in La rivista di Arablit, a. III, n. 6, dicembre 2013, pp. 5-18.

Modern literature of Yemen is a relatively new discovery to Western scholarship. That is particularly true as far as fiction is concerned, especially in the literary genre of the novel. Nonetheless, Yemeni novels are being acclaimed more and more at home and worldwide. Ḥabīb ‘Abd al-Rabb Surūrī is included among the most acclaimed novelists. Although he has been living in France for many years, he has never forgotten his native country and its people, neither in his genuinely literary works nor in other texts.  Besides this, he is an intellectual in the broader sense of the term, since not only is he a man of letters, but he is also a scientist and academic. In his works as a novelist, he manages to mingle these two facets, which are fundamental in his life, as it happens in ‘Araq al-ālihah, with its interesting mixture of science fiction and gender/identity issues.

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