99 Psalms
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SAID's 99 Psalms are poems of praise and lament, of questioning and wondering. In the tradition of the Hebrew psalmist, they find their voice in exile, in this case one that is both existential and geographical. His decision to include 99 in this collection recalls the ancient Muslim tradition that ascribes 99 names to Allah, though the "lord"whom this psalmist addresses is not bounded by this or any other religious tradition. As psalms that turn to the "lord" with a lover's vulnerability, they avoid every trace of sentimentality. Rather, they seek to open us to the mystery of human life, warning us of the difficulties we face in our attempts to live peaceably together in the midst of our differences.
Said
SAID, who publishes only under his first name for security reasons, was born in Tehran in 1947 and has lived in Munich since 1965. He is the author of several books, only one of which, Be to Me the Night: Love Poems, has been translated into English. The recipient of numerous awards, including the Premio Letterario Internazionale "Jean Monnet" and the German PEN Center's Hermann-Kesten Medal, he served as president of the German PEN Center and director of the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN.
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