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The Political Significance of Literature, March 18, 2003
This review is from: Constructing Lebanon: A Century of Literary Narratives (Hardcover)
Political histories of a nation usually ignore its literature or, at most, compress it into an ancillary chapter. For Elise Salem, however, the writings of Lebanese authors are inseparable from the origins of their country and the record of its recent turmoil. A Lebanese native now living in the United States, but frequently returning to the land of her origin, Salem possesses a unique perspective to write such an analysis. She knows the country's brief history and its political complexities intimately. A literary scholar, she demonstrates extensive and perceptive reading of a wide range of fiction, poetry, and drama, as well as awareness of musical theater productions. Her achievement in this book lies in her ability to demonstrate interrelationships, the ways in which literature has been a source of national identity and serves as an ongoing commentary on unsettling events. Although the book's subject is Lebanon, Salem also hopes that it will be considered a representative study, with a methodology and a manner of understanding that can be applied to other nations. She notes that those who govern rarely consult their nation's body of writing, and she considers that a mistake: "Artists and intellectuals, often historically in a dubious relationship with the state, not only continue to imagine and hence extend the discourse of the nation but, in more palpable way, participate in remembering, recording, and transforming it." Salem's eloquent Afterword reiterates, frames, and adds a rich dimension of commentary. It concludes with this possibility: "[These] provocative narratives suggest a new language, vocabulary, style, approach, and thematics that expand the possibilities for Lebanon. They are, after all, the nation's stories and, through fictions, the most telling." Literature was central to Lebanon's origin. Salem's hope is that it will be equally important in helping it face its present crises.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Groundbreaking study of Lebanese literature, August 31, 2003
This review is from: Constructing Lebanon: A Century of Literary Narratives (Hardcover)
Salem's work is the first of its kind, and will be the one everybody is responding to for years. It is, quite simply, brilliant. How does the idea of Lebanon emerge in literary texts? What different concepts of Lebanon contest with each other in art and literature? What is Lebanon, and what is a "nation," anyway? The book treats literature, history, and politics together in one lucid, intelligent narrative. Salem's breadth of knowledge about the subject, and her ease and familiarity with the cultural landscape, are impressive. The argument contains a strong critique of power and of business interests that make capital out of war and suffering. Many of the works of literature, drama, and music Salem discusses are analyzed here for the first time in English-an invaluable resource. Kahlil Gibran, something of a founding father of Lebanese culture, is treated unsentimentally and taken seriously, something that doesn't usually happen at the same time where he is concerned. The musical theater of the Rahbani brothers, the singing voice and iconic figure of Fayruz as well as the music of Marcel Khalife, Majida al-Roumi, Julia Boutros and others, Aql's poetry, the novels of Elias Khoury, Rachid al-Daif, Hanan al-Shaykh, Hoda Barakat, and many more, all get sophisticated critical attention here. Literature of the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), of the Reconstruction period following the war, and right up to "the elusive present" are evaluated. Gender is always present as a thread of analysis. I am excited by the critique of Lebanese television programming in the satellite age and other aspects of mass media and pop culture-Salem is on the cutting edge of cultural studies. _Constructing Lebanon_ is an ambitious, original, outstanding work. It is also an accessible, interesting book-not just for the specialist in literature or the Middle East, but for any intelligent reader.
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