Palestinian literature refers to the
Arabic language
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
novels, short stories and poems produced by
Palestinians
Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine.
*: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenou ...
. Forming part of the broader genre of
Arabic literature
Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...
, contemporary Palestinian literature is often characterized by its heightened sense of
irony
Irony, in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what, on the surface, appears to be the case with what is actually or expected to be the case. Originally a rhetorical device and literary technique, in modernity, modern times irony has a ...
and the exploration of existential themes and issues of identity. References to the subjects of resistance to occupation,
exile
Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...
, loss, and love and longing for
homeland are also common.
Historical Origins
Palestinian literature is one of numerous Arabic literatures, but its affiliation is
nation
A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...
al, rather than territorial.
While
Egyptian literature is that written in
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
,
Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
ian literature is that written in
Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
etc., and up until the
1948 Arab–Israeli war, Palestinian literature was also territory-bound, since the
1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight it has become "a literature written by Palestinians"
[Elad-Bouskila, Ami (1999). ''Modern Palestinian Literature and Culture''. London & Portland, OR, Frank Cass.] irrespective of their place of residence.
[
]
Overview
Palestinian literature spoke to other causes of oppression and discrimination across the world. In his book, one of the foremost leaders of Palestinian literature and the person who coined the term ''Palestinian Resistance Literature'', Ghassan Kanafani says, "In my stories I give my characters the freedom to express their own positions without reservation". This sense of international solidarity can also be found in Palestinian poets' work such as in Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish (; 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinians, Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as Palestine's national poet.
In 1988 Darwish wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which was the formal declarat ...
's poem ''Cuban Chants'', "And the banner in Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
.. The rebel raises it in the Aures.. Oh a nation that feels cold", and in Samih Al-Qasim's poem, ''Birds Without Wings''.
In the period between the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight and the 1967 Six-Day War, ''Palestinian Resistance Literature'' played a significant role in maintaining the Palestinian identity; forming a bridge between the two periods, which allowed the Palestinian identity to survive especially in the absence of armed resistance. In his book, ''Palestinian Resistance Literature Under Occupation'', Ghassan Kanafani argues, "Palestinian resistance literature, just like armed resistance, shapes a new circle in the historical series which practically has not been cut throughout the last half century in the Palestinian life".
Since 1967, most critics have theorized the existence of three "branches" of Palestinian literature, loosely divided by geographic location: 1) from inside Israel, 2) from the occupied territories, 3) from among the Palestinian diaspora throughout the Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
.
Hannah Amit-Kochavi recognizes only two branches: that written by Palestinians from inside the State of Israel as distinct from that written outside.She also posits a temporal distinction between literature produced before 1948 and that produced thereafter.[ In a 2003 article published in the ''Studies in the Humanities'' journal, Steven Salaita posits a fourth branch made up of ]English language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
works, particularly those written by Palestinians in the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, which he defines as "writing rooted in diasporic countries but focused in theme and content on Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
."[ However, Maurice Ebileeni argues that a fourth branch referring exclusively to anglophone literary works is not sufficient. Rather, Palestinian displacement both in Israel/Palestine and the diaspora have led to cultural and lingual diversification among Palestinians that exceeds experiences in Arabic- and English-speaking locations. Ebileeni suggest a polylingual branch that entails works by Palestinian authors – or authors of Palestinian descent – written in English as well as Italian, Spanish, Danish, Hebrew and several other languages.
Palestinian literature can be intensely political, as underlined by writers like Salma Khadra Jayyusi and novelist Liana Badr, who have mentioned the need to give expression to the Palestinian "collective identity" and the "just case" of their struggle.] There is also resistance to this school of thought, whereby Palestinian artists have "rebelled" against the demand that their art be "committed".[ Poet Mourid Barghouti for example, has often said that "poetry is not a civil servant, it's not a soldier, it's in nobody's employ."][ Rula Jebreal's novel '' Miral'' tells the story of Hind Husseini's effort to establish an ]orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...
in Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Deir Yassin Massacre, and the establishment of the state of Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
.
