Ghassan Kanafani
04/21/2008
Renowned Palestinian writer
Ghassan Kanafani, the famous Palestinian journalist, novelist, and short story writer, whose writings were deeply rooted in Arab Palestinian culture, inspired a whole generation during and after his lifetime, both in word and deed.
He was born in Acre in the North of Palestine on 9th April 1936 and lived in Jaffa until May 1948, when he was forced to leave with family first to Lebanon and later to Syria. He lived and worked in Damascus, then Kuwait and later in Beirut from 1960 onwards. In July 1972, he and his young niece Lamis were killed by Israeli agents in a car bomb explosion in Beirut.
By the time of his untimely death, Ghassan had published eighteen books and written hundreds of articles on culture, politics, and the Palestinian people's struggle. Following his assassination, all his books were re-published in several editions in Arabic. His novels, short stories, plays and essays were also collected and published in four volumes. Many of Ghassan's literary works have been translated into seventeen languages and published in more than twenty different countries. Some have been adapted for radio plays and theatrical performances in several Arab and foreign countries. Two of his novels were adapted for the screen and turned into feature films. His literary works written between 1956 and 1972 are as important today as they were then. Although Ghassan's novels, short stories and most of his other literary work were an expression of the Palestinian people and their cause, yet his great literary talents gave his works a universal appeal.
"Children are on future", Ghassan often said. He wrote many stories in which children are the heroes. A collection of his short stories was published in Beirut, in 1978, under the title "Ghassan Kanafani's Children". The English translation, first published in 1984 and republished in 2000, was entitled "Palestine's Children".
THE CURIOSITY OF A CHILD…
OR THE DISTINY OF A MAN
My son, oh future,
I overhead you yesterday in the other room asking your mother, "Am I Palestinian too?" When she said "yes", a heavy silence engulfed the whole house. It was as if something that was suspended over our heads had fallen, its noise exploding, and then falling silent.
Afterwards, I could not believe my ears, but my fingers I did believe. I was reading when I felt the book trembling in my hands. No, everything was real to an alarming extent. I heard you cry.
I could not move. Something grater than my grasp was being born in the other room through your ambivalent sobbing. It was as if a blessed scalpel was cutting open your chest and placing there the heart that belongs to you.
Your question was still moving about the ceiling and reverberating in the trembling of my fingers: "Am I Palestinian too?" Then the scalpel falls, in that quick, clean move of a skilful surgeon: "Yes". Then silence falls, as if something has occurred, and I hear you crying.
I could not move to see what was happening in the other room. I knew, however, that a distant homeland was being reborn, that some land of meadows, olive groves, dead people, torn and folded banners, was making its way into a future of flesh and blood, to be born in the heart of another child.
I was overcome by the same ambivalent feeling that gripped me five years ago when you were born. I was standing there waiting for you to emerge from one unknown into another. I felt – when I heard you coming into the world crying with a wailing voice-that you had fallen on my shoulders and embedded me more firmly into the earth.
Here I am, in the other room, seeing you being born again, feeling you falling on my shoulders again and thrusting me deeper into the earth. At the moment I wished I could see how your small face, abounding with the bloom of innocence, was being initiated to sorrow, how that "yes" was coming sown on it like a branding iron, taking away your innocent glide over a childhood unaware of the blades scattered ahead.
You were being created, at that moment, before your mother's eyes and my fingers, as they trembled like the page of a book. Someone was handing you a gun and directing you eyes to its trigger.
Between out two rooms and the wall, the veins of the earth were creeping like a legend binding us once more. I could not move, but I knew in an obscure way, difficult to discern, why it was that you unwillingly cried. I believe in that unknown which is conveyed by words, but can be perceived by none.
You were unknowingly feeling it, that word which signifies belonging and suffering. It may mean to you, more than to me, the elation of victory. These years that elude me shall be yours, and hope, within me does not wither, but shall be conveyed to you and added to your hopes, and shall grow within you.
You undoubtedly felt that; otherwise, why was it that you cried?
I remember – while sitting in the other room listening to you being reborn through your sobbing – how I too was born again. I was only ten when cars transported us to the disgrace of escape. I knew nothing then, I felt nothing. I was still gliding, unaware, over the innocence of childhood. But in that instant, I was baptized in a scene I shall never forget: the trucks had stopped; I sneaked to where the men were standing, driven by the curiosity of a child or the destiny of a man. I saw them surrendering their weapons to the border sentry post so that they may enter the world of refuge with bare hands.
