The Zanzibar Chest: A Memoir of Love and War

Product Information

By the end of the book it is clear the author is suffering severe PTSD, but as this came out 12 years ago that tag wasn't used to label his condition. Large chests for dowries and other uses of course also existed, but relatively few have survived. There are numerous mentions of them in Arabic literature, and they also appear among documents in the Cairo Genizah. (See sidebar) The 14th-century Mamluk-era historian Al-Maqrizi describes the chests available at the specialized market in Cairo. Some combined chest and taht, or a daybed (like those still being made in Java during the early 20th century), while others, also called muqaddimah, were made of leather or sometimes bamboo, and they seem to have been in use as cosmetics boxes. What I liked about the author's perspective is that it wasn't sermonizing, it wasn't pointing the finger at just one group and saying Them, they are 5he reason the country is a mess. Everyone associated with the countries of Africa are to blame. Morocco also has its own wider tradition of painted furniture, but here, geometric patterns that often match with the architectural decoration are the norm, and the arched design is particularly popular. Old pieces are rare, but there is a flourishing reproduction industry, although the colors used tend to be brighter than the originals. Traditional Moroccan chests sometimes have curved tops, a detail that is probably the result of Spanish and Portuguese influence, particularly along the coast. Hannam’s Auctioneers Ltd sell as agents and as such are not responsible for any default by the Buyer.

Remind[s] us that setting up democracies anywhere will fail every time if we ignore non-Western cultures and religious ideology.”— The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wonderful and everywhere remarkable…Hartley writes with love and an astonishing zest.’ Allan Massie, Daily Telegraph The Zanzibar Chest’ is a powerful story about a man witnessing and confronting extreme violence and being broken down by it, and of a son trying to come to terms with the death of a father whom he also saw as his best friend. It charts not only a love affair between two people, but also the British love affair with Arabia and the vast emptinesses of the desert, which become a fitting metaphor for the emotional and spiritual condition in which Hartley finds himself. An epic narrative combining the literary reportage of Ryszard Kapuściński with a historical love story reminiscent of Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient. b) The highest bidder shall be the buyer except in the case of a dispute. The Auctioneer may at his sole discretion determine the advance of bidding or refuse a bid. If during the auction the Auctioneer considers that a dispute has arisen, he has absolute discretion to settle it or to re-offer the lot.Genizah expert S.D. Goitein, author in 1983 of the multi-volume A Mediterranean Society, had this to say about dower chests in that region:

A startling refreshing perspective on the political, social, and cultural impact of British colonialism in Africa and Arabia. . . . Hartley details a fascinating odyssey that reflects on the past, present, and future of colonialism.”—Vernon Ford, Booklist On those flights I’d look down from the sky at takeoffs and landings and see the silhouette of our little aircraft ripple over pulverized cities, refugee camps, the acetylene-white flashes of antiaircraft fire, and countries rich only in lost hopes and broken dreams. What comes to mind when I think of that time in my life are the words of Isaiah 18, which I’d read in Gideons Bibles I’d found in dozens of seedy hotel rooms where I spent so much of my life on the road: “Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. . . . Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down.” That passage makes me think of my circle of friends, the journalists I knew in those years. We were like the swift messengers in Africa.

Ironically, Hartley's best writing on Somalia describes an atrocity he didn't see. In 1992, US troops landed in Mogadishu to quell the chaos, and Hartley, thinking the story over, bailed out. But the Americans' brutal policies united Somalis against them. After helicopter gunships demolished a Mogadishu house, killing dozens of women and children, a vengeful mob killed four journalists, including three Reuters men. Hartley returned to Somalia to investigate and wrote a precise and moving account of the killings. At all times, Hartley writes with a raw honesty about not just the horrors he witnesses, but his feelings and reactions to those events. Often, he has Schindleresque moments of 'I could have done more to help'. Other times, he shares his dad's feelings that the British should never have gone into Africa in the first place, yet having colonised, should never have then left. This constant honesty and self-reflection is refreshing. Hartley uses crisp, to-the-point prose threaded with delicious, dark humor and a sense of the absurd that reaches its height as he details the bungled U.N. intervention in Somalia.”—Claudia La Rocco, The Indianapolis Star

