Synopses & Reviews
One of the most transcendent poets of his generation, Darwish composed this remarkable elegy at the apex of his creativity, but with the full knowledge that his death was imminent. Thinking it might be his final work, he summoned all his poetic genius to create a luminous work that defies categorization. In stunning language, Darwishs self-elegy inhabits a rare space where opposites bleed and blend into each other. Prose and poetry, life and death, home and exile are all sung by the poet and his other. On the threshold of im/mortality, the poet looks back at his own existence, intertwined with that of his people. Through these lyrical meditations on love, longing, Palestine, history, friendship, family, and the ongoing conversation between life and death, the poet bids himself and his readers a poignant farewell.
Review
Darwish is to be read with urgency, in the night, when nothing else moves but his lines.” The Village Voice
Darwish is the premier poetic voice of the Palestinian people . . . lyrical, imagistic, plaintive, haunting, always passionate, and elegant--and never anything less than free--what he would dream for all his people.” Naomi Shihab Nye
Mahmoud Darwish is one of the greatest poets of our time. In his poetry Palestine becomes the map of the human soul.” Elias Khoury
Then came silence. Mahmoud Darwish began to read. We did not know a word of Arabic, but we heard his voice reach out and sink deep down to pluck the strings of the Palestinian soul. It was a magical night in Ramallah, the magician, Mahmoud Darwish, whose spell was cast the way it has been through ages--simply by being that elusive archetype, much envied and feared by power a poet at ease with, because attuned to, his own people.” Wole Soyinka
"There are two maps of Palestine that politicians will never manage to forfeit: the one kept in the memories of Palestinian refugees, and that which is drawn by Darwishs poetry.” Anton Shammas
Synopsis
"Darwish is to be read with urgency, in the night, when nothing else moves but his lines." The Village Voice
By one of the most transcendent poets of this generation, a remarkable collection of prose poems that explores themes of love, pain, isolation, and connection. In this self-eulogy written in the final years of Mahmoud Darwish's life, Palestine becomes a metaphor for the injustice and pain of our contemporary moment.
Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008) was one of the most acclaimed poets in the Arab world. His poetry collections include Why Did You Leave the Horse Alone? and A River Dies of Thirst (Archipelago Books). In 2001 Darwish was awarded the Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize.
Synopsis
Winner of the 2012 National Translation Award "What Sinan Antoon] has done with In the Presence of Absence is a kind of miraculous work of dedication and love. Reading this volume is sheer enjoyment and sublimity." --Saadi Yousef "There are two maps of Palestine that politicians will never manage to forfeit: the one kept in the memories of Palestinian refugees, and that which is drawn by Darwish's poetry." --Anton Shammas One of the most transcendent poets of his generation, Darwish composed this remarkable elegy at the apex of his creativity, but with the full knowledge that his death was imminent. Thinking it might be his final work, he summoned all his poetic genius to create a luminous work that defies categorization.
In stunning language, Darwish's self-elegy inhabits a rare space where opposites bleed and blend into each other. Prose and poetry, life and death, home and exile are all sung by the poet and his other. On the threshold of im/mortality, the poet looks back at his own existence, intertwined with that of his people.
Through these lyrical meditations on love, longing, Palestine, history, friendship, family, and the ongoing conversation between life and death, the poet bids himself and his readers a poignant farewell.
Synopsis
From the incomparable, award-winning Mahmoud Darwish: a stunning book of prose poetry that recalls the Palestine of his youth.
About the Author
Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008) was one of the most acclaimed poets in the Arab world. His twenty books of poetry include Mural, The Bed of the Stranger, State of Siege, Do Not Apologize for What You Have Done, and Eleven Planets. He has also written several books of prose, including Memory for Forgetfulness: August, Beirut, 1982 and Journal of an Ordinary Grief (Forthcoming). Born in the town of Birweh in upper Galilee, Palestine, he and his family fled to Lebanon in 1948. After returning to the newly formed state of Israel, he began writing poetry that gave a voice to the sense of uprootedness of the Palestinian people. He wrote the 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence. In 2001, Darwish was awarded the Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize.
Sinan Antoon is an Iraqi poet and novelist. His translation of Darwishs poetry was nominated for the PEN Translation Prize in 2004. In 2008 and 2009, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. He is currently a professor at New York University.