Syrian critic and author Nabil Suleiman has completed his 23rd novel, "Transformations of the Golden Human", published by Dar Khotot in Amman.
The book’s back cover includes excerpts from a review written by Moroccan critic Dr. Said Yaqtin: "I would not exaggerate much if I said: There is no Arabic novel that Nabil Suleiman has not read. I am also not wrong in saying that he is one of the few Arab novelists whose lives are limited to writing novels."
"His long, rich and varied repertoire of fictional work, his extensive critical reviews, and his 50 years of constant reading testify to all of this. This latest novel is the ultimate testament to that."
The title reminds Arab readers of the Metamorphoses of Apuleius. The donkey’s replacement, here, with the human being now repudiating everything that has been written about donkeys. The protagonist transforms from a donkey into a human, and since he is a writer, he puts all his energy into pursuing one conscious obsession: “Writing a novel about donkeys,” and another that is subconscious: writing a novel different from others written by donkeys.
The richness and depth of the story and its symbolism is paralleled by its use of novelistic techniques, which the writer carefully employs as he shifts from transparent storytelling to cutting scenes, breaking the linear timeline with a multiplicity of languages and voices, as well using footnotes, sub-headings, and a variety of narratives from different eras and cultures.
Suleiman’s latest novel is his latest work contemplating man’s multiple transformations in time and place. With its insistence on the "golden man," the novel seeks to explore the essence of humanity concealed by conflicts and contradictions, pushing it to look into feasible and past transforms. These transformations could turn a donkey into a human or boomerang to turn the human into a donkey.
