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Ilham Essalih

@ilhamreads

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Book Reviewer, researcher, curator
SWANA literature
šŸ“London
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Last weekendā€™s companion: Wasafiri Magazine Thereā€™s something so comforting about having a magazine in your bag you can whip out and start reading an article at random, very low commitment but very satisfying pay off. Highly recommend Wasafiri if you want to read about international contemporary writing. Gorgeous art, accessible commentary, quality interviews, and rigorous criticism. taken in London, United Kingdom by @ilhamreads
14
9 days ago
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A Mask the Colour of the Sky is one for the postcolonial literature lovers. Bassem Khandaqji takes all its traditional themes and weaves them into the Palestinian context: the psychological impact of colonial rule, alienation, hybridity, mimicry, etc. We often hear about Palestine as a case of ongoing colonialism, but what does that look like in literature, explicitly? This novel answers this question. Nur al-Shahdi, a Palestinian archaeologist from a Ramallah refugee camp, is the main character. He joins an archaeological excavation site in Israel by usurping the identity of an Israeli man using a lost expired ID (you can already see where this is going). In a (very evident) Fanonian vein, he puts on the ā€˜maskā€™ of Or Shapira and embraces a Zionist persona, and this Or becomes the snarky alter ego with whom he engages in endless internal discussions about Zionism and Palestinians. This makes for incredible dialogue and tension (see one of the passages in pictures above). Nur struggles with this alter ego while wrestling with his Palestinian identity that he desperately wishes to hide. Deep inside he really does enjoy this life free from the constraints of his Palestinianness. At the same time, he is livid when confronted with the Zionist rhetoric of his Israeli colleagues, the depopulated Palestinian villages, and the blatant erasure of his identity. Of course wearing the mask has consequences: it slowly chips away at his sanity, brilliantly portraying existential alienation under settler colonial rule. This novel is very good, I loved the innovation but also the familiarity of the themes and the great intertextuality. The only qualm I have is that the postcolonial theory elements are quite obvious and explicit; and I wish some of the things were left unsaid and for the reader to interpret. A complex and satisfying read nonetheless, I definitely recommend. #bassemkhandaqji #amaskthecolourofthesky by @ilhamreads
8
a month ago
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This month, our reviewers introduce eight titles that range from political thought to chimeric fictions. Amongst them are a collection of absurdist plays from an Egyptian Nobel laureate; a novel reckoning with the ongoing scars of the Rwandan genocide; a collection of probing, metaphysical tales from an Argentine master; and a blazing series of essays from one of Bengal's most incisive and radical minds. Read the reviews at asymptotejournal.com/blog/new-in-translation āœØ 1. Dreams of Ayn Ara by Sara Abou Ghazal @sabughazal , translated from the Arabic by Katharine Halls @k_l__h____ , @feministpress 2. Last Day of a Prior Life by AndreĢs Barba, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman, @harpercollins 3. Slow Elephants of Milan by AĢngel Bonomini, translated from the Spanish by Jordan Landsman @fonduediligence , @transitbooks 4. The Slaves of Palamau by Mahasweta Devi, translated from the Bengali by Maitreya Ghatak, @seagullbooks 5. Jacaranda by GaeĢˆl Faye @gaelfaye , translated from the French by Sarah Ardizzone @sarahtranslatorardizzone , @hogarthbooks 6. The Devil Turns Preacher: Eight One-Act Plays by Naguib Mahfouz, translated from the Arabic by Sarah Enany and Nehad Selaiha, @auc_press 7. The Shame is Over by Anja Meulenbelt, translated from the Dutch by Ann Oosthuizen, @astrahousebooks 8. Outside the Prison Walls by Abdalrahman Munif, translated from the Arabic by Mariam Younes, @plutopress "In the novel, time itself is made erratic and unstable, mirroring the Palestinian experience in Lebanon, trapped within the confines of precariousness and vilification." ā€”Ilham Essalih @ilhamreads "What is left out of this ghost story, despite all its twists and turns, is the suggestibility of the uncanny, of the unsaid, of the unresolved." ā€”Ben Goldman "These stories are not simply restoring and articulating the metaphysical density of reality, but the experiential intensity of living inside it. They are built from immense beauty, chance encounters, sacred material, and profound loneliness. . ." ā€”Xiao Yue Shan @shanxiaoyue "Bolstered by statistics and studies, Mahasweta is exacting in aligning the crosshairs of her criticism with the nexus of power, namely by @ilhamreads
2
a month ago
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Just in time for Women in Translation month, my review of Dreams of Ayn Ara by Sara Abou Ghazal for the @asymptotejrnlā€™s ā€˜Whatā€™s New in Translationā€™ column. Absolutely loved this novel. Potentially the best fiction title Iā€™ve read this year #dreamsofaynara #saraaboughazal #asymptotejournal #bookreview by @ilhamreads
3
2 months ago
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Read the full review on daftarjournal.com Ilham Essalih is a book reviewer and researcher in literary criticism, specialising in literature from the SWANA region and its diasporas. She is also an educator in postcolonial studies and a freelance literary curator. @ilhamreads by @ilhamreads
3
3 months ago
