My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness: A Poet's Life in the Palestinian Century
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.23 (665 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0300164270 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 464 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-04-04 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
An autodidact, he has since run a souvenir shop in Nazareth, at the same time evolving into what National Book Critics Circle Award–winner Eliot Weinberger has dubbed “perhaps the most accessible and delightful poet alive today.”As it places Muhammad Ali’s life in the context of the lives of his predecessors and peers, My Happiness offers a sweeping depiction of a charged and fateful epoch. It is a work that Arabic scholar Michael Sells describes as “among the five ‘must read’ books on the Israel-Palestine tragedy.” In an era when talk of the “Clash of Civilizations” dominates, this biography offers something else entirely: a view of the people and culture of the Middle East that is rich, nuanced, and, above all else, deeply human.. He traveled on foot to Lebanon and returned a year later to find his village destroyed. Beautifully written, and composed with a novelist’s eye for detail,this booktells the story of an exceptional man and the culture from which he emerged.Taha Muhammad Ali was born in 1931 in the Galilee village of Saffuriyya and was forced to flee during the war in 1948
"A Probing Portrait of a Palestinian Poet and His Life" according to john&lucia. Adina Hoffman has written an extraordinary book. Its presentation of Palestinian poet Taha Ali Muhammad is vivid, thoughtful, and incisive. It is filled with subtle understandings of a person and his history, from village life to his intellectual context. Adina takes us deep into the Palestinian village of Taha's childhood. We follow the poet, steeped in the ancient oral culture of his people as he first encounters the written word as a boy; a magically drawn portrait. From this exquisite encounter, Taha takes a sustaining portion into the years ahead, of exile in his own country. It is an important part of a story i. AK said Gorgeous and moving book. Like the poet whose life and times she evokes, Hoffman is interested in the human side of things: the touch and texture of places to which neither modern-day Israelis nor the poet himself can return; the intricate delicacies of human interaction that make the poet, his family and their history the worthy subjects of such a meticulously researched biography. Imbricating sources which range from Israeli military documents to old 19Gorgeous and moving book Like the poet whose life and times she evokes, Hoffman is interested in the human side of things: the touch and texture of places to which neither modern-day Israelis nor the poet himself can return; the intricate delicacies of human interaction that make the poet, his family and their history the worthy subjects of such a meticulously researched biography. Imbricating sources which range from Israeli military documents to old 1930s newspaper microfilm to records kept by the British to local literary journals to oral histories shared by Palestinians, Hoffman has performed painstakingly thorough and balanced research . 0s newspaper microfilm to records kept by the British to local literary journals to oral histories shared by Palestinians, Hoffman has performed painstakingly thorough and balanced research . Clio said Remarkable Subject, Remarkable Author. I loved reading this gracefully written book. A traditional art form - the life and times biography - at its best. With wisdom, grace and clarity, Adina Hoffman introduces her readers to the lived experiences of an individual man, and also the people -- Palestinians and Israelis -- who surrounded him, in tormented times. I felt introduced to a world I had not previously known. Tucked into the political story is a subtle literary history of Palestinian poetry that opens up new cultural understandings. More, my comprehension of the tragedies of Israel/Palestine has been sharpened by these pages; I predict that "My Happ
The 17-year-old Taha and his family lost their home when the Israeli army captured and demolished their village, Saffuriyya, in 1948. Hoffman is a perceptive reader of Taha’s work (which she places in the context of a dynamic Palestinian literary scene) , appreciating its formal inventiveness, its dapplings of melancholy and exuberance, and its grounding in the pungent details and vernacular of village life. After a lifetime spent running a souvenir shop in Nazareth, he has recently won international acclaim for his poetry. . Photos. From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. That his happiness bears a strong relations
Adina Hoffman is the author of House of Windows: Portraits from a Jerusalem Neighborhood. Her essays and criticism have appeared in the Nation, the Washington Post, the Times Literary Supplement, and other publications. She lives in Jerusalem.