The value and significance of dowry items have varied greatly, from the sheets and household linen in the bottom drawer traditional in the uk to the “hope chests” of North America, to elaborate trousseaux of jewels, embroidery and weavings intended to show off the family’s wealth or the young woman’s skill. A splendiferous pastiche of Africa wisdom, youthful exuberance, nostalgia, love, adventure and despair set in a world of constant and seldom-positive change. . . . Cynicism wrestles with idealism throughout the book. . . . Hartley’s stories, told here, are an act of bravery. They should be read.”—Roy Durfee, The Santa Fe New Mexican Britain was known as “home.” Yet for us, it was a distant island, where after all these years it was still raining. It was almost entirely through BBC radio that we kept in touch with an idea of England, which was cleansed by the frequencies of short wave and my parents’ vaguely remembered sense of patriotism. England greeted us each dawn with the BBC World Service signature tune, “Lero Lero, Lilli burlero.” Wherever we were, Big Ben tolled the hour and Dad, doing his yoga while drinking his early morning tea, gazed out at our adopted landscape, at a rising desert sun, or at the fishermen punting their outrigger canoes into the surf. This remarkable book is more than the memoir of a war correspondent. It is, by turn, slam-bang adventure and shimmering poetry. It is hilarious, orgiastically bawdy, poignantly romantic, gory as war itself, and populated with census-sized number of vivid personalities. All that—plus informative and dreadfully prophetic. . . . Hartley’s book must rank with other great journalistic memoirs—Eric Severeids’s Not So Wild a Dream and Webb Miller’s I Found No Peace.”—Bart Mcdowell, The Washington TimesThe book recounts his travels and experiences during the Ethiopian famine, the Hutu-Tutsi genocide in Rwanda and the conflict in Somalia. Hartley and his friend actually coined the term "Warlords" to describe the militia tribal leaders.

I remember how an American dropped his trousers for a group of us at the bar and boasted how he’d lost his left testicle in a Balkans mine blast, which he claimed hadn’t prevented him from seducing a nurse during his recovery in a Budapest hospital.” Along with one or more large chests, the young bride would often bring a smaller box for her jewelry and makeup. Some of the earliest surviving examples of these are also some of the finest known: for example, the ivory one from Madinat al-Zahra near Córdoba in al-Andalus, a modest-sized box that belonged to the daughter of Abd al-Rahman iii and is dated to shortly after 961 ce, is beautifully and richly carved. Around the edge of the cover, the Arabic inscription translates: “In the Name of God, this is what was made for the Noble Daughter, daughter of ‘Abd al-Rahman, may God’s mercy and goodwill be upon him.”

Was this article helpful?

The Zanzibar Chest] is thrillingly charged with an undercurrent of passion.”—Suzy Hansen, Salon.com Mesmerizing. . . . A Sweeping, poetic homage to Africa, a continent made vivid by Hartley’s capable, stunning prose.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review) I suspect many of the leaders of those entities would NOT want any of us to read this book. So--please READ THIS BOOK--if you have any interest in Africa WHATSOEVER. Given such powerful stories, the "other" narrative he weaves throughout the book - his attempt to piece together the life of his father's friend - pales in comparison. I'm sure it was an important journey for him personally, but it is difficult to connect with. Davey was in love with Arabia. He converted to Islam and married a local woman, before being forced to cast her off. The tale is beautifully told, but barely illuminates Hartley's war stories. There is little to suggest Davey's death was his father's defining moment. Nor, despite a throwaway reference to a breakdown, does it seem plausible that Hartley's own experiences have changed him as he claims. If the dual narrative works - it just about does - it is bound together by his desire to enter the lost world of his father's emotions.