William Dalrymple
Shades of Beak Street
Where the Jinn Consult
By Soraya Antonius
Hamish Hamilton 283pp £10.95
In Arabia Jonathan Raban suggested that if the Arabs were to acquire a genuine contemporary literature, it would be written by women ‘because women were the only people living under the kind of strain which produces serious poetry and fiction.’ Arab men, he said, had it too easy. He also predicted that when the lattice harem screens were cast down and that first manuscript was published, Arabia would be considerably shaken by the consequences.
Now, ten years later, an Arab woman author has written a very clever, sophisticated and observant novel. But it is also a bitter and angry one and it gets increasingly bitter and angry as it goes on. With good reason. Soraya Antonius is a Palestinian; her novel was written in Beirut during the camp massacres of the Israeli invasion. The book, which is partly autobiographical, is about the eviction of her, her family and her people from their homes and country, and the gradual shattering of their way of life during the bloody events which led up to the creation of Israel. It is a deeply partisan book, more a passionate cri de coeur than a restrained, balanced historical novel: the Zionist terrorists, for example, are caricatured
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk