LITERATURE AND NATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

hannah amit-kochaviversion of Palestinian writer and political leader Ghassan Kanafani’s novellaMen in the Sun (see Amy Zalman’s chapter in this collection). This famous shortpiece of prose describes the desperation and tragic fate of Palestinian refugeeswho seek work in Kuwait and die when they have almost reached their aim.Zandbank was appalled by Kanafani’s strong metaphor of the cruel sun andended his review with an emotional outburst. He expressed a combination ofprofound shock at the anti-Israeli content of the novella, his fear at the despairand violence it advocated, and his doubt with regard to the possibility of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. Interpreting the literary images of the novella as expressingstrong erotic attachment to the land, he compared this to the extremism ofthe Jewish settlers in the Occupied Territories. He ended his review by denyingthe possibility of any dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, giving thepolitical background and content of the work priority over its artistic andaesthetic qualities (Davar, 10 November 1978).Both preliminary and reaction norms then reflect the brave struggle of thosewho try to promote translations of Arabic literature in the Israeli Hebrewcultural polysystem against all cultural odds directly affected by a negativepolitical situation. With the Middle Eastern peace process now reaching one ofits decisive peaks, it may prove both useful and interesting to go back in tenyears’ time and study the state of Arabic-Hebrew literary translation, to try tofind out whether (and how) the new balance between the Jewish and Arabnations has helped this literature to get closer to the centre of Hebrew culture.To see whether, and to what extent, Palestinian nation building has beenfurther promoted through Hebrew translation of Arabic texts, and whetherboth preliminary and reaction norms in this field have consequently changed.notes1. Such researcher-translators have included Professors Menachem Milson, SassonSomekh and Mati Peled, as well as Dr Ami Elad-Bouskila.2. Al-Samawal, a Jahili Jewish poet and Sayyid [tribe leader], is considered by Arabicculture to be the epitomy of faithfulness. This goes back to an ancient story reflectedby the saying ‘awfa min al-Samawal’ [more faithful than al-Samawal]. He is said tohave kept his faith to his friend, prince-poet Imru al-Qais, when the latter, fleeinghis enemies, left his family, weapons and money in his keep. Al-Samawal refused tohand them over to his friend’s enemies even when they killed a son of his whomthey had captured (Diwan al-Hamaasah, vol. 1, p. 36).3. Ballas (1930– ), an Iraqi-born Jew, immigrated to Israel in 1951 and became both awriter of Hebrew novels and a professor of modern Arabic literature. Like a numberof Iraqi Jewish immigrants, and unlike immigrants from other Arab countries whosubmitted to the Zionist ‘melting pot’ ideal that made them give up their originalArab culture, he too managed both to preserve his Arab linguistic and culturalidentity and occupy a respectable position in Israeli Hebrew culture.— 108 —www.taq.ir