Robert Irwin
Robert Irwin was born in 1946. He read Modern History at Oxford and taught Medieval History at the University of St Andrews. He also lectured on Arabic and Middle Eastern History at the universities of London, Cambridge and Oxford. He is the commissioning editor for the TLS for The Middle East and writes for a number of newspapers and journals in the UK and the USA.
Robert Irwin goes rollerblading most days and takes part in rollerblading marathons.His other pursuits include juggling, pinball and cooking.
He has published six novels: The Arabian Nightmare (1983), The Limits of Vision (1986), The Mysteries of Algiers (1988), Exquisite Corpse (1995), Prayer-Cushions of the Flesh (1997), and Satan Wants Me (1999). He is the author of six works of non-fiction: The Middle East in the Middle Ages (1984), The Arabian Nights: A Companion (1994), Islamic Art (1997), Night and Horses and the Desert: The Penguin Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature (1999), Alhambra (2004), and For Lust of Knowing; The Orientalists and Their Enemies (2006).
“One day he became conscious that something was following him, a lazy white dog, a bitch with heavy dugs, padded behind him, whining continuously. When Balian sat collapsed in the shadows of the houses, the dog would circle him, breathing heavily and whining, her lips hanging loose in a sly sort of grin. In streets, in deserted ruins and in crowded market places Balian was aware that a flabby white shadow trailed behind him, and at nights, when Balian slept in the open, the dog would lie down too at a distance, panting in the hot night air.”
“In the realm of the phenomenal, "less is more" only when less is the sum total of more.”