Adrian Hussain’s ‘Italian Window: Voyages in Time’ launched

‘Italian Window: Voyages in Time’, a collection of sonnets composed by Dr Adrian Hussain, was launched at the Liberty Books, Clifton, on Thursday evening.

The sonnets narrate the experiences and personal remiscences of the time when Dr Hussain’s father, the late Akhtar Hussain, was the Pakistan ambassador to Italy. 

The sonnets also describe various aspects of the family ties and take us on a journey back into time. They depict the phases of time – the past, the present, and the future. His sonnets are supposed to be a wonderful imagery of Rome, the splendid light in the place. “There is light even in the ruins,” he says.

Talking about his work, Hussain said, “I felt there was something much bigger happening to me.  It was a case of inspiration. Sometimes I composed two sonnets a day, sonnets about my childhood in Rome. I wanted to create something modern, something different.”

There is a parallel between ‘Italian Window’ and Wordsworth’s ‘Prelude Weaving’ several strands of history and childhood happenings one into the other, Dr Hussain has produced sonnets rich with meaning. They can be brutally honest reliving sources of pain and, at times, deeply forgiving.

They are also a source of examining history in the light of the author’s experiences and thought processes. For one, in his sonnet, ‘Calpurnia’s Dream from Julius Caesar’, he describes the dream foretelling Julius Caesar’s murder. He most dramatically describes the dream with all its bloody manifestations; pools of blood, the clang of spears and javelins, and all that goes with such gory happenings. 

Same is the case with his sonnet, ‘Ghost’. Leaning towards the metaphysical, it describes the manifestation of a ghost, a manifestation which is invisible yet makes its presence felt. There’s a sonnet which is very sentimentally orientated about his late mother, who passed away last year. Hussain was deeply attached to his mother and nursed her through the most crisis-riddled phases of her illness. The sonnet is a vivid reflection of a dutiful son’s deep affection for his mother. 

Many other sonnets in the book that refer to his childhood and the ties between the family members carry a highly sentimental tone.

It may be mentioned here Dr Hussain, an Oxford graduate, is an internationally acknowledged authority on Shakespeare.

The book launch was held in rather an innovative, unconventional way.

There were no speeches as such and it was in the form of a conversation between Dr Hussain and Salman Kureshi.