The Book "Majnun Leyla: Poems about Passion" is Published by Pallas Athena

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The highly-anticipated book "Majnun Leyla: Poems about Passion" by Joyce Akesson is available worldwide on book retailer websites such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

In the northern Arabian Peninsula during the second half of the 7th century, Qays, later known as Majnun, is in love with his cousin Leyla and decides to praise her in his love poems. Annoyed by all the noise around her, Leyla's parents consider that he has compromised her honor and force her to marry another man. Qays becomes desperate and wanders alone in the desert. His father takes him to Mecca and begs him to seek God's help to free him from his passion, but in vain.

The story of Majnun and Leyla has been told in legends, songs, poems, plays and epics from the Caucasus to Africa and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. It is a story of tragic and endless love, much like the later story of "Tristan and Isolde" and "Romeo and Julia" in Europe.

This volume consists of a translation into English of several of Majnün's poems to Leyla together with comments and an introduction. An incurable romanticism, the deepest longing of the heart to its beloved, nostalgia, memories of a lost paradise, idealism, anticipation, joy after a reunion, bitterness after a separation, lovesickness and a consuming passion emerge from the versions that have inspired countless of people more that 1200 years ago and throughout the centuries.

Deftly constructed at 164 pages, "Majnun Leyla: Poems about Passion" is being promoted to appropriate markets with a focus on Ancient and Medieval Foreign Poetry and Classical Arabic Poetry. With U.S. wholesale distribution through Ingram and Baker & Taylor, and pervasive online availability through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and elsewhere, "Majnun Leyla: Poems about Passion" meets consumer demand through both retail and library markets with a suggested retail price of $16.98.

ISBN: 978-9197764186
Format: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches

Joyce Akesson is the author of "Love's Thrilling Dimensions" and "The Invitation". She has also studied the Semitic languages at Lund's University, and has previously been a lecturer there during many years. Beside the present book, she is the author of several books and articles about Arabic linguistics.