Introduction by Jhumpa Lahiri
Recipient of a prestigious 2018 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant
An epic spread across three nations, Beyond Babylon casts a probing,
endlessly perceptive eye on the lasting effects of traumas both national
and personal. Telling the engrossing lives of two half-sisters who meet
coincidentally in Tunisia, their mothers, and the elusive father who
ties all their stories together, Igiaba Scego's virtuosic novel spreads
thickly over Argentina's horrific dirty war, the chaotic final years of
Siad Barre's brutal dictatorship in Somalia--which ended in catastrophic
civil war--and the modern-day excesses of Italy's right-wing politics.
United by the Italian government's attempts to establish authoritarian
politics in Somalia, Argentina, and at home, Scego's kaleidoscopic plot
investigates deep questions about our complicity in the governments that
we often feel powerless to affect. In its myriad characters, locations,
and languages, it brings new definition to identity in a fast-changing
world of migrants and political upheaval. Most of all, Scego's five
poignant lives anchor this sprawling work as they fight to build family
ties while overcoming past violations, including governmental torture
and sexual assault. A masterwork equally as adept with the lives of
nations as those of human beings, Beyond Babylon brings much-needed
insight, compassion, and understanding to our turbulent world.
