Kafka's Curse - Tapa dura

Set in South Africa during the final unravelling of apartheid, a retelling of an ancient Arabic legend follows Oscar Khan's love for a woman outside his race and religion, an affair that leads to tragedy and alienation, as his unforgiving brother struggles to come to terms with Oscar's apostasy. 15,000 first printing.

lication in South Africa of Kafka's Curse, the prize-winning poet Achmat Dangor joined the ranks of first-rate literary writers--Gordimer, Brink, Breytenbach, and Coetzee among them--to come out of South Africa.        

Brilliantly conceived and powerfully evoked, Kafka's Curse is a modern reinterpretation of the Arabic legend of the gardener who loves a princess and, for his transgression, is transformed into a tree. Reset in South Africa as apartheid was coming undone, this is the story of the Khan family, who are both "colored" and Muslim.  When Oscar Khan, a budding architect, dares to pursue a woman outside his race and to change his religious identity, he commits a sin and must be punished. His unforgiving brother, a post-apartheid politician, tries to come to terms with Oscar's apostasy but will himself betray both his principles and his family when he falls in love with Amina, a beautiful and spi