WRITER

Amin Maalouf

1949 - Today

Amin Maalouf

Amin Maalouf (French: [maluf]; Arabic: أمين معلوف Arabic pronunciation: [maʕˈluːf]; born 25 February 1949) is a Lebanese-born French author who has lived in France since 1976. Although his native language is Arabic, he writes in French, and his works have been translated into over 40 languages. Of his several works of nonfiction, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes is probably the best known. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Amin Maalouf has received more than 522,154 page views. His biography is available in 59 different languages on Wikipedia. Amin Maalouf is the 732nd most popular writer (down from 639th in 2019), the 17th most popular biography from Lebanon (down from 16th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular Lebanese Writer.

Amin Maalouf is most famous for his novel, "The Rock of Tanios."

Memorability Metrics

520k
Page Views (PV)
63.85
Historical Popularity Index (HPI)
59
Languages Editions (L)
4.82
Effective Languages (L*)
4.51
Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Croisades vues par les Arabes

History

Retraces two critical centuries of Middle Eastern history, presents an intriguing chronicle of the Crusades, and offers insights into the forces that shape Arab and Islamic consciousness today

1984

Léon, l'Africain

1986

Samarcande

Fiction

The story of Samarkand is woven around the history of the manuscript of the Rubaiyaat of Omar Khayyam, from its creation by the poet and sage in eleventh-century Persia to its loss when the Titanic sank in 1912. Unwittingly involved in a brawl on the streets of Samarkand, Omar Khayyam is brought before a local judge who recognizes his genius as a poet and gives him a blank book in which to inscribe his verses. Thus the head of a great poet is saved and the Rubaiyaat of Omar Khayyam is born. The threads of his life become interwoven with the designs of the vizier, Nizam al Mulk, and of Hassan Sabbah, the founder of the Order of the Assassins who later hides the precious manuscript in his famous mountain fortress. At the end of the nineteenth century the poems fire the imagination of the West in Edward Fitzgerald's evocative translation. An American scholar learns of the manuscript's survival and recovers it with the help of a Persian princess. Together they take it on the fateful voyage of the Titanic.

19884 / 5

Jardins de lumière

Biographical fiction

1996

Le rocher de Tanios

Fiction

An exploration of myth, passion and loyalty from the Lebanon's troubled past, The Rock of Tanios is another superbly rich and rewarding novel from the author of Samarkand and Leo the African. Expertly controlling his multi-faceted narrative with prose of great beauty and power, Maalouf delves into the history of an extraordinary life: that of Tanois, child of the mountains.

19934 / 5

Samarcande

Fiction, History, New York Times reviewed

The life of Omar Khayyam, the 11th Century Persian poet who wrote The Rubaiyaat, chronicling his adventures and romances. The novel is in two parts, the second describing the manner in which the manuscript reached the West. Description: 304 p. ; 21 cm. Series Title: Emerging voices. Other Titles: Samarcande. Responsibility: Amin Maalouf ; translated by Russell Harris.

1988

Le rocher de Tanios

History, Histoire, Romans, nouvelles

1993

Croisades vues par les Arabes

Crusades, History, non-fiction

1984

Léon, l'Africain

Discoveries in geography, Discovery and exploration, Explorers

1986

Les croisades vues par les Arabes

Croisades, Histoire, Crusades

1985

Balthasar's Odyssey

Voyages and travels, Merchants, Name

In 1665, with prophecies and portents foretelling the forthcoming Apocalypse, Balthasar, an antiquarian merchant and sage, embarks on a perilous quest to find a rare book that could hold the key to the world's salvation. Description: 391 pages : map ; 25 cm. Other Titles: Périple de Baldassare. Responsibility: Amin Maalouf ; translated from the French by Barbara Bray.

2002