A proposed series of 10 novels, drawing on research into specific historical events/eras, to be written with a view to articulating a subversive vision of the rise of Europe. Each novel will take no more than 2 years from start to final draft, with time divided roughly evenly between research and writing up. Emphasis will be placed on creating emotionally compelling human narratives around a central character, at the same time as exploring all the possibilities offered by the postmodern imagination. |
December, 1148; 543 AH: a small band of travellers gather on Marettimo, believed by some to be Homer's Ithaca, now a fortress island off the coast of Norman Sicily. Among them is leading intellectual luminary of Roger II’s court, Muhammad al-Idrisi, on his way to Bristol in England to complete his geographical grand treatise, Nuzhatul Mushtaq. Finding safe passage on Captain Ali’s futuristic vessel, al-Jaariya, Idrisi shares conversation and adventures with an extraordinary array of characters, some human, on a tumultuous voyage where the darkest encounters are not with sea monsters or storms, but with the desires and contradictions burning at the very heart of their expedition. |
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THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #67 Chapters and Notes: What about making the Mapmaker's 30 chapters roughly concurrent with the 32 chapter myth cycle in Kevin Crossley-Holland's The Penguin Book of Norse Myths (London: Penguin, 1996). Al-Idrisi: Keeps a copy of Ibn Seerin's Muntakhab al-Kalam fi Tafsir Al-Ahlam (The Key Declamation of Dream Interpretation), and dreams link to e.g. Norse Creation Myth. THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #66 Characters: There are 99 bahriyīn, divided into two futuwwa. However, as rubbān Ali Hussain, both futawwa have exactly the same number of members. In fact, there is one sailor who is a member of both, but one half of him sleeps at night and the other half in the day. This leaves him unable to walk (as there is always one leg that doesn't work), do he works as a one-eyed look out, wheeling a chair round the perimeter of the ship, his one waking eye looking out to sea. Both halves wake up for battle. His name is Abdul Ash-Shahid. The two futuwwah are recognisable because the day shift wear black trousers and the night shift wear white. THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #65 Medium/Minor Scenarios: The magic door at the end of the guests' corridor on al-Jaariya is placed in front of the real door, which accesses the rowing deck. It is placed there by Taj al Din every night so that no one will discovering he is visiting the night futuwwah (who are Ismailis) and conspiring with them. This is eventually discovered by Ali Hussain, who recognises the magic, reaches through the false door, opens the real one, and discovers Taj al-Din and thereby uncovers the conspiracy to mutiny. Or something like that, anyway! THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #64 Characters: Why does al-Idrisi travel? Is he simply someone who has always seen the world in terms of travel? Or is he rebelling against clan expectations? Or both? Perhaps, on her deathbed, his mother told him he was the son of a mysterious traveller? And/or... THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #63 Characters: I think I'm coming to the conclusion that I need to write biographies for each of the main characters. Maximum 3000 words on al-Idrisi, 1500< on other major characters, 500 max for rest. Will use a template as a guide. THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #62 Plot & Major Scenarios/Characters: Reading Lindholm, C. (2002) The Islamic Middle East: Tradition and Change, 2nd Ed (London: WileyBlackwell), I am increasingly drawn to the idea of making the central narrative of The Mapmaker biographical/heroic, perhaps with Idrisi's childhood set among the (possibly Berber) highland herders and farmers of the Maghrib. THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #61 Themes: The other day, I was boo-hooing into my diet coke about the problems of expertise as it pertains to my novel writing efforts. My worrying sparked a cascade of uncertainties in respect to the style and content of my hope2be novel, which is thankfully still at the research stage. I still have eight months to complete the bulk of the research, according to my own schedule, with a total of two years to arrive at the final draft, hence it’s okay to spend a few days flapping. As long as I don’t make a habit of it. THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #60 12th Century World History: The Mapmaker, my wannabe novel, has been coming along quite nicely. Then today, I started reading Veronique Mottier’s Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction, which begins with a brief survey of sexuality in Greek and Roman antiquity. The contrast between the social construction of sexuality then and now is stark. And suddenly, it dawned on me: I don’t really know enough to write about 12th century Mediterranean society to avoid The Mapmaker becoming a fuminously bad costume drama. And I said myself, as I banged my bonse on the floor repeatedly, “bollocks!” THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #59 Characters: Sulayman Vaishory Eis is the retired fourteenth king of Endothermic Viola, a fiefdom founded over 200,000 years ago, the oldest living Jinn on the planet. The Mapmaker is his intended magnum opus, an epic spanning from creation to the age of globalization, dictated to his esteemed descendent and historian, Destiny Moprot. Yet even as the venerable tale commences, Sulayman's efforts are thwarted by his arch enemy, Sir Climatic, Earl of Sensible, whose repeated assassination attempts and crepitious farts drive the ex-king and his scribe to take refuge in a series of ever more remote hideouts. The story begins as they finally arrive on a 12th century Mediterranean island, seeking the protection of legendary metachronal professor, Muhammad al-Idrisi, and his trusty student Julaybib Ayoub. THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #58 Descriptions: I want the symbolic universe of the 12th century to be manifest to Julaybib, e.g. he sees the angels moving the clouds and causing them to rain. Which raises another issue - the nature of the worldview of Muslims in the Islamic Middle Period. THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #57 Somewhere in the midst of The Mapmaker, I intend to include a 'divorce petition', along the following lines:
THE MAPMAKER: Research Item #56
BooksnbatsWiki:
Mainly reading at the moment: just finished Hughes, A.
(2008) Situating Islam: The Past and Future
of an Academic Discipline (Equinox
Publishing), and already up to chapter 2 of
Tayob, A. (1999) Islam: A Short Introduction (Oxford: Oneworld) |