I walked back depressed, sensing something I could not fathom; my mother was sitting with the other women. I proceeded towards her as though she was a refuge. She asked what was wrong. "They are surrendering their weapons", I said. In the same way that your mother said "yes" to you, so did my mother, say "yes" to me, then. Silence befell us as if something had fallen, and under the lash of her intelligent eyes I found myself weeping.
I was born anew then. I was watching the men once again, with a look they were unaccustomed to, and my mother – alone – was giving me a look I was unaccustomed to.
Do not believe that man grows up. No. Man is born all of a sudden: a word, in an instant, penetrates his heart to a new throbbing. One scene can hurl him down from the ceiling of childhood onto the rough road.
As that piercing "yes" recreated me, another "yes" recreated you. And I heard how you accepted it with the wailing of a man emerging from one unknown to another with the rhythmic flow of sound impossible to be rid of.
Was your question just like mine, the curiosity of a child or the destiny of a man?
It is of no consequence.
At that moment, the old land had been born within a new man. I witnessed the birth while I was in the other room and felt that the resisting veins had taken root in another patch on the expanse of unending bodies.
When you came to me, it seemed as though you were emerging from you own private enclosure and a voice had instructed you to read. It caused you to panic at first, but it put you at the gateway leading out to the road ahead.
Ghassan Kanafani
Beirut - 1967
Ghassan Kanafani’s Books in Translation
ENGLISH:
1978-1980 MEN IN THE SUN AND OTHER PALESTINIAN STORIES
HEINEMANN EDUCATIONAL BOOKS LTD, LONDON - UK
IN TRANSLATION: HILARY KILPATRICK
1983/84/88/ MEN IN THE SUN AND OTHER PALESTINIAN STORIES
90/91/93/95 THREE CONTINENTS PRESS, WASHINGTON - USA
IN TRANSLATION: HILARY KILPATRICK
1991 MEN IN THE SUN AND OTHER PALESTINIAN STORIES
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO PRESS, CAIRO – EGYPT
IN TRANSLATION: HILARY KILPATRICK
1984 PALESTINE’S CHILDREN – A NOVEL AND SHORT STORIES
HEINEMANN EDUCATIONAL BOOKS LTD, LONDON - UK
IN TRANSLATION: BARBARA HARLOW
1990 ALL THAT’S LEFT TO YOU - A NOVEL AND OTHER STORIES
CENTER FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS, AUSTIN - USA
IN TRANSLATION: MAY JAYYUSI AND JEREMY REED
1992 ALL THAT’S LEFT TO YOU - A NOVEL AND OTHER STORIES
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO PRESS, CAIRO – EGYPT
IN TRANSLATION: MAY JAYYUSI AND JEREMY REED
1997 THE LITTLE LANTERN - A CHILDREN STORY
THE COLLECTION ON CHILDREN IN THE MUSLIM MIDDLE EAST
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS, AUSTIN – USA
IN TRANSLATION: TURA CAMPANELLA COOK
1999 MEN IN THE SUN AND OTHER PALESTINIAN - STORIES
LYNNE REINNER PUBLISHERS LTD. BOULDER, COLORADO - USA
IN TRANSLATION: HILARY KILPATRIC
2000 PALESTINE’S CHILDREN - A NOVEL AND SHORT STORIES
