The Colonial Conquest
The Confines of the Shadow Volume I
Fiction & Literature, Cultural Heritage, Saga, Literary
| Author: | Alessandro Spina | ISBN: | 9781628728385 |
| Publisher: | Skyhorse Publishing | Publication: | January 23, 2018 |
| Imprint: | Arcade Publishing | Language: | English |
| Author: | Alessandro Spina |
| ISBN: | 9781628728385 |
| Publisher: | Skyhorse Publishing |
| Publication: | January 23, 2018 |
| Imprint: | Arcade Publishing |
| Language: | English |
A historical saga set in Benghazi. “A Hitchcockian whodunit of double-crosses and double identities in which almost no one is who he is thought to be” (Los Angeles Review of Books).
The Colonial Conquest is the first volume of Alessandro Spina’s epic, The Confines of the Shadow, a sequence of novels and short stories that map the transformation of Libya, particularly the coastal city of Benghazi, under the pressure of Italian colonization.
This volume is divided into three sections—The Young Maronite, The Marriage of Omar and The Nocturnal Visitor—which are set between 1912 and 1927. Employing a cosmopolitan array of characters, ranging from Ottoman functionaries, to Libyan aristocrats and Italian officers, Spina chronicles the colonial experience in Libya with breadth and feeling. Distinguished by an intimate understanding of East and West, this work and its companion volumes comprise among the most significant achievements of 20th century fiction and stand unchallenged as the only multi-generational epic about the European experience in North Africa.
“Spina has deep and subtle literary sensibility . . . His work provides a rare and valuable perspective on the history of Italy and Libya and, more generally, Europe colonialism in the Middle East.” —Hisham Matar, The Times Literary Supplement
“Spina’s colorful tales of unrequited love, betrayal, and revenge spring from a cacophony of diverse voices who despite fundamental differences share a felt burden: a public duty to uphold the values of their own society while experiencing private misgivings about the infallibility of those values.” —World Literature Today
A historical saga set in Benghazi. “A Hitchcockian whodunit of double-crosses and double identities in which almost no one is who he is thought to be” (Los Angeles Review of Books).
The Colonial Conquest is the first volume of Alessandro Spina’s epic, The Confines of the Shadow, a sequence of novels and short stories that map the transformation of Libya, particularly the coastal city of Benghazi, under the pressure of Italian colonization.
This volume is divided into three sections—The Young Maronite, The Marriage of Omar and The Nocturnal Visitor—which are set between 1912 and 1927. Employing a cosmopolitan array of characters, ranging from Ottoman functionaries, to Libyan aristocrats and Italian officers, Spina chronicles the colonial experience in Libya with breadth and feeling. Distinguished by an intimate understanding of East and West, this work and its companion volumes comprise among the most significant achievements of 20th century fiction and stand unchallenged as the only multi-generational epic about the European experience in North Africa.
“Spina has deep and subtle literary sensibility . . . His work provides a rare and valuable perspective on the history of Italy and Libya and, more generally, Europe colonialism in the Middle East.” —Hisham Matar, The Times Literary Supplement
“Spina’s colorful tales of unrequited love, betrayal, and revenge spring from a cacophony of diverse voices who despite fundamental differences share a felt burden: a public duty to uphold the values of their own society while experiencing private misgivings about the infallibility of those values.” —World Literature Today
