Hassouna Mosbahi
HASSOUNA MOSBAHI, who was born in 1950 near Kairouan, Tunisia, is a writer, literary critic, and poet, as well as a freelance journalist for German newspapers. After studying in Paris, Madrid, and London, he settled in Munich, where he lived from 1985 and in 2000. In 2005 Mosbahi returned to Tunisia. He has published, in Arabic and German, four volumes of short stories, several novels, and some non-fiction. He has additionally made a name for himself as a travel writer and a translator into Arabic, translating Henri Michaux, René Char, Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet. His biography of Saint Augustine was published in Arabic in Tunisia in 2010. In 2012, he wrote and lectured in the United States.
Paranoia
by Hassouna Mosbahi, translated from the Arabic by William Maynard HutchinsThey suddenly seized control of all the media—radio, television, and print—till I felt these men with scowling faces, long black galabias, and dusty, unkempt beards dangling down to their breasts were pursuing me nonstop, allowing me no peace of mind whatsoever. They walked the streets with me, whether these were deserted or crowded. They patrolled the public gardens and roamed through the packed stores I occasionally visit to purchase supplies. They were with me too in the depressing gray office where I work for an insurance agency.
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