Reading in Hebrew About Love in the Time of the Nakba

“Prominent Lebanese writer Elias Khoury’s literary prowess is on display in the Hebrew version of ‘As Though She Were Sleeping,’ about the relationship between a Palestinian man from Jaffa and a girl from Beirut in 1947”. A review by Sheren Falah Saab published at Haaretz newspaper.

The story of the Nakba has never been presented in its entirety, from beginning to end. It is a fragmented story that is difficult to grasp from all angles, as the lives of Palestinians disintegrated gradually rather than all at once. But within the disintegration process that proceeded the Nakba in the late 1940s, there was a fragile and fluid space that spawned stories about love and hate, birth and death.

In the novel “As Though She Were Sleeping,” which was first published in 2007 and was recently translated into Hebrew, Lebanese author Elias Khoury displays his unique literary prowess and gives new meaning to life before the Nakba (when more than 700,000 Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1947-49 Israeli War of Independence).

By focusing on the historic axis that connected Beirut and British Mandatory Palestine in 1947, he takes readers on a journey between reality and imagination, between chaos and uncertainty, and creates an impressive literary mosaic.

Continue reading HERE.

More information about the novel HERE

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