Palestinian and Arab-Jewish Cultures

Reuven Snir is Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Haifa. His most recent books in English include Arab-Jewish Literature: The Birth and Demise of the Arabic Short Story (Brill, 2019), Modern Arabic Literature: A Theoretical Framework (EUP, 2017), Baghdad ― The City in Verse (Harvard University Press, 2013) and Who Needs Arab-Jewish Identity? (Brill, 2015).

• Preface AcknowledgmentsTechnical NotesNotes on Transliteration Introduction PART I OCCUPATION, DOMINATION, AND COMMITMENT1. Performance: In the Service of the Nation Introduction First Attempts Uprooting Professionalization Conclusion 2. Commitment: Verse Drama and Resistance Introduction Political Theater “Ladder of Hunger” Apocalypticism Conclusion 3. Chronicle: The Ongoing Nakba Introduction “I Am the Last Arabs’ Sigh” “Oh, Father, I Am Joseph” “Will Homer be Born after Us?” Conclusion 4. Bilingualism: Palestinians in Hebrew Introduction Reterritorialization “I Melt out of Love” “Hebrew, Arabic, and Death” Conclusion PART II HYBRIDIZATION, EXCLUSION, AND DEMISE5. Pluralism: Arabs of Mosaic Faith Introduction Historical Background “A Carbon Copy of Ibn al-Balad” “We Are Arabs before We Are Jews” Conclusion 6. Spring: “We Were Like Those Who Dream” Introduction “In the World of Light” “Till Spring Comes” The Shift to Hebrew Conclusion 7. Demise: The Last of the Mohicans Introduction Existentialist Sensibility Mystical and Metaphysical Motifs “Iraq’s Days” Conclusion 8. Identity: Inessential Solidarities Introduction Narrativization of the Self Interpellation and Exclusion Globalization Conclusion Epilogue: “Trailed Travellers”: Between Fiction, Meta>Fiction, and History References Index

Apart from the author’s possessing an undisputable in-depth knowledge of the subjects discussed, the most interesting thing with this work is the new perspectives that are being presented. This is achieved by the writer’s method of putting the subjects against the backdrop of different angles. The method of looking at the subjects against the different axes has its own original place and it gives its own contribution to a deeper understanding of Arabic literature.