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A new month kicking off with a long-weekend calls for an updated reading list! Book reviewer and researcher @Ilhamreads shares five books that deserve a spot on your reading list. From award-winning contemporary fiction to timeless literary classics, swipe and pick which one youā€™re reading next. A Palestinian refugee archaeologist puts on an Israeli ā€˜maskā€™ to integrate into Israeli society and join an excavation site. Full of irony and tension, this novel is a true metafictional excavation of identity that confronts the effects of Zionist occupation on the Palestinian psyche. Three best friends and the story of their friendship forged in exile and built on the shared bloody experience of the Gaddafi regime. They navigate displacement and survival guilt in this deeply introspective and intimate novel. A foundational text of modern Arabic literature, this 1933 Egyptian novel captures the essence of the 1919 Revolution against British rule. A mix of comedic coming-of-age and political awakening makes this a delightful but powerful read. The writer of The Book of Disappearance is back with more brilliant experimental writing with this surrealist dream-like novel exploring the reality-altering effects of life as a Palestinian 48er. The short but dense story captures very vividly the existentialist concerns of post-Nakba literature. A novel about the interwoven destinies of five Iranian women who escape their lives to live together. It blends magic realism and mysticism to explore themes of patriarchal violence during a time of political unrest (1950s), indirectly debunking the myth of pre-Islamic Revolution freedom for women, re-centering the oppression of women on patriarchy. Tell us in the comments by @ilhamreads
29
3 months ago
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Hisham Matarā€™s latest novel is about a special kind of friendship: the sort forged in exile and built on the shared bloody experience of a repressive regime. The main character, Khaled, is a Libyan young man studying in Edinburgh in the early 1980s. He makes a fateful trip to London with his new friend and fellow student Mustafa, to attend an anti-Gaddafi protest at the Libyan embassy in St Jamesā€™ Square. The protest turns bloody when armed gunmen attack the protesters, killing one and severely wounding Khaled and Mustafa (inspired by the 1984 shooting at the Libyan embassy). The two boys are condemned to exile in London and forced to recreate a homeland amongst each other, along with Hosam, an enigmatic writer figure also in exile. The three of them share fractured identities and attempt to rebuild themselves, but the ghosts of displacement and survival guilt haunt them and challenge their bond. My Friends is a deeply introspective and intimate work of fiction that leaves a lasting impression, the kind you periodically think about. It reminded me of Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih, my favourite novel, not for of any clear reason, except perhaps in how they both write London: an ambivalent centre that can be home, exile, nostalgic and literary, and also painfully lethal. #hishammatar #myfriends #pulitzerprizeforfiction #pulitzer #libyanliterature taken in London, United Kingdom by @ilhamreads
41
5 months ago
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Readers of The Book of Disappearance will be excited about Ibtisam Azemā€™s upcoming book The Sleep Thief, which was just translated from Arabic by @andotherpics. She wrote this novella before The Book of Disappearance, and the two bear some resemblance; they both engage with Palestinian life within Israelā€™s borders and the paradoxes of such a condition, and theyā€™re both quite experimental. I havenā€™t finished reading it yet but Iā€™ll share my final impressions soon. A summary of the story: The Sleep Thief follows the life of Gharib (ā€œthe Strangerā€) Haifawi as he comes of age, is drawn into resistance, makes friends, meets lovers, pushes back against traditional values, longs to be free of the labels and expectations that burden him, rails against the commodification of suffering, and dreams of a Palestinian identity that will transcend sorrow. Thank you & Other Publishing for the copy! #ibtisamazem #thebookofdisappearance #thesleepthief #palestinianliterature taken in London, England by @ilhamreads
10
5 months ago
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The Book of Disappearance by Palestinian writer Ibtisam Azem is a speculative novel that poses the question; ā€˜what would happen if all Palestinians in Israel disappeared?ā€™ Ariel, a ā€˜liberal Zionistā€™ Israeli, wakes up to find that all Palestinians have vanished from Tel Aviv and from the rest of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. His close friend Alaa, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, has also gone without leaving a trace. Israelis are in uproar about what could possibly have happened: have the Palestinians decided they donā€™t want to be there anymore? Are they plotting something? Is an attack on Jewish people imminent? Is this perhaps secretly the answer to Israeli prayers, and the end to the so-called ā€˜conflictā€™? In an attempt to find clues about the disappearance of his Palestinian friend Alaa, Ariel goes into his flat and finds his diary which he compulsively starts reading. The diary is addressed to Alaaā€™s grandmother, a survivor of the Nakba who recently passed away. The journal is a difficult reckoning with the past and his grandmotherā€™s beloved pre-48 Jaffa. By mostly writing this story from the Israeli point of view and her delightful use of irony, Azem reveals the cracks and failures of Zionist ideology. It also shows the dissonance of the experience of being Palestinian in Israel: grappling with the memory and violence of the Nakba, the overwriting of the Palestinian past, the erasure of being an ā€˜Arab Israeliā€™. Palestinian fiction is very rarely non-mimetic (mimetic: something that mimics reality), I would say probably for historical reasons like preservation of Palestinian memory and the post-67 existential need to record Palestinian stories. Palestinian fiction rarely goes beyond reality and the reasonable, and doesnā€™t much tap into the otherworldly or non-realist, so this speculative novel feels unique. Going beyond reality is I believe particularly useful for Palestinian stories because it allows to explore alternative storylines in a way that rationalist reality doesnā€™t. The Book of Disappearance is an exciting novel to read, the writing (a translation from Arabic) is great and absolutely worth a read. taken in London, England by @ilhamreads
