Trauma, Memory, and the Lebanese Post-War Novel: Beirut's Invisible Histories in Rabee Jaber's Fiction

by Dani Nassif

Overview

This book takes the case of the civil war disappeared in Lebanon to draw on fiction’s potential to inform peacebuilding processes by allowing the exploration of invisible histories in postwar Beirut. In its close reading of three Lebanese novels by Rabee Jaber, the book follows a multidisciplinary approach that puts trauma theory in dialogue with the Lebanese context and Arabic language, producing new concepts, models, and questions related to trauma, loss, and history, while also reflecting on the role fiction, as a cultural production, can play.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783031491719
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	03/18/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Dani Nassif holds a PhD in modern Arabic literature and culture (summa cum laude) and is currently adjunct lecturer at the University of Regensburg, Germany.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction: The War Disappeared in Rabee Jaber’s Fiction.- Chapter 2: Trauma Theory, the Lebanese Civil War, and Lebanese Fiction.- Chapter 3: Trauma Theory, the Lebanese Civil War, and Lebanese Fiction.- Chapter 4: The Disappeared Survivors in Postwar Beirut: Intergenerational Trauma and Inaccessible Memories in al-Iʿtirāfāt.- Chapter 5: The Art of Trauma Testimonies: The Credibility of Fictional Accounts in Berytus madῑna taḥt al-arḍ.- Chapter 6: Conclusion: Trauma and Invisible Histories in Rabee Jaber’s Fiction.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Trauma, Memory, and the Lebanese Post-War Novel” marshals profound research into the fictional work of Rabee Jaber to undertake the first in-depth analysis of one of the most innovative contemporary literary voices. The book invites us all to situate ourselves within a post-war fiction that articulates a pressing criticism and envisions the important place of contemporary Arab literature in reflecting our global societies. (Liliana Gómez, University of Kassel, author of "Archive Matter: A Camera in the Laboratory of the Modern")

“Drawing on innovative methodologies and activating a literary-theoretical dialogue across disciplines, involving art and literature, critical theory and Arabic writing, the book contributes to a new approach to the war and postwar literature that connects debates in literary scholarship with those in art and anthropology. It particularly allows us to discover the potential of the Arabic literary text to inform theoretical models on loss and haunting beyond their context and articulation.” (Tarek El-Ariss, Dartmouth College)

“Trauma, Memory, and the Lebanese Post-War Novel” is the first book-length study of Rabee Jaber’s work. Skilfully combining theoretical reflection, close reading of novels and in-depth analysis of the narrative techniques used to convey a sense of trauma, while constantly tying it to the political-historical context, it opens up new avenues in the way it interrogates literature to talk about Lebanon's ‘invisible histories.’ It thus demonstrates how Arabic fiction contributes to the understanding and processing of traumatic events in post-conflict societies. (Barbara Winckler, co-editor of "Arabic Literature – Postmodern Perspectives")