Table Of ContentAssadi_The Story of a People_hardcover DD:NealArthur.qxd 10/27/2011 10:55 AM Page 1
P E T E R L A N G
A
S
The Story of a Peopleis the sixth in a series of volumes on Palestinian writers who S
compel into unity the contradictions of being Israeli citizens as well as sons and A The Story
daughters of the Palestinian people. This volume contains the works of forty poets, D
I
and offers a variety of themes, styles, contexts, imagery, tones, and language. ,
The poets, arranged alphabetically, depict a faithful picture of the various E
d
aspects of Arab life among what is called, paradoxically, Israeli-Palestinian soci- .
eties. They present new arenas where opposing factors harmoniously join to strug- an of a People
gle for dignity, freedom, and justice. Readers of this volume will encounter d
serious poems strewn with light and humorous themes and poems of sensual and T
r
spiritual love interwoven with poems of the unusual and political. These Israeli- a
n
Palestinian poets’ distinctive flavor emerges from their ability to challenge norms, s
.
fight oppression, and burst open closed doors to tell their own stories—the sto-
ries of their plight, alienation, marginalization, and hopes and dreams—in a new
magnified voice, first to their community, then to their people and nation, then
to their country, and now to the wider English-speaking public.
T
h
“In this volume Palestinian poets are canonized on the basis of their cognizance e
and merit; we love the translation because it alerts the outside world to the voice
S
of the average Palestinian who seeks visibility within the confines of identity for-
t
mation, both inside Palestine and in the Diaspora (Shetat), at a time when the voice o
of justice has become remote and inaudible. Thank the translator, we must.” r
y
—Nabil Alawi, Assistant Professor, Department of English, An-Najah National
o
University
f
a
“This fascinating translation gives non-Arabic speakers a complex glimpse of the
P
vibrant variety, lyrical vigor, and the political or personal intensity of diversely
e
located and variously positioned Palestinian voices.”—Martin Orkin, Professor Emer-
o
itus, Department of English, The College of Sakhnin for Teacher Education
p
l
e
JAMAL ASSADI is a lecturer at An-Najah National University, Nablus
and chairs the English Department at the College of Sakhnin for
Teacher Education. He received his Ph.D. in English literature from
the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England. In addition to
numerous articles in professional journals, Dr. Assadi is the author
of Acting, Rhetoric, and Interpretation in Selected Novels by F. Scott
Fitzgerald and Saul Bellow (2006); A Distant Drummer: Foreign Perspectives on
AN ANTHOLOGY OF PALESTINIAN
F. Scott Fitzgerald (2007); Mohammad Ali Taha’s “A Rose to Hafeeza’s Eyes” and
Other Stories(2008); Father and Son: Selected Short Fiction by Hanna Ibrahim Elias POETS WITHIN THE GREEN-LINES
and Mohammad Ali Saeid(2009); Three Voices from the Galilee: Selected Short Sto-
ries by Mohammad Nafaa, Zaki Darwish and Naji
Daher(2010); Mustafa Murrar: “The Internal Pages” and EDITED AND TRANSLA TED BY
Other Stories(2010); Loud Sounds from the Holy Land:
P
Short Fiction by Palestinian Women (2011); and The ET JAMAL ASSADI
E
Road to Self-Revival: Sufism, Heritage, Intertextuality and R
L
A
Meta-Poetry in Modern Arabic Poetry (2011). N
G
S J
WITH ASSISTANCE FROM IMON ACOBS
www.peterlang.com
Assadi_The Story of a People_hardcover DD:NealArthur.qxd 10/27/2011 10:55 AM Page 1
P E T E R L A N G
A
S
The Story of a Peopleis the sixth in a series of volumes on Palestinian writers who S
compel into unity the contradictions of being Israeli citizens as well as sons and A The Story
daughters of the Palestinian people. This volume contains the works of forty poets, D
I
and offers a variety of themes, styles, contexts, imagery, tones, and language. ,
The poets, arranged alphabetically, depict a faithful picture of the various E
d
aspects of Arab life among what is called, paradoxically, Israeli-Palestinian soci- .
eties. They present new arenas where opposing factors harmoniously join to strug- an of a People
gle for dignity, freedom, and justice. Readers of this volume will encounter d
serious poems strewn with light and humorous themes and poems of sensual and T
r
spiritual love interwoven with poems of the unusual and political. These Israeli- a
n
Palestinian poets’ distinctive flavor emerges from their ability to challenge norms, s
.
fight oppression, and burst open closed doors to tell their own stories—the sto-
ries of their plight, alienation, marginalization, and hopes and dreams—in a new
magnified voice, first to their community, then to their people and nation, then
to their country, and now to the wider English-speaking public.
