| Author: | Ibrahim Al-Koni |
| Pub Date: | 1992 |
| Language: | Arabic |
| Genre: | Novel |
| Pages: | 160 |
| Publisher: | Dar Attanweer |
| Isbn: | 9781855130388 |
| Oclc: | 1021298536 |
| Url: | https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1021298536&referer=brief_results |
Gold Dust (in Arabic: التبر) is a 1990 novel by Libyan writer Ibrahim al-Koni.[1] [2]
The novel's main characters are Ukhayyad, a young Tuareg nomad from the Libyan desert, and his beloved piebald Mahri camel. After the camel falls ill following intercourse with a female camel, Ukhayyad decides he must be healed by grazing him on a powerful plant known to induce insanity. Although he is mocked for his devotion to the camel, he nevertheless remains steadfastly loyal to him.
He marries and has a son, but poverty forces him to pawn the camel to a man named Dodo, who purports to be his wife's cousin. The camel repeatedly escapes to return to Ukhayyad before being reclaimed by Dodo's men. When Ukhayyad requests to repossess the camel, Dodo offers to do so, in exchange for Ukhayyad's wife. Ukhayyad agrees, and Dodo gives him a small bag of gold dust as well, which he at first declines to accept. He is reunited with his beloved camel, but people begin to claim that he "sold his wife and child for a handful of gold dust."
The novel focuses on the two main themes of sin and freedom. Although it isn't stated directly, the sin in the novel goes beyond the direct sexual meaning of the male-female relationship. It is closer to the mystical meaning, where sin is part of the human heart and affects all of its aspects.[3]
The following is a detailed analysis:
Ibrahim Al-Koni's novel is based on the symbol that presents a mystical narrative that differs from the apparent novel. And under these two symbols falls a series of other symbols. Everything inside the novel is a symbol, or rather a sign, according to Ibrahim's Cosmic Linguistic Dictionary. The dream is a sign, the secret is a sign, the cave drawings are a sign, the desert animals are a sign, and others.[1] A sign that the latter did not succeed in reading it, but he kept holding on to the ablaq until the vow was overturned and Okhid became the sacrifice offered to the divine Tanit. Exile is freedom, in which a person is emancipated from the captivity of ownership and is liberated, except that Ukhaid and because he is a blind slave, that is, he is a slave who does not realize that he is a slave, so he could not be freed while he was alive, and perhaps he was liberated when he died, that is, when he was able at the moment of his death to understand the meaning of the sign.[4]
Semiology was clearly present throughout the novel, and this was evident through the following:[2] The duality of survival and annihilation dominates the desert space. The text is based on mythology where al-Koni employed symbols, allusions, and myths. The legend appears within the text alive and interactive, shaping the course of events and affecting the development of the characters. The animal occupies a great place in Al-Koni, and has a major role in the novel. Al-Koni relied on intertextuality at the beginning of some chapters of the novel to play a preparatory and indicative role that indirectly indicates what will happen in the events, as well as on the mystical feature in the narration of the novel.
A Japanese translation of the novel won the Japanese Committee for Translation Award in 1997.[6]
Gold Dust was translated into English by the American translator and academic Elliott Colla,[7] and published in 2008.