{"product_id":"the-hedgehog-by-zakaria-tamer","title":"'The Hedgehog' by Zakaria Tamer","description":"\u003ch4 data-start=\"191\" data-end=\"402\"\u003eFirst published in English by the American University in Cairo Press, \u003cem data-start=\"261\" data-end=\"275\"\u003eThe Hedgehog\u003c\/em\u003e is a short, unsettling novella by Syrian writer Zakaria Tamer, one of the most distinctive voices in modern Arabic literature.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"404\" data-end=\"782\"\u003eTold through the eyes of a five-year-old boy, the story unfolds in a domestic world that is quietly surreal and deeply menacing. Djinn slip into bedrooms, animals behave with unnerving indifference, and authority is both arbitrary and absolute. What begins as childhood observation becomes something darker: a portrait of fear, obedience, and violence embedded in everyday life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"784\" data-end=\"1156\"\u003eTamer’s prose is deceptively simple — clipped, direct, almost fable-like — but the effect is corrosive. Beneath the child’s voice sits a sharp political and psychological critique, shaped by repression, masculinity, and the inheritance of cruelty. The stories that accompany the novella extend these concerns, exposing systems of power with bleak humour and moral clarity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1158\" data-end=\"1243\"\u003eA key work of Arabic modernism, \u003cem data-start=\"1190\" data-end=\"1204\"\u003eThe Hedgehog\u003c\/em\u003e is small in size but brutal in impact.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"bower studio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43410995282003,"sku":null,"price":26.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/0268\/2707\/files\/d6c1d179-3150-433e-87be-96c844eac1dc.jpg?v=1768961860","url":"https:\/\/bowerbooks.com\/products\/the-hedgehog-by-zakaria-tamer","provider":"bower books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}