T
h
“In this volume Palestinian poets are canonized on the basis of their cognizance e
and merit; we love the translation because it alerts the outside world to the voice
S
of the average Palestinian who seeks visibility within the confines of identity for-
t
mation, both inside Palestine and in the Diaspora (Shetat), at a time when the voice o
of justice has become remote and inaudible. Thank the translator, we must.” r
y
—Nabil Alawi, Assistant Professor, Department of English, An-Najah National
o
University
f
a
“This fascinating translation gives non-Arabic speakers a complex glimpse of the
P
vibrant variety, lyrical vigor, and the political or personal intensity of diversely
e
located and variously positioned Palestinian voices.”—Martin Orkin, Professor Emer-
o
itus, Department of English, The College of Sakhnin for Teacher Education
p
l
e
JAMAL ASSADI is a lecturer at An-Najah National University, Nablus
and chairs the English Department at the College of Sakhnin for
Teacher Education. He received his Ph.D. in English literature from
the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England. In addition to
numerous articles in professional journals, Dr. Assadi is the author
of Acting, Rhetoric, and Interpretation in Selected Novels by F. Scott
Fitzgerald and Saul Bellow (2006); A Distant Drummer: Foreign Perspectives on
AN ANTHOLOGY OF PALESTINIAN
F. Scott Fitzgerald (2007); Mohammad Ali Taha’s “A Rose to Hafeeza’s Eyes” and
Other Stories(2008); Father and Son: Selected Short Fiction by Hanna Ibrahim Elias POETS WITHIN THE GREEN-LINES
and Mohammad Ali Saeid(2009); Three Voices from the Galilee: Selected Short Sto-
ries by Mohammad Nafaa, Zaki Darwish and Naji
Daher(2010); Mustafa Murrar: “The Internal Pages” and EDITED AND TRANSLA TED BY
Other Stories(2010); Loud Sounds from the Holy Land:
P
Short Fiction by Palestinian Women (2011); and The ET JAMAL ASSADI
E
Road to Self-Revival: Sufism, Heritage, Intertextuality and R
L
A
Meta-Poetry in Modern Arabic Poetry (2011). N
G
S J
WITH ASSISTANCE FROM IMON ACOBS
www.peterlang.com
The Story of a People
PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
The Story of a People
An Anthology of Palestinian
Poets Within the Green-Lines
Edited and Translated by
Jamal Assadi
with Assistance from Simon Jacobs
PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The story of a people: an anthology of Palestinian poets within the
green-lines / edited and translated by Jamal Assadi
with assistance from Simon Jacobs.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Arabic poetry—Palestine—Translations into English.
2. Arabic poetry—20th century—Translations into English.
3. Poets, Arab—Palestine—Biography. I. Assadi, Jamal.
PJ8190.65.E5S76 892.7’160803585694—dc23 2011043821
ISBN 978-1-4331-1603-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 9781453905197 (ebook)
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data is available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
Cover image by Salīm Makhūlī
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council of Library Resources.
© 2012 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com
All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
Printed in Germany
Grateful acknowledgment is made to An-Najah National University for its
generous contribution to this publication
To all those who fight against oppression, tyranny and occupation to settle
peace, justice, human dignity and brotherhood.
J. A.
assadi.indd 5 28/10/11 1:21 PM
assadi.indd 6 28/10/11 1:21 PM
Contents
Acknowledgments ...................................................xv
Foreword .........................................................xvii
Introduction .........................................................1
Abu Ḥannā, Ḥannā...................................................18
November Muffles his Face
The Pulse of Cosmic Rhythm
Death Says to You
The Desire’s Squint
Abū Khadrah, Fahd ..................................................24
From the Letters of the Fourteenth Disciple:
I Teach You Now
The Princes of Morning
A Weeping Song in the Age of Challenge
’Ali, Tāhā Moḥammad ...............................................29
A Meeting at a Neutral Airport
The Dream
The Fear
Addendum
‘Abdullah and Mudallaleh
Al-Mādī, Rushdī ....................................................35
We Emerged from an Era in which the Youth Remained in Stone
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viii The Story of a People: Palestinian Poets Within the Green-lines
When the Inferno Studies the Iliad’s Elegies
Hymns for the Coming Time-First Part
The Entrance
He Who Talks With God
Mars
Dismount!
Chevara
Permanency
Thanks
Oedeus
Lorca
Acre
Yabus
Al-Qāsim, Samīḥ ...................................................41
The Generation of the Catastrophe
In the Twentieth Century
Strangers!
The Missing Poem
The Lost Voice of Paradise
The Core of Righteousness
’Amer, Turkī .......................................................49
A Tablet for Dream Prevention
Sketches on the Water
The Sun’s Memory
A Sudden She-Visitor
Assadi, Su’ud ......................................................55
If you reveal your love or you reveal it not!
Like Two Ripe Figs
’Atalla, Yeḥyā Salīm .................................................61
Sixty
The Summit of What?
My Horse
Daghash, Salmān ....................................................65
A Dream if only Achieved
An Exciting Question
Daghash, Suleimān ..................................................67
Silence Torn by Rain
The Last Word of Emrei Al-Qays
Dāher, Monā .......................................................71
Coyness
On the Seine
assadi.indd 8 28/10/11 1:21 PM
Description:The Story of a People is the sixth in a series of volumes on Palestinian writers who compel into unity the contradictions of being Israeli citizens as well as sons and daughters of the Palestinian people. This volume contains the works of forty poets, and offers a variety of themes, styles, contexts
