Jerusalem stands alone. By Mahmoud Shukair; translated from the Arabic by Nicole Fares. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2018. Pp. ix, 180. ISBN: 9780815611035 (paperback).
Mahmoud Shukair was born in Jerusalem and is the author of more than forty-five works, including TV series, plays, short stories, and articles. His works have been translated into various languages, including English. In 2011, he was awarded the Mahmoud Darwish Prize for Freedom of Expression.
Nicole Fares, the translator of this work, is a native of Lebanon who is currently a Ph.D. candidate in comparative literature and cultural studies at the University of Arkansas. She is also teaching world literature and gender and sexuality theory at the same university.
This book consists of a series of short stories about occupied Jerusalem. Written by Shukair but narrated through different characters, it expresses each and every one’s personal experiences in simple but elegant words. Each story stands alone while documenting the narrator’s daily life, with a focus on the relationships and conversations among family, friends, visitors, and strangers of any age; old or young, child or adult. It captures the impacts of the political, social, and historical turbulences and hardships on Palestinians’ daily lives, their attachments to their city, and the pressure and discontentment they feel in being “unstated.” Shukair preserves the identity of their homeland through the stories by describing the scenes of the neighborhoods, the homes and apartments, and the surrounding nature and land. He brings to life the conversations that are going on behind the walls, at coffee shops, in the market, at the mosques, or at the gate border. By opening the door to each home and family, to their past and present, standing alone but united, Shukair makes the reader feel the stream of emotions in those people’s lives, sometimes full of joys and excitement, sometimes overflowing with sorrows, fears, and worries.
Shukair’s literary work is an elegant reflection of Jerusalem as a place called “home” in the eyes of Palestinians who are living there. Fares’ professional translation into English is an enhancement to this reflection, preserving the lyrical flow of the original work.
Following the stories, at the end of the book, there is an afterword which summarizes the moments captured in the short stories, with a background about the history of the occupation, the Israel/Palestine conflict, the territories, and the settlements. It includes the timeline of Jerusalem’s conquerors, a note on relocation, and a glossary.
In general, this is a unique poetical prose work with Shukair’s strong political and cultural observations of Jerusalem and its people. The content of this work makes it perfectly suited for any type of library collection. It can also be considered as modern literary fiction and an appropriate source for any academic or literary reading with a focus on the Arabic language in translation.
Shahrzad Khosrowpour
Chapman University