Alamut
by Vladimir Bartol
- original title: Alamut
- novel
- first published in 1938
- rediscovered in 2003
- bestseller in Slovene bookshops (No. 1 overall in 2003), bestseller in Europe
- 504 pages
- rights available: certain teritorries and languages, including Italy and Russia
The bestselling Slovene novel ever, Alamut is a book about political and historical considerations of fanaticism, and at the same time it is a book full of adventures. An oriental tapestry, rich with detail of the lives and rites of a lost world, Alamut is ultimately a reflection on all forms of despotism. In magnificent prose reminiscent of Flaubert’s Salammbô, Vladimir Bartol - an author and philosopher interested in the history of religions, especially Islam - unveils the secret inner workings of (Islamic) terrorism. This novel also helps us understand how forms of violence in history prefigure those of our own time. Literary historians regard Alamut as an encyclopaedia of philosophy, politics, psychoanalysis, and scientific ideas, taking the form of an exotically decorated novel, posing questions on the boundary between truth and fiction.The exciting events in the novel take place in an atmosphere resembling that of The Arabian Nights; but as the adventure swells, the questions regarding human existence become ever more pressing and complex.
Success of Alamut
- Bestselling novel for 2 years running
- Over 30.000 copies sold in Slovenia, an extraordinary achievement in such a small market (1,9 inhabitans)
- Translated into numerous languages, including French, Spanish, Italian, German, Czech, Slovak, Hebrew, Greek, English (launched in the USA in october 2004)
I had a feeling I was writing simultaneously for the public who was going to live 50 years later ... Quarter to 6 a.m. Finished Alamut. Pleased. These final days I spent trembling in fear that someone might steal it from me, that a fire might start, or that something else might happen. Towards the end I fancied that someone might even kill me or that I might have an accident. In general Alamut was completed, yet it was not until I put down the last letter that I truly felt at ease. Let someone kill me - in Alamut, I am going to be immortal.
(from Vladimir Bartol’s diary)
A novel first published in 1938, but now, with its 34th publication, it seems as if written anew ... A novel about the profound rationality of irrational religious sects.
(Bernard Ne?˛mah, Mladina)
And now, this novel, this pop classic - rooted in the journal of Marco Polo, translated into a great many languages, valued everywhere, from Spain to Germany, from France to Italy, from Bosnia to the Czech Republic, and from Turkey to Iran, but long outcast in Slovenia - is here again, printed once more, yet it is fresher, more topical, and more visionary than ever before.
(Marcel ? tefanĨiĨ Jr., Premiera)