As many of you must be doing, I’ve been following the ongoing military conflict in Gaza right now and really wish to learn more about this extremely complicated and tragic history.
There are many excellent reading lists and book recommendations on the internet right now, but the vast majority of these are focused on non-fiction, such as history, autobiography, etc., which I’m beginning to dig into.
However, since I’ve always tended to balance non-fiction with literary works when learning about a specific subject or historical period, I wonder if their are any literary works, novels, essays and poetry collections, etc, that might help me better empathize with what people have been living through within this historical context. I’m particularly interested in the period surrounding the 1948 Palestine War, but anything related to conflict would be greatly welcomed.
Thank you all for your suggestions, and may peace be upon those who have suffered and are still suffering due to the malice in our hearts.
by mchang49
1 Comment
I loved Sayed Kashua’s Let It Be Morning. I’m not sure it’s what you’re looking for, though – it’s less historical than it is about the experience of Palestinians. The story centers around a young Arab who leaves Jerusalem to go to a wedding in his village and wakes up to find the IDF has surrounded the village and cut it off, for no reason anybody knows. Or at least that no one is saying. And as the days go by and supplies start to run out and rumors fly, the villagers begin turning on each other. I thought it really spoke to the claustrophobia and the lack of control and sense of siege that you also read about in great nonfiction books like Palestinian Walks.