Ilija Trojanow is a German writer of Bulgarian origin, also working as a translator and publisher. His literary work often explores themes of identity, migration, and the clash of cultures. He transforms his experiences from various backgrounds into compelling narratives that encourage readers to reflect. Trojanow's style is known for its richness and depth.
In three short weeks the author experienced a tradition dating back over one thousand years This is his account, personal yet enlightening, for the interested non-Muslims who remain barred from the holy sites of Islam
A literary fiction about climate disaster and a scientist imploding on a journey to the Antarctic Zeno Hintermeier is a scientist working as a travel guide on an Antarctic cruise ship, encouraging the wealthy to marvel at the least explored continent and to open their eyes to its rapid degradation. It is a troubling turn in the life of an idealistic glaciologist. Now in his early sixties, Zeno bewails the loss of his beloved glaciers, the disintegration of his marriage, and the foundering of his increasingly irrelevant career. Troubled in conscience and goaded by the smug complacency of the passengers in his charge, he starts to plan a desperate gesture that will send a wake-up call to an overheating world. The Lamentations of Zeno is an extraordinary evocation of the fragile and majestic wonders to be found at a far corner of the globe, written by a novelist who is a renowned travel writer. Poignant and playful, the novel recalls the experimentation of high-modernist fiction without compromising a limpid sense of place or the pace of its narrative. It is a portrait of a man in extremis, a haunting and at times irreverent tale that approaches the greatest challenge of our age—perhaps of our entire history as a species—from an impassioned human angle.
Österreich neu entdecken Um überraschende und ungewöhnliche Seiten von Österreich zu entdecken, hatten 14 Fotografen lediglich 24 Stunden Zeit. Aber dieser eine Tag reichte, um für den MERIAN-Bildband „Neues Österreich“ faszinierende Bilder entstehen zu lassen. Eingeleitet wird der Bildband von einem brillanten Essay des in Wien lebenden Weltreisenden Ilija Trojanow, der im Sommer im Auftrag von MERIAN quer durch Österreich reiste und seine Impressionen episodenhaft aufgeschrieben hat.
This book narrates the life of Sir Richard Burton, a prominent Victorian figure, highlighting his controversial translation of the "Arabian Nights," which marked a significant moment in the interaction between Islam and the West, known for its provocative eroticism that shocked his peers.
This fictionalized account imagines the life of Sir Richard Francis Burton--a 19th-century British colonial officer and translator with a rare ability to assimilate into indigenous cultures.
The Collector of Worlds is a rare combination of literary achievement and popular accessibility. A bestseller in Germany, the novel is a meditation on the extraordinary life of Sir Richard Burton, one of the most flamboyant figures of the Victorian age. Burton was the first westerner to make the hajj to Mecca, and discovered the source of the Nile with Speke. His translation of the Arabian Nights is one of the great moments in the encounter between Islam and the West, a version of the Arab classic that scandalised his contemporaries with its salty eroticism. Troyanov's novel does full justice to this great, controversial mediator between cultures. The book imagines his encounter with India as a young officer, and other episodes in his life are seen through the eyes of his Indian servant; the Sharif of Mecca, who is conducting an enquiry into Burton's audacious journey and its consequences for the Ottoman Empire; and a former slave who guided Burton to the Nile.
Ganga bursts out of the glacier and, with a long-drawn shout, falls to the earth, and then off she goes, impetuous, head over heels& From icy Gaumukh, the source of one of the world s most celebrated rivers, Ilija Trojanow began a remarkable two-month journey: down the Himalayas, past the great cities of Allahabad, Varanasi and Patna, to Gangasagar, where the river meets the sea. Travelling by inflatable boat, on foot, by bus and overcrowded trains, he moved through landscapes where the past and the future, mythic imagination and hard reality come together, and in this book he recounts for us the stories that he heard and experienced during the journey. The glacier at Gaumukh is receding, he tells us: is it due to global warming or, as the Brahmavaivarta Purana foretells, is the Ganga going underground, having taken her share of sins, to await the next golden age? Has the demon Taraka taken over the earth again, he wonders, or will the Tehri Dam really bring succour to the lives of millions? As he observes and investigates, Trojanow also offers prayers to his ancestors, meets Naga sadhus at the Kumbh Mela, witnesses death ceremonies, and talks to engineers and activists with divergent views on how best to live with the Ganga.