About the Book: Sojourn
An unnamed man arrives in Berlin as a visiting professor. It is a place fused
with Western history and cultural fracture lines. He moves along its streets and
pavements; through its department stores, museums and restaurants. He befriends
Faqrul, an enigmatic exiled poet, and Birgit, a woman with whom he shares the
vagaries of attraction. He tries to understand his white-haired cleaner. Berlin
is a riddle-he becomes lost not only in the city but in its legacy.
Sealed off in his own solitude, and as his visiting professorship passes, the
narrator awaits transformation and meaning. Ultimately, he starts to understand
that the less sure