming-of-age tale featuring Shalid, a sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll-loving Pakistani student torn between a love affair with a gorgeous, free-spirited college professor and his desire to please his conservative Muslim community.
About the Author
Hanif Kureishi won the prestigious Whitbread Prize for The Buddha of Suburbia and was twice nominated for Oscars for best original screenplay (My Beautiful Laundrette and Venus, which starred Peter O’Toole). In 2010 Kureishi received the prestigious PEN/Pinter Prize. He lives in London.