‘The Plight of Questions and the Lust of Imagination’ by Hoshank Osi has been recently released in two new prints: one by ‘Dar Al-Zaman’ publishing, and the other by ‘Dar Ida’at’ publishing in Egypt. The novel, which won the Katara Prize for Arabic Novel, was first published in Beirut, in 2017.
Hoshank Osi is a Syrian-Kurdish poet and novelist who writes in Arabic and Kurdish. He has 15 novels and nine poetry collections so far.
‘The Plight of the Questions and the Lust of Imagination’ covers the Syrian revolution since its outbreak until 2013. It has no protagonist, every one of its characters can be seen as one. Its events take place in different geographical zones including Morocco, Switzerland, the US, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Türkiye, Kurdistan and ends in Belgium.
One main character is a Syrian, Alawite, leftist, anti-regime activist from a religious family, who was detained for 15 years. After his release, he started writing, but drowned in a deep state of depression and desperation due to the failure of reform attempts, the toxic corruption of the Syrian society and the ongoing tyranny. The Tunisian uprising gave him some life and hope, he saw those revolutions like a rebirth for him, the people, countries and societies.
The hope flourished after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution. He was arrested again on the ‘Azadi Friday’ (20/5/2001). At the time, the peaceful protests took place every Friday, and each one had a unique name.
The activist died of torture; his killer was a security officer from his hometown and a colleague from his primary school. The activist’s organs were stolen, sold to an organ trafficking network and implanted in the bodies of three people in Belgium: a Congolese man, a German woman who works in a bank, and an Italian student who studies at the Free University of Brussels.
These organs led to chemical changes in the three people, affecting their interests, mood and talents, and making them fonder of culture, art and literature, as well as the Syrian revolution.
