
Transit Beirut
New Writing and Images
Saqi Books (Publisher)
Published on 5. April 2004
Book
Paperback/Softback
191 pages
978-0-86356-568-7 (ISBN)
Description
Beirut - where plastic surgery meets the emotional intensity of the legendary diva Umm Kulthum, and Lebanese foodies go on the rampage. "Transit Beirut" is a unique anthology of complex urban experience that brings together personal writing, essays, journalism, short stories, photography and animation. The view is wide: from fiction to documentary, and everything in between. Beirut is undergoing an energetic process of rediscovery and reinvention by its own inhabitants, many of whom are only now returning to the city. With new and established Arab writers together for the first time, "Transit Beirut" oscillates between sarcastic humour and serious exploration of the tensions and conflicts in a society undergoing reconstruction. Things are never what they seem; students express themselves in the language of military conquest and athletes train to 'defeat' cholesterol. Here, TE Lawrence, Orientalism and a PLO grandmother's revolutionary milk interweave ...
Reviews / Votes
'Bewildering, enchanting, at times exasperating, Transit Beirut conveys a din of contending vignettes and sensations. Yet the effect on the reader is far from transitory, and the lessons all too salutary.' The Independent * 'It is very Lebanese - simultaneously profound and sentimental ... the glimpses of personal histories are moving - the banality of the atrocities, the acceptance of a way of life, but above all, the creative resilience of the people of Beirut.' TLS 'Informative and daring ... a welcome manifestation of people meeting ideas and ideas meeting each other.' The Daily Star 'Perhaps this city is not so very dissimilar from the one you know, except that it's set a little closer to the bombs, a little closer to Israel ...' Pulp.net 'Transit Beirut is testimony to the adaptability and vitality of the Lebanese.' Saudi Gazette '... entertaining and challenging ...Reminders of conflict run like leitmotifs throughout Transit Beirut's 21 essays, poems and short stories.' The Middle East '[An] extremely attractive, well-designed book ... a virtual kaleidoscope of mental and landscape-bound images ... thoughtful and powerful.' Jordan Times 'a quirky yet insightful voyage into the hearts and minds of Beirut's inhabitants ... funny, dark, heartbreaking and optimistic by turns' Red Pepper 'Tells the story of that town much more credibly than anything you'll gain from media reports.' Loop MagazinMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
25 b&w illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 200 mm
Weight
406 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-86356-568-7 (9780863565687)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Malu Halasa is a freelance writer who writes about the Near and Middle East for The Guardian, The Times and The Financial Times. Roseanne Khalaf is an assistant professor in the English Department and coordinator of creative writing at the American University of Beirut.
Content
Living between Worlds by Roseanne Khalaf - There's No Place Like Home by Leila Mroue - Cartoons by Amy Khouri - War Milk by Zeina B Ghandour -Rabih Alamuddine on Noses - Mai Ghoussoub on Beauty - Hasan Daoud on Exercising on the Corniche - Hazem Saghieh on Beirut from 1982-1988 - Reine Mahfouz: photographs of Palestinian refugee camps - Red Walls by Nadine Touma - Poetry by Casimiro de Brito and Hyam Yared - Hasan Daoud on suburbs and supermarkets - Abbas El Zein: A Sluggish Countdown to War - Syrian Underwear: a picture essay by Rana Salam + Thierry van Biesen - Garden of the Two Martyrs by Fadi Tuyfali - Road As Ruin by Karl Sharro - Conqueror of the Dollar by Hasan Daoud - Benches by Omar Sabbagh - Fast Food photo essay by Maher Kassar + Ziad - Unrequited Love: Kamal Kassar and Tarab by Malu Halasa - Music Diaries by Hala Sourji - Garden of Forgiveness: a picture essay by Alexandra Asseily - short story by Nada Al Awar - Hasan Daoud on Henry Beenes Restaurant