Politics and Palestinian Literature in Exile: Gender, Aesthetics and Resistance in the Short Story

272 Pages·2017·1.94 MB·English

by  Joseph R. Farag

SoAS Palestine Studies
Joseph R. Farag is Assistant Professor of ‘Fixing its creative gaze on the short story – a form with its own Despite, or even because of, their tumultuous
Arab Studies at the University of Minnesota. peculiar logic, pacing, and poise – this book is not only the history history, Palestinians are renowned for being
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He holds a PhD from Queen Mary University prolific cultural producers, creating many of the
of a genre, nationally inflected, but a genre through which the eo
of London where he was also Lecturer in Arab world’s most iconic works of literature. in
three great watersheds of Palestinian history (nakba, naksa, and nL
Middle Eastern Literary Studies. Farag has di particular, the Palestinian short story stands out
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the Forum Transregionale Studien in affiliation the varied literary portraits of anticolonialism’s true acid test.’ A and the political and historical contexts from
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Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota hn
research examines the intersection of history, e Politics and Palestinian Literature in Exile is the first
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Laleh Khalili, Professor of Middle East Politics, SoAS, University cn
e the Palestinians call the nakba (‘catastrophe’),
of London in Li SoAS Palestine Studies naksa (‘defeat’) and First intifada (‘uprising’). in
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‘Written in a flowing and engaging style, the study ultimately er J oS E P H r. F ArAG makes an original contribution to the subject
and forcefully fulfils its promise: showing the ways in which the SA of exilic identity and subjectivity in Palestinian
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from a literary account of history, and will be of
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Ayman A. El-Desouky, Senior Lecturer in Modern Arabic and t PA L E St i n iAn interest to students and scholars of both Arabic
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Jacket image: A Palestinian fighter holds a kitten in the i
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refugee camp of Burj Al Barajneh near Beirut, 8 July 1988. E
© Aline Manoukian
Jacket design: Simon Levy
JoSEPH r. Gender, Aesthetics and
ISBN 978-1-78453-655-8 FArAG
resistance in the Short Story
www.ibtauris.com
CEntrE For
PALEStinE StUDiES 9 781784536558
JosephR.FaragisAssistantProfessorofArabStudiesattheUniversity
ofMinnesota.Heholdsa PhDfrom Queen MaryUniversity ofLondon
wherehewasalsoLecturerinMiddleEasternLiteraryStudies.Faraghas
also helda EUME postdoctoral fellowship atthe ForumTransregionale
Studien in affiliation with the Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of
Literary Studies, Freie Universita¨t Berlin. His research examines the
intersection of history, politics and cultural production in the modern
Arab World, with particular emphasis on the Palestinian context.
‘Fixingitscreativegazeontheshortstory – aformwithitsownpeculiar
logic, pacing, and poise – this book is not only the history of a genre,
nationallyinflected,butagenrethroughwhichthethreegreatwatersheds
of Palestinian history (Nakba, Naksa, and Intifada) are movingly told.
In Farag’s confident and well-argued study, Sartrean “literature engage”
takestheform,alternately,ofsurrealistphantasmagoria,bluntmilitancy,
andasearing,melancholicinteriority. Asurprisingandinformativetake
on thevaried literaryportraitsofanticolonialism’s true acidtest.’
Timothy A. Brennan, Professor of Cultural Studies and
Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota
‘Inthisbeautifullywritten,textured,andthoughtfulbook,Faragtracesthe
developmentofthePalestinianshortstoryandhighlightsthesignificance
of historical catastrophes, political commitment, and bold aesthetic
innovationintheemergenceandflourishingofthislong-neglectedgenre.
A must read for anyone interested in Palestinian literature and cultural
production.’
Laleh Khalili, Professor of Middle East Politics,
SOAS, University of London
‘Farag’s excellent choice of focus on the short story, one of the most
complex and yet understudied genres, furthers discussion of the
aestheticthrustoftheform,itsplacewithinthelargerliteraryhistoryin
Palestinian and Arabic literature, and its comparability to the force of
poetic practices as the celebrated genre of resistance. Written in a
flowingandengagingstyle,thestudyultimatelyandforcefullyfulfilsits
promise: showing the ways in which the historian and the political
analyst,andtheirrespectivedisciplines,canbenefitfromdeeperstudyof
Palestinian literary production.’
Ayman A. El-Desouky, Senior Lecturer in Modern Arabic and
Comparative Literature, SOAS, University of London
SOAS PALESTINE STUDIES
This book series aims at promoting innovative research in the study
of Palestine, Palestinians and the Israel–Palestine conflict as a crucial
component of Middle Eastern and world politics. The first ever Western
academicseriesentirelydedicatedtothistopic,SOASPalestineStudiesdraws
fromavarietyofdisciplinaryfields,includinghistory,politics,media,visual
arts,socialanthropology,anddevelopmentstudies.Theseriesispublished
undertheacademicdirectionoftheCentreforPalestineStudies(CPS)atthe
LondonMiddleEastInstitute(LMEI)ofSOAS,UniversityofLondon.
Series Editor:
Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International
Relations at SOAS, Chair of the Centre for Palestine Studies
Board Advisor:
HassanHakimian,DirectoroftheLondonMiddleEastInstituteatSOAS
Current and Forthcoming Titles:
Palestine Ltd.: Neoliberalism and Nationalism in the Occupied Territory, by
Toufic Haddad
PoliticsandPalestinianLiteratureinExile:Gender,AestheticsandResistancein
theShort Story, by Joseph R. Farag
PalestinianCitizensofIsrael:Power,ResistanceandtheStruggleforSpace,by
Sharri Plonski

POLITICS AND
PALESTINIAN
LITERATURE
IN EXILE
Gender, Aesthetics and Resistance
in the Short Story
J R. F
OSEPH ARAG
Centre for Palestine Studies
Published in association with the Centre for Palestine Studies,
London Middle East Institute
Publishedin2017by
I.B.Tauris&Co.Ltd
London•NewYork
www.ibtauris.com
Copyrightq2017JosephR.Farag
TherightofJosephR.Faragtobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeenasserted
bytheauthorinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,oranypartthereof,
maynotbereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,
inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise,
withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.
Referencestowebsiteswerecorrectatthetimeofwriting.
SOASSeriesonPalestineStudies2
ISBN:9781784536558
eISBN:9781786721808
ePDF:9781786731807
AfullCIPrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
AfullCIPrecordisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:available
TypesetinGaramondThreebyOKSPrepressServices,Chennai,India
PrintedandboundbyCPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon,CR04YY
For my parents, Ramez and Hanaa

CONTENTS
Series Foreword xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Note on Transliteration xv
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Nakba
Narrating the Nakba: History, Testimony and Re-Membering 18
Form and Function in Arabic Literature: Realism
and the Nation 23
Samira Azzam 34
Ghassan Kanafani’s Pioneering Modernism 57
Chapter 2 Naksa
Nakba to Naksa 75
The Palestinians and the Rise and Fall of Pan-Arabism 76
Refugees to Revolutionaries: Palestinian Identity of
Resistance and its Antecedents 82
The Reclamation of Dignity and the Battle of Karama 89
Commitment to Resistance 91
Ghassan Kanafani’s ʿAn al-rija¯l wa-al-bana¯diq 96
Resistance and its Discontents: Yahya Yakhlif’s
Nu¯rma¯ wa rajul al-thalj 114
Internal Resistance and the Gender Politics of Patriarchy
and Modernism: Liana Badr’s ‘Ana¯ urı¯d al-naha¯r’ 128