Ghassan Kanafani

TRANAN/KLASSIKER utomeuropeiska klassiker från Bokförlaget TrananTillbaka till Haifa och andra berättelser från Palestina samlar tre kortromaner av Ghassan Kanafani: Män i solen från 1963, Det som finns kvar åt er från 1966 och Tillbaka till Haifa från 1969. Män i solen skildrar tre palestinska flyktingars desperata resa mot oljeboomens Kuwait -- en resa som slutar i en av den arabiska litteraturens mest ikoniska och tragiska scener. Det som finns kvar åt er följer två syskon i ett flyktingläger i Gaza vars liv ställs på ända när systern blir gravid och hennes bror i affekt bestämmer sig för att korsa Negevöknen för att återförenas med sin mor i Jordanien. I Tillbaka till Haifa återvänder ett palestinskt par till sitt hem tjugo år efter att de tvingats fly från staden. De hoppas finna sin kvarlämnade son, men möts i stället av en verklighet som väcker svåra frågor om identitet och tillhörighet. Med ett språk som är både poetiskt och klarsynt gestaltar Kanafani den palestinska erfarenheten av fördrivning, förlust och exil. Hans berättelser genomsyras av motstånd och en kamp för värdighet, men rymmer samtidigt en djup mänsklig komplexitet som gör dem tidlösa och allmängiltiga. Utgåvan innehåller ett nyskrivet förord av den palestinska författaren Adania Shibli. Ghassan Kanafani föddes 1936 i Palestina men fick tillsammans med sin familj fly sitt hemland under Nakban 1948. Han levde och arbetade i Damaskus, Kuwait och slutligen, från 1960, i Beirut. Under 1960- talet var han en framstående författare, journalist och politisk aktivist, känd långt utanför Arabvärlden. Han mördades 1972, i ett dåd som den israeliska underrättelsetjänsten Mossad långt senare tog på sig. Vid sin alltför tidiga död hade Kanafani publicerat arton böcker och hundratals artiklar om kultur, politik och det palestinska folkets kamp. Ingvar Rydberg är en av våra mest meriterade översättare från arabiska, med författare som Naguib Mahfouz och Nawal El Saadawi i sin bibliografi. I den här samlingen ingår hans översättning av Män i solen. Marie Anell är översättare från arabiska och tog 2013 emot utmärkelsen Årets översättning för sitt arbete med Samar Yazbeks En mörk strimma av ljus. För den här samlingen har hon översatt Tillbaka till Haifa och Det som finns kvar åt er, som inte tidigare funnits på svenska.

In the two decades following the Nakba, Palestinian writers faced an impossible task: preserve their language, culture, and heritage under occupation. This groundbreaking anthology, edited by legendary writer and militant Ghassan Kanafani, stands as an unyielding act of cultural and political endurance. Bringing together the voices of Mahmud Darwish, Hanna Abu Hanna, Samih al-Qasim, and many others, this is a defiant declaration of cultural survival in the face of Israeli expansion. Through poetry, short stories, and drama, these leading Palestinian writers waged an essential cultural struggle-protecting their identity when erasure seemed inevitable. Kanafani's powerful introduction offers both a visceral account of life under occupation and an eloquent theory of resistance literature itself.

First published in 1962, Men in the Sun is both a classic of Arab literature, and of what Kanafani himself would term 'resistance literature'. Three Palestinian men embark on a brutal and treacherous odyssey across the Iraqi desert to Kuwait, not for liberation but material betterment. Their driver, a jaded, fat, former freedom fighter, living with his own compromises and contradictions, makes for a garrulous if cavalier companion. Both the indifferent brutality of border bureaucracy and the blank aggression of the sun see that things grow steadily more stark. The author's ardent politics are apparent throughout, but the novel's characters are their own beings: ambivalent, conflicted creatures of context. While breezily conversational, with disarming, dreamy strokes of lyricism, this short novel delivers a shuddering and grounding dose of true horror. As well as the titular novella, the book features six short stories, including the timelessly resonant 'Letter From Gaza' , Kanafani's first published work, written when he twenty, and the essential 'The Land of Sad Oranges'.

'No other author has been as profoundly formative for me as Kanafani' - Mohammed El-Kurd, author of Rifqa 'I cannot think of a better collection to guide anyone seeking a moral role in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine' - Ilan Pappé, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Ghassan Kanafani (1936 - 1972) is perhaps the greatest Palestinian novelist, whose books including Men in the Sun and Returning to Haifa documented the horrors of war and occupation. He was also a leading political thinker, strategist and revolutionary. Here, his writings on politics, history, national liberation and the media are collected in English for the first time. Featuring new commentary from leading writers, this collection is a testament to Kanafani's continuing relevance. His work remains a vital touchstone for revolutionary Palestinian struggle and anti-colonial thought.

Translated into English for the first time after its publication in 1967, Ghassan Kanafani's On Zionist Literature makes an incisive analysis of the body of literary fiction written in support of the Zionist colonization of Palestine. Interweaving his literary criticism of works by George Eliot, Arthur Koestler, and many others with a historical materialist narrative, Kanafani identifies the political intent and ideology of Zionist literature, demonstrating how the myths used to justify the Zionist-imperialist domination of Palestine first emerged and were repeatedly propagated in popular literary works in order to generate support for Zionism and shape the Western public's understanding of it. The new preface by Anni Kanafani and an introduction by Steven Salaita place On Zionist Literature in its broader historical context and make a compelling case for its ongoing significance more than five decades since its original publication, illustrating the extent to which "Kanafani was a searing and incisive critic, at once generous in his understanding of emotion and form and unsparing in his assessment of politics and myth."

"All That's Left to You presents the vivid story of twenty-four hours in the real and remembered lives of a brother and sister living in Gaza and separated from their family. The desert and time emerge as characters as Kanafani speaks through the desert, the brother, and the sister to build the powerful rhythm of the narrative. The Palestinian attachment to land and family, and the sorrow over their loss, are symbolized by the young man's unremitting anger and shame over his sister's sexual disgrace. This collection of stories provides evidence to the English-reading public of Kanafani's position within modern Arabic literature. Not only was he committed to portraying the miseries and aspirations of his people, the Palestinians, in whose cause he died, but he was also an innovator within the extensive world of Arabic fiction.