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Abdulrazak Gurnah: Paradise

Harriett Gilbert talks with Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah about his hauntingly beautiful novel Paradise.

Harriett Gilbert talks with Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah about his hauntingly beautiful novel Paradise.

It tells the story of Yusuf, a 12 year-old boy living in East Africa at the beginning of the 20th Century. Sold off to settle his father鈥檚 debts, Yusuf embarks on a journey across the African continent. Through his naive and innocent eyes, the journey starts out as an adventure, but every wonderous thing Yusuf sees, every glimpse of paradise, is polluted by violence, the growing influence of colonialism, and the looming spectre of World War One.

Paradise is a stunning novel - a multi-faceted, vivid exploration of the shifting culture of Africa at the turn of the century. It鈥檚 layered with mythology, Biblical and Koranic symbolism, and an unflinching insight into the effects of colonialism.

Available now

49 minutes

Last on

Last Wednesday 23:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 3 May 2025 11:06GMT
  • Sun 4 May 2025 02:06GMT
  • Sun 4 May 2025 13:06GMT
  • Sun 4 May 2025 16:06GMT
  • Last Wednesday 09:06GMT
  • Last Wednesday 23:06GMT

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