Discover Palestinian Literature

Palestinians have used literature to discuss their experiences in the diaspora and the impact of their forced displacement for a long time, with some of the most famous of Palestinian authors being Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Kanafani and Edward Said.  Darwish, Kanafani and Said offer differing but complementary perspectives on the diaspora through literature at a time before technology and social media was available as a tool to share these perspectives. Darwish’s voice was poetic in form and aimed to capture the emotional toll of one being forced out of their homes and land into a diaspora with no ability to return. Kanafani used a powerful fictional voice emphasizing the pain of exile, and Said offers his critical thought and discussion on how exile shaped his own identity and the narrative on being Palestinian in the diaspora. 

Mahmoud Darwish is a renowned Palestinian poet and author whose works primarily emphasize Palestinian experiences in the diaspora, particularly in navigating exile and the feelings of longing, loss, and resilience (Britannica). Darwish has many notable works specifically regarding the  Palestinian diaspora, and this paper will highlight two: We Travel Like Other People and Memory For Forgetfulness. The poem We Travel Like Other People reflects the lives of exiled Palestinians living in the diaspora when moving from place to place, emphasizing the lack of a destination for many individuals who live in the diaspora and a lack of emotional connection to unknown lands.  The line “We travel like other people, but return nowhere” captures the lack of a sense of belonging that many Palestinians feel. The poem preserves Palestinians’ distinct identity and inability to leave behind their homeland, the land thus converted into a symbol of Palestinian identity and memory. The poem Memory For Forgetfulness was written about the 1982 Israeli invasion of Beirut, a city where many Palestinian refugees, such as Darwish, were exiled due to sieges. Within the text, Darwish accentuates how memory is an act of cultural preservation and resistance, as well as the role of memory and cultural identity in resisting constant threat and erasure. (Darwish). Darwish uses his poetry to explore his deep longing, nostalgia, and connection to Palestine in a way that is real and sometimes mythologized. Memory for Forgetfulness takes it a step further and outlines how, in times of turmoil and war, memory is preserved. Even before the surge of technology, this work emphasizes how, no matter the medium and time, Palestinians living in the diaspora will attempt to preserve their memories of their homeland. In the modern day, social media and technology are also crucial to the promotion and accessibility of Palestinian literature. Mahmoud Darwish’s works still resonate today and are widely taught and shared online, allowing Palestinians globally to connect with his works. Websites annotating his works, videos dissecting the hidden messages, showcase how traditional methods of representing Palestinian cultural identity and new methods, such as technology can be intertwined to promote accessible communication

Ghassan Kanafani is another eminent and classic Palestinian author, known for his short stories and political essays who played a crucial role in the promotion of Palestinian literary voices. Kanafani’s 1962 novella Men in the Sun explores Palestinian despair, longing and diaspora in the immediate aftermath of the Nakba, proving so popular and resonating that  a movie was then made in 1973 The novella depicts the story of three Palestinians seeking work and arranging to be smuggled by an empty water tank to Kuwait from Palestinian refugee camps to Iraq, who later die during the journey to Kuwait due to asphyxiation while in the water tank. Many interpret the story to serve as a metaphor for the suffocation of Palestinians due to the silence of the Arab world and dehumanization of displaced Palestinians. The quotation from the novella,  “Why didn't they knock on the walls of the tank?” remarked too late and after the characters’ deaths, symbolizes the danger of silence and submission. This thought reflects a common ideology of many Palestinians and Palestinian authors and how submission to silence and erasure by all sides could result in the elimination of Palestinian identity, cultural practices, language and memory. It highlights how cultural identity is not simply rooted in traditional clothes, food, and language but in the memory of a homeland and refusal of the erasure of historical memory. 

Edward Said is the most well-known of Palestinian thinkers, born in Jerusalem and later relocated to the United States, where he became an American citizen. He was known as an important vocal activist for Palestinian identity and rights, having written significant works such as Orientalism (1978), which discusses how Western writers presented the areas of the “Orient” (the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia) as backward, exotic, and inferior (Haldrup and Koefoed). The book became a foundational work on postcolonial studies and has been translated to around 36 languages, ensuring individuals of all language backgrounds can access his works and remains significant today, due to technology, which has amplified the legacy of Edward Said’s works.   As a result of the proliferation due to translations and technology, many say that Orientalism has contributed to a growing awareness of the constant reassurance of colonialist ideologies.. While the book is not centered around the Palestinian diaspora, it rejects many of the harmful and degrading stereotypes that have been placed upon Palestinians throughout its diaspora and plays a crucial role in the reclamation of cultural identity by many other marginalized populations and diasporas.  Furthermore, Said’s memoir Out of Place discusses his own personal experiences of living in the diaspora. Said’s utilization of code switching in his memoir emphasizes his fragmented identity as a Palestinian American and an individual of Palestinian origin living in the diaspora. Examples such as a switch in tone, or placement of an Arabic word when discussing cultural traditions such as “tarbush” and “iftar” showcase how his cultural identity as a Palestinian finds its way when expressing himself.