30
8 months ago
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Adapted from Ghassan Kanafaniā€™s Returning to Haifa, one of the most influential novels in modern Arabic literature, this play portrays the profound human dimension of the Nakba, and the difficulty (impossibility?) of return, with armed struggle as the only way out of the Palestinian condition. It is set in 1967 just after the Arab defeat of the Six Day War, with flashbacks from the 1948 Battle of Haifa, during which the main characters, Said and Safiya, are driven out of their homes and forced to flee to Ramallah, where they have remained for the past two decades. After the Six Day War, they have the possibility of briefly visiting Haifa. After 19 years under Israeli rule, Haifa has transformed into a place they do not recognise as home. The streets, which they remember well, have now changed names, with Hebrew everywhere, and foreign-looking faces. They are filled with bittersweet feelings of nostalgia and rage at the unfamiliarity of Haifa. They reach their old apartment and meet the Jewish family living in it. The dramatisation of Kanafaniā€™s novel works well; where in the original text the writer uses flashbacks, here the play uses young versions of the couple, sometimes in the background interacting with each other, sometimes interacting with their present older versions. The interaction between the different generations profoundly captures the trauma of exile. The novelā€™s tragedy lies in the realisation that the two decades since the Nakba cannot be erased, the nostalgic past no longer exists and cannot be returned to. Without spoiling the plot, the couple realise the extent of the consequences of the Nakba: theft of land, but also theft of future and lineage. Is a simple return viable at all? Or is it a myth? What do you think? #ghassankanafani #returningtohaifa #palestinianliterature taken in London, England by @ilhamreads
9
a year ago
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The ā€˜Gen Z 212ā€™ protests in Morocco have been a long time coming: growing frustration at the disparity between large-scale investment in infrastructure and upcoming football games and the underfunding of healthcare and education over the past decades has erupted in nationwide unrest and uproar. This topic of inequality, however, has long been at the heart of Moroccan literature. Since the early twentieth century ā€” through colonial rule, the fight for independence, and the postcolonial decades that followed ā€” writers have grappled with the enduring realities of social and economic disparity. Across generations, Moroccan fiction has captured the voices of the marginalised: stories of poverty, hunger, and corruption; of women navigating patriarchal systems; and of lives shaped by limited access to education and opportunity. @ilhamreads explores five essential Moroccan novels that reveal the roots of Gen Z 212ā€™s protests with stories of inequality, resilience, and hope āž”ļø by @ilhamreads
19
a year ago
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Published in 1999, Out of Place (OOP) is an incredible piece of introspection, revealing the many events and circumstances which shaped Edward Said into the foundational figure of postcolonial studies. Edward Said was born in 1935 in West Jerusalem, and grew up in a middle-class, cosmopolitan, pan-Arab world between Cairo, Beirut, and Jerusalem, before the Nakba and exile. He struggled with a sense of himself as an outsider, as an Arab but Christian, a Palestinian but the holder of a US Passport, and an ā€œimprobably British first name yoked to an Arabic surnameā€. These multiple identities ultimately enabled him to formulate his ideas on Orientalism, and to illuminate the gaps of cultural and political understanding between West and East. I would use two words to describe this memoir: abundant and vulnerable. Said is generous in his writing and gives a thorough account of his life. He wrote in an essay about modern Arab literature that post-1967 writers from the Arab world felt a strong urge to write about Arab life, in an effort to counter the erasure of Palestine (which was experienced as a threat to Arab life) and the profound identity crisis the Nakba (ā€™48) and Naksa (ā€™67) created. There is in OOP a palpable anxiety of writing down the memory of a world he was exiled from and was distressed to see disappear. The cover of the memoir is simple; a picture of Edward as a child, an image of innocence and vulnerability. Said lays himself bare and discusses painful aspects of his childhood. He describes his fatherā€™s rigid education and physical abuse and his motherā€™s ambiguous and conditional show of love. We get to read an adult Said grappling with a lifelong search for self-confidence and struggle to overcome a deep-rooted sense of fear. Palestine is omnipresent in OOP, as Said wrestles with the aftermath of the Nakba and what it meant for him and his family. I canā€™t do justice to these sentiments of loss, so I have added slides with direct quotes. I highly recommend this stunning book which does require investment from the reader and some stamina, but it is worth it, fascinating, and one of the best memoirs Iā€™ve read. taken in London, United Kingdom by @ilhamreads
9
2 years ago
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