Poetics of Contemporary Narratives in the Arabic Diaspora

F. Elizabeth Dahab is professor of comparative literature in the Department of Comparative World Literature at California State University, Long Beach.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter One: Towards a Bilingual Literary Historiography: Exilic Arab Writers in CanadaChapter Two: Poetics of Resistance: Soha Béchara, Her Memoirs, and her Legacy in Mouawad’s and Villeneuve’s IncendiesChapter Three: Cockroach Blues: Introjection and Self-Marginalization in Rawi Hage’s Cockroach (2008) Chapter Four: “Borders and Their Violent Winds:” Living on the Brink in Rawi Hage’s CarnivalChapter Five: Poetics of Amnesia in Le Caire à Corps perdu and an Interview with Khaled OsmanConclusionBibliographyAbout the Author

F. Elizabeth Dahab's new study is an inviting exploration of literary, performative, and cinematic works produced in the Arab Canadian and European context since the late 20th century. Covering oeuvres in multiple languages (English, French, and Arabic), genres, and continents, Dahab delineates a poetics of displacement, ranging from nostalgia for the homeland, passing through testimonies of various Middle Eastern wars, to transcultural critiques of capitalism and global politics. An instructive tome for anyone interested in diaspora and migration studies.