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English edition
May
2007
256 pp.
Hardbound
15X23 cm
$17.95
LE 100.00
ISBN
978 977 416 075 2
Not for sale in North America
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The Image, the Icon, and the Covenant
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Sahar Khalifeh
Translated by
Aida Bamia
Documenting a historic struggle with fresh vision, Sahar Khalifeh has penned what is at once a re-casting of the story of the Holy Family, a lyrical ode to Arab Jerusalem, and a call for liberation, not just of a nation but of its individual women and men.
After abandoning his beloved Mariam when she falls pregnant, and escaping her brothers’ bullets, Ibrahim abandons his own ideals and dreams of becoming a fiction writer, opting instead to follow the path of wealth and commercial success abroad approved by his father. Thirty years later, lonely and disillusioned, an older Ibrahim returns to Ramallah to retrace the past he tried to leave behind. He sets out on a long and frustrating quest to track down Mariam, which takes him from the West Bank to Israel. Along the way he encounters his son, Michael, a young man with spiritual powers that enable him to see what is unknown and find what has gone missing.
The novel weaves religious and political symbolism into a story of love and loss. At its core is Ibrahim’s—the Palestinian’s—agonizing but unrelenting search for a home, a center, fulfillment that, despite material success, continues to be elusive.
SAHAR KHALIFEH was born in Nablus in 1941 and is the author of eight novels. She holds a Ph.D. in women’s studies and American literature from the University of Iowa. She divides her time between Amman and Nablus.
AIDA BAMIA is professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She is the translator of The Inheritance by Sahar Khalifeh (AUC Press, 2005).
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Reviews
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“Through both character and place, the author invokes a sacred heritage that remains at once vital and powerful. Khalifeh's literary virtuosity has brought forth a unique work and a welcome addition to the contemporary Arab creative endeavor.”—Dr. Abdel Moneim Tallima
“Her characters are so real you can actually relate to them by mistaking them for someone you know.”—The Daily Star, Jordan
“Sahar Khalifeh is the Virginia Woolf of Palestinian literature.”—Börsenblatt
“A representative voice of Arab literature”—Frankfurter Allgemeine
“The one Arab novelist who has written one novel after another to show the inseparability of feminist issues from social and political concern is the Palestinian novelist Sahar Khalifeh, whom I consider the best Arab woman novelist in the twentieth century.”—Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban
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Also available
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The End of Spring
Hardbound
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The Inheritance
Hardbound
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