Palestine as Metaphor consists of a series of interviews with Mahmoud
Darwish, which have never appeared in English before. The interviews are
a wealth of information on the poet's personal life, his relationships,
his numerous works, and his tragedy. They illuminate Darwish's
conception of poetry as a supreme art that transcends time and place.
Several writers and journalists conducted the interviews, including a
Lebanese poet, a Syrian literary critic, three Palestinian writers, and
an Israeli journalist. Each encounter took place in a different city
from Nicosia to London, Paris, and Amman.
These vivid dialogues unravel the threads of a rich life haunted by the
loss of Palestine and illuminate the genius and the distress of a major
world poet.