RETURNING TO HAIFA AND OTHER STORIES
LYNNE RIENNER PUBLISHERS LTD. BOULDER, COLORADO - USA
IN TRANSLATION: BARBARA HARLOW & KAREN RILEY
2005 LITTLE LANTERN – A CHILDREN STORY
GHASSAN KANAFANI CULTURAL FOUNDATION
BILINGUAL EDITION – ARABIC / ENGLISH
IN TRANSLATION: NORA SHAWWA
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FRENCH:
1966 LA PORTE--PIECE EN CINQ ACTES – A PLAY
ORIENT REVUE, PARIS - FRANCE
IN TRANSLATION: MICHEL BARBOT
1977 DES HOMMES DANS LE SOLEIL – A NOVEL
L’HORLOGE ET LE DESERT
OUM-SAAD LA MATRICE
EDITION SINDIBAD, PARIS - FRANCE
IN TRANSLATION: MICHEL SEURAT
1979 CONTES DE PALESTINE - STORIES
EDITION STOCK, AVEC LE CONCOURSE DE L’UNESCO, PARIS - FRANCE
IN TRANSLATION: IBRAHIM SOUSS
1997 RETOUR A HAIFA ET AUTRES NOUVELLES – A NOVEL
EDITIONS SINDIBAD/ACTE SUD, PARIS - FRANCE
IN TRANSLATION: JOCELYNE ET ABDELLATIF LAABI
ITALIEN:
1985 RITORINO A HAIFA – A NOVEL
LA MADRE DI SAAD
EDIZIONI RIOPOSTES, SALERNO / ROMA - ITALY
IN TRANSLATION: ISABELLA CAMERA D’AFFLITTO
1985 LA PORTA / TEATRO – A PALY
EDIZIONI RIPOSTES, SALERNO / ROMA - ITALY
IN TRANSLATION: FERIAL BARESSI
1991 UOMINI SOTTO IT SOLE – A NOVEL
SELLERIO EDITORE, PALERMO - ITALY
IN TRANSLATION: ISABELLA CAMERA D’AFFLITTO
1991 RITORNO A HAIFA – A NOVEL
EDIZIONI LAVORO, ROMA - ITALY
IN TRANSLATION: ISABELLA CAMERA D’AFFLITTO
1993 SE TU FOSSI UN CAVALLO - STORIES
JOUVENCE SOCIETA EDITORIALE, ROMA - ITALY
IN TRANSLATION: ANGELA LANO
2003 RITORNO A HAIFA – A NOVEL
EDIZIONI LAVORO, ROMA – ITALY
IN TRANSLATION: ISABELLA CAMERA D’AFFLITTO
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GERMAN:
1981 UM SAAD – A NOVELETTE
DAS ARABISCHE BUCH VERLAG, BERLIN - GERMANY
IN TRANSLATION: DOROTHEA KRAWULSKY
1983 DAS LAND DER TRAURIGEN ORANGEN - STORIES
PALASTINENSISCHE ERZAHLUNGEN I
LENOS VERLAG, BASEL - SWITZERLAND
IN TRANSLATION: HARTMUT FAHNRICH
1984 BIS WIR ZURUCH KEHREN - STORIES
PALASTINENSISCHE ERZAHLUNGEN II
LENOS VERLAG, BASEL - SWITZERLAND
IN TRANSLATION: HARTMUT FAHNRICH
1985 MANNER IN DER SONNE / WAS EUCH BLEIBT - NOVELS
PALASTINENSISCHE KURZROMAN
LENOS VERLAG, BASEL - SWITZERLAND
IN TRANSLATION: HARTMUT FAHNRICH & VERONICA THEIS
1986 UM SAAD - NOVELETTE
PALASTINENSISCHE KURZROMAN
RUCKKEHR NACH HAIFA
PALASTINENSISCHE KURZROMAN
LENOS VERLAG, BASEL - SWITZERLAND
IN TRANSLATION: HARTMUT FAHNRICH & VERONICA THEIS
1992 RUCKKEHR NACH HAIFA - (LENOS POCKET EDITION)
1994 DAS LAND DER TRAURIGEN ORANGEN-(LENOS POCKET EDITION)
1996 BIS WIR ZURUCKKEHREN - (LENOS POCKET EDITION)
LENOS VERLAG, BASEL - SWITZERLAND
IN TRANSLATION: HARTMUT FAHNRICH
1983-1985 DIE KLEINE LATERNE – CHILDREN STORY
DER KINDER BUCH VERLAG, BERLIN (DDR) - GERMANY
IN TRANSLATION: JOHANNA & MOUSAFA HAIKAL
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SPANISH:
1991 HOMBRES EN EL SOL - A NOVEL
LO QUE OS QUEDA - A NOVEL
UM SAAD – A NOVELLETTE
LIBERTARIAS / PRODHUFI, SA, MADRID - SPAIN
IN TRANSLATION: MARIA ROSA DE MADARIAGA
GREEK:
1999 MEN IN THE SUN / THE BLIND AND THE DEAF – NOVELS
THE DEATH OF BