This compelling study presents an original look at how 'the nation' is represented in the literature of the Middle East. It includes chapters on Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine and Israel, drawing on the expertise of literary scholars, historians, political scientists and cultural theorists.
The book offers a synthesising contribution to knowledge, placing Arab literature within the context of emergent or conflicting nationalist projects in the area.
The approaches taken by the authors range from textual and rhetorical analysis to historical accounts of the role of literature...

A collection of autobiographical essays by one of the greatest poets to come from Palestine.

"Every beautiful poem is an act of resistance," asserts Darwish. Both voice of the Palestinian people and one of the most transcendent poets of his generation, Mahmoud Darwish also wrote several remarkable volumes of autobiographical essays over the course of his life. First published in Beirut in 1973, these probing essays ask vital questions about the existentially complex realities the Palestinians in Israel face and the ambiguity of Darwish's own identity as an Israeli Palestinian. They call...