Arabic Literature Discussion Group

The Arabic Literature Discussion Group meets at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of most months. Meetings are held at the Arapahoe Conference Room, 2nd floor of the Main Library, 11th & Arapahoe in downtown Boulder unless otherwise noted. For more information, please contact Kirsten Wood at Klwwoodklw@aol.com, or

Ghada Kanafani Elturk, Outreach Librarian at 303-441-4941 or elturkg@boulder.lib.co.us.

Book summaries are taken from publisher and distributor websites. They are meant to briefly summarize a book to allow readers to select what might interest them most.

January 2, 2012: In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar

The novel follows the plight of a nine-year-old boy living in Tripoli, Libya, stuck between a father whose clandestine anti-Gaddafi activities bring about searches, stalking and telephone eavesdropping, and a vulnerable young mother who resorts to various drugs to bury her anxiety and anger. It provides a beautiful narration of ordinary people's lives as they try to survive political oppression.

February 6, 2012: The Long Way Back by Fuad al-Takarli

A familial saga that interweaves the lives of four generations of mostly women and their offspring, who, for one reason or another, are all living together in a fairly large, though not elegant, house in Baghdad, during the year leading up to the 1963 coup. This intricate web of actions highlights fears and desires, as well as plenty of advice, pressure and disapproval.

March 5, 2012: Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa

This is the story of Amal, who is orphaned and injured in the 1967 war.  She leaves the Jenin refugee camp, in which she has grown up, for a Jerusalem orphanage, and then faces her early adult years alone in Pennsylvania.  There she becomes Amy ("Amal without the hope"), and on her return to Lebanon, she falls in love, only to meet with further tragedy and heartbreak. A brave and sad book that tells the story of a nation and a people through tales of ordinary lives lived in extraordinary circumstances.

April 2, 2012: The Road From Damascus by Robin Yassin-Kassab

It is summer 2001 and the protagonist is struggling. His PhD seems to be slipping ever further from his grasp, and a recent trip to Damascus has revealed some disturbing family secrets. On top of all this, his wife has just announced that she is taking up the hijab, at a time when he couldn't feel more distant from faith and religion, and from having any answers for any of the big questions.

May 7, 2012: Return to Dar al-Basha by Hassan Nasr

The novel serves as an evocation and tribute to the historic city of Tunis and meditates about the position of the past in a rapidly modernizing society. It brings to life, in a poetic and sensual narrative, the spaces, light, colors, and life of Tunis some six decades ago. The main character searches the streets of Tunis and his memory for the decisive mistake he must have made that has left him a perpetual wanderer.

June 4, 2012: Granada by Radwa Ashour

The novel follows a family as they witness Christopher Columbus and his entourage in a triumphant parade featuring exotic plants and animals and human captives from the New World. As the new rulers of Granada confiscate books and officials burn the collected volumes, the father quietly moves his rich library out of town. A tale that is both vigorous and heartbreaking.

July 2, 2012: Children Of The New World by Assia Djebar

This book sheds light on current world conflicts as it reveals a determined Arab resistance to foreign occupation, from the inside out. It focuses on the experiences of women drawn into the politics of resistance and recounts the interlocking lives of women in a rural Algerian town who find themselves joined in solidarity and empowering each other to engage in the fight for independence.

August 6, 2012:  Katrina in Five Worlds by Kathy Saade Kenny

While going through family mementos after the death of her mother, the author unearthed a See's Candy box filled with 130 letters in Arabic assembled at least 60 years earlier. The letters once belonged to her beloved grandmother, Katrina. Drawing upon family records, taped interviews, and the discovered cache of letters, the book illuminates Katrina's story, exploring the historical and social events that thrust her from a comfortable life in Bethlehem, Palestine, across social divides and into widely diverse places, including the Ottoman Empire, pre-Revolutionary Russia, and Mexico during the Mexican Revolution, in the first half of the 20th century.

September 10, 2012: Rama and The Dragon by Edwar al-Kharrat

A multi-layered novel about the depths of human experience and the struggle between polarities, on the surface presents a love story of unrequited passion between Rama -- the symbol of multiplicity and creativity -- and Mikhail -- the symbol of unity and constancy. Their story reflects the relationship not only between man and woman, Copt and Muslim, but also between Upper and Lower Egypt. Through a delicate grid of inter-textual references and juxtaposed narratives, the dreams and hopes, fears and defeats of Rama and Mikhail move from the local to the global, corresponding to human dreams and anxieties everywhere.

October 1, 2012:

See coordinator for selections.

November 5, 2012: The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout

Found among assassinated Algerian writer Tahar Djaout's papers after his death,  The Last Summer of Reason tells the elegant, haunting story of a bookseller's fight against radical fundamentalism. This brief, intense novel is a powerful and timely indictment of terror and closed-mindedness throughout the world, and a fitting final statement from this acclaimed writer and tireless fighter for democracy. More reviews at http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/algerie/djaoutt1.htm.

December 3, 2012: Whatever Happened to Antara by Walid Ikhlassi

The novel portrays the modern human situation through techniques as widely divergent as realism, surrealism, interior monologue, and stream-of-consciousness.  Antara personifies the Arab legend of a half-African slave warrior/hero to everyday middle-aged lovers. The characters fight colonial oppression and corruption. Foreign and internal forces challenge the evolution of a modern nation rooted in tradition, where men and women refuse to accept victimhood. The introduction by author and critic Elizabeth Warnock Fernea places the stories in their historical and literary context.

This is http://www.sackett.net/arabic_lit_flyer.htm, last updated on 01/03/2012. Link back to http://www.sackett.net/arabic_lit.htm.