Winner of the 2011 PEN Translation Prize
A collection of autobiographical essays by one of the greatest poets
to come from Palestine.
Indispensable reading for anyone interested in the roots and
ramifications of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Muhawi's own
prose and meticulous footnotes are impeccable. An inspired and scholarly
piece of research.
--Words Without Borders
"Every beautiful poem is an act of resistance," writes Mahmoud Darwish.
In these probing essays, Darwish, a voice of the Palestinian people and
one of the most transcendent poets of his generation, interrogates the
experience of occupation and the meaning of liberation.
Calling upon myth, memory, and language, these essays delve into the
poet's experience of house arrest, his encounters with Israeli
interrogators, and the periods he spent in prison.
Meditative, lyrical, and rhythmic--Darwish gives absence a vital
presence in these linked essays. Journal is a moving and intimate
account of the loss of homeland and, for many, of life inside the porous
walls of occupation--no ordinary grief.