Journal of an Ordinary Grief

First published in Beirut in 1973, these probing essays ask vital questions about the existentially complex realities the Palestinians in Israel face & the ambiguity of Darwish’s own identity as an Israeli Palestinian. They call upon myth, memory, and language to delve into the poet’s experience of house arrest, his encounters with Israeli interrogators, & the periods he spent in prison. 

Meditative, lyrical, rhythmic, Darwish gives absence a vital presence in these linked essays. Journal is a moving & intimate account of the loss of homeland and, for many, of life inside the porous walls of occupation—no ordinary grief.

°°°

Ibrahim Muhawi is Courtesy Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Oregon. He has held teaching positions in North America, the Middle East, North Africa & Europe, where he taught English Literature, Literary Translation, & Arabic folklore. He has published a number of scholarly works & received several awards, including the 2004 Lannan Residency, the 2011 PEN Translation Prize, & a 2015 American Academy of Arts & Letters Award. Muhawi is a renowned scholar & translator of the works of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.