{"title":"Sofia Samatar","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSofia Samatar\u003c\/strong\u003e crafts narratives that weave rich explorations of \u003cem\u003ereligion and spirituality\u003c\/em\u003e with a profound sensitivity to culture and identity. Her works often delve into the nuances of faith, history, and the human experience, inviting readers to reflect on the mystical dimensions of existence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a lyrical style that blends the poetic with the philosophical, Samatar’s books resonate across the realms of \u003cem\u003earts and culture\u003c\/em\u003e. Expect stories that are both intellectually engaging and deeply evocative, illuminating the intersections between belief, creativity, and the wider world.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"tone-by-kate-zambreno-9780231211215","title":"Tone","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTone\u003c\/em\u003e is a collaborative study of literary tone, a notoriously challenging and slippery topic for criticism. Both granular and global, infusing a text with feeling, tone is so difficult to pin down that responses to it often take the vague form of \"I know it when I see it.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eTone\u003c\/em\u003e, a cooperative authorial voice under the name of the Committee to Investigate Atmosphere begins from the premise that tone is relational, belonging to shared experience rather than a single author, and should be approached through a communal practice. In partnership, the Committee explores the atmospheres emanating from texts by Nella Larsen, W. G. Sebald, Heike Geissler, Hiroko Oyamada, Mieko Kanai, Bhanu Kapil, Franz Kafka, Renee Gladman, and others, attending to the chafing of political irritation, the hunger of precarious and temporary work, and the lonely delights of urban and suburban walks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis study treats a variety of questions: How is tone filtered through translation? Can a text hold the feelings that pass between humans and animals? What can attention to literary tone reveal about shared spaces such as factories, universities, and streets and the clashes and connections that happen there? Searching and conversational, \u003cem\u003eTone\u003c\/em\u003e seeks immersion in literary affect to convey the experience of reading—and living—together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47406341128428,"sku":"9780231211215","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/818F5G4tdvL._SL1500.jpg?v=1773963229"},{"product_id":"the-white-mosque-by-sofia-samatar-9781787388079","title":"The White Mosque","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the late nineteenth century, a group of German-speaking Mennonites travelled from Russia into Central Asia, where their charismatic leader predicted Christ would return. Over a century later, Sofia Samatar joins a tour following their path, fascinated not by the hardships of their journey, but by its aftermath: the establishment of a small Christian village in the Muslim Khanate of Khiva.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNamed Ak Metchet, \u003cem\u003eThe White Mosque\u003c\/em\u003e, after the Mennonites' whitewashed church, the village lasted for fifty years. In pursuit of this curious history, Samatar discovers a variety of characters whose lives intersect around the ancient Silk Road, from a fifteenth-century astronomer-king, to an intrepid Swiss woman traveller of the 1930s, to the first Uzbek photographer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShe explores Central Asian cinema, Christian martyrs, and her own complex upbringing as the daughter of a Swiss Mennonite and a Somali Muslim, raised as a Mennonite of colour in America. On Samatar's secular pilgrimage to both a lost village and a near-forgotten history, she traces the porous, ever-expanding borders of identity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHow do we enter the stories of others? And how, out of the tissue of life, with its weird incidents, buried archives, and startling connections, does a person construct a self?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47487686050028,"sku":"9781787388079","price":44.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/e9b666a8f5759a2785be9c1bb732ad03.jpg?v=1775770510"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/sofia-samatar.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}