Novels and short stories
Susan Abulhawas book '' Mornings in Jenin'' tells the story of a Palestinian family lost their homes during the 1948 war. In ''A Rift in Time'' author Raja Shehadeh explored the relationship between the decline of the Ottoman Empire, British colonialism and Palestinian self-identity in a novel about his great-uncle Najib Nassar.
Short stories in Palestinian literature started with writers like Samira Azzam. Censorship of written material made short stories particularly popular under occupation for the relative ease in distribution. Author Atef Abu Saif has said that "Gaza was known as the exporter of oranges and short stories" in the 1980s and 90s.
Poetry
Poetry, using classic pre-Islamic forms, remains an extremely popular art form, often attracting Palestinian audiences in the thousands. Until 20 years ago, local folk bard
In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...
s reciting traditional verses were a feature of every Palestinian town.
After the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight, poetry was transformed into a vehicle for political activism. From among those Palestinians who became Arab citizens of Israel
The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...
and after the passage of the Citizenship Law of 1952, a school of resistance poetry was born that included poets like Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish (; 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinians, Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as Palestine's national poet.
In 1988 Darwish wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which was the formal declarat ...
, Samih al-Qasim, and Tawfiq Zayyad.[
The work of these poets was largely unknown to the wider Arab world for years because of the lack of diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab governments. The situation changed after Ghassan Kanafani, another Palestinian writer in exile in ]Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
published an anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...
of their work in 1966.[
The work of Nathalie Handal an award-winning poet, playwright, and writer appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. She has been translated into twelve languages. She has promoted international literature through translation, research, and the edited The Poetry of Arab Women, an anthology that introduced several Arab women poets to a wider audience in the west.
Palestinian poets often write about the common theme of a strong affection and sense of loss and longing for a lost homeland.][ In a poem about the Israeli bombing of Lebanon, published in the Palestinian literary magazine ''al-Karmel'', Mahmoud Darwish wrote:
]
Smoke rises from me, I reach out a hand to collect my limbs scattered from so many bodies, besieged from land and sky and sea and language. The last plane has taken off from Beirut airport and left me in front of the screen to watch
with millions of viewers
the rest of my death
As for my heart, I see it roll, like a pine cone, from Mount Lebanon, to Gaza.
Hakawati
The art of story telling was for a long time part of the cultural life in Arabic speaking countries of the Middle East. The tradition of " Tales From a Thousand and One Nights" is not an exception. In each small town or village of Palestine, itinerant story tellers called ''hakawati'' would visit and tell folk stories they knew, often in teahouses. The tales of the ''hakawati,'' once told for all ages, are now sometimes emerging from the Palestinian diaspora as children's books.
Hikaye
Palestinian hikaye
Hikaye, or Palestinian hikaye (), is a unique form of oral literature from Palestine that is performed by women, particularly those who are older.
In 2005, it was listed as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNES ...
is a form of oral literature created, performed and preserved by women. Usually narrated in winter, the performers are usually older women, who tell them to younger women and children. Some versions of hikaye were published in the 1989 volume '' Speak Bird, Speak Again.'' In 2008 they were inscribed by UNESCO to their list of intangible cultural heritage.
See also
* Palestine Festival of Literature
* Palestinian art
* Palestinian handicrafts
* Palestinian music
* Palestinian National Theatre
* Speak, Bird, Speak Again
References
Additional references
* Alvarado-Larroucau, Carlos, ''Écritures palestiniennes francophones; Quête d’identité en espace néocolonial'', Paris, Éditions L’Harmattan, coll. «Critiques littéraires», 2009. (in French)
* Abu-Remaileh, Refqa, ''Documenting Palestinian Presence: A Study of the Novels of Emile Habibi and the Films of Elia Suleiman''. (Dissertation) University of Oxford, 2010.
External links
Country of Words: A Transnational Atlas for Palestinian Literature
A Curated List of 20 Palestinian Short Stories
in translation on ArabLit.org
16 Free Zines from and about Palestine
in English translation on ArabLit.org
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080807171544/http://imeu.net/news/literature.shtml Palestinian Literature: News and Reviews at IMEU.net
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa review
{{Authority control
Literature by ethnicity