The Power of the Mind Should Never Be Underestimated...
Charlatan. Guru. Master of disguise. Ahead of his time, wise beyond his years, a simple opportunist or the great pretender; however you choose to see him, one fact is certain: Dr Ragab is a mysterious man. Talked about by pretty much everyone in 1920s Cairo, only a few get the chance to make his acquaintance, and fewer still - one person, in fact - get to study his life lessons. Hertwig is that lucky soul. Or not so lucky, perhaps: not when he finds himself, at the very end of the second world war, imprisoned in a bunker in Germany by a gang of thugs. To make matters worse, it's not just any bunker; it's Hertwig's own bunker, and he's built it to be 100 per cent escape-proof. And yet ...there is a possible way out. Not in the conventional sense, it's true, but when you're holed up several feet underground, unsure of how long your captors plan to keep you alive, convention isn't necessarily a good thing, as Dr Ragab would be the first to proclaim - and it's his universal language that may just provide Hertwig with the escape route he needs. As unconventional as the eponymous Ragab, Robert Twigger's novel takes the reader on a surreal journey, exploring such diverse topics as far right ideologies, middle east mysticism and the art of communicating via food preparation and presentation. Clever, funny and thought-provoking, "Dr Ragab's Universal Language" is, in every sense, beyond belief: part tall tale and part self-help manual, it is, like Dr R himself, impossible to pin down - or, indeed, to put down.
To be released on July 3rd 2009. Pre-Order your copy now by clicking on the following link: Dr Ragab's Universal Language
The below review of Dr Ragab is copied direct from amazon hence the strange formatting:
Highly recommended!, 19 Jun 2009
By realperson M. John Seldon (Paris, France) - See all my reviews
I was able to borrow a pre-publication review copy of 'Dr Ragab's Universal Language' and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Very interesting, very funny in places and beautifully written, Twigger's first fiction book is extremely difficult to place exactly, but it will certainly make you think and I think Dr Ragab could very well become one of the classic characters of fiction. I found it a gripping read and would highly recommend it - in fact, I'm already looking forward to reading it again when I finally get my own copy on publication.
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Just finished reading a preview copy of Robert Twigger's first novel (he of Angry White Pyjamas fame). It's called: Dr Ragab's Universal Language. Fantastic read and I urge you to purchase it when it comes out in early July. We learn about the novel's key character Hertwig through his diary, which has been passed to the narrator of the novel via a deathly boring business-to-business writing job: in Germany to write the company history of an aluminium corporation, he is given the diaries by Hertwig's nephew who says little but clearly wants his uncle's story to be told. When we first meet Hertwig he is underground, a prisoner of his own making... that is, he is being held captive in a bunker he himself built to protect a young Jewish girl, Hagar, during the Second World War. It is here, alone and initially in complete darkness that he begins to remember the teaching of Dr Ragab and to truly understand them. The narrative of memory that then follows traces back to Hertwig's unconventional, staunchly atheist father, his brief time at a monastery, and his involvement and then injury in the war. But the story really gets under way when he meets Dr Ragab, a mysterious and famed figure in 1920's Cairo who some worship and others dismiss as a fraud. Hertwig becomes his pupil and is put through an endless series of seemingly meaningless tasks, but trapped alone and hopeless in the bunker he realises that to escape he needs to remember the teachings of Ragab... his mysterious (& magical?) Universal Language. Intertwined with the pages of the diary, the modern-day narrator who is reading all breaks off every so often to tells us about his own life... his infatuation with a girl and the attentions she is receiving from a slimy City businessman. This potentially awkward structure is dealt with with a great lightness of touch, and the whole novel is very deftly written as well as being humourous throughout. One of it's key themes is the idea of being present, not living either in the past or the future, and that to do this you must release both fear and greed. The idea that these two emotions are manifestations of the same basic emotion was very interesting to me. & we've all experienced it: working busily away at something, our ambition and desire (greed you might say) for respect and success disturbs our ability to achieve our potentials as we imagine winning the prize, making the money, receiving the applauseof the crowd, before our task is even close to being completed. And ultimately we take our focus away from what we're trying to do, and both our ambition and our selves suffer... As Dr Ragab said: 'A man on a straight path never lost his way.' Those who can exist without greed or fear are very rare souls, Dr Ragab informs Hertwig... they are luminous souls, like Hagar. The question is, can Hertwig release himself from his own memory and fear to escape the fortress-like bunker he built with his own hands? To find out, you'd best read the novel... PP xx
Twitter is obviously sheer folly... apart from being yet more celebrity pants viewing or maybe as a nugget information exchange - so it is as that that the celebrated Polymath Dr Ragab has taken to the twitterbug with the idea of disseminating some of his gems of wisdom, or even plain information, all at under 140 characters- follow Dr Ragab by typing roberttwigger into the twitter find people slot (twitter.com) and start following his advice today!
Dr Ragab is the lead character, a polymath who knows everything, in my novel out on July 3 2009 Picador- at half price if you preorder from amazon UK before publication (only 6.99 rather than 12.99)- I'm trying to get an amazing 5000 pre-ordered so do the right thing now!
Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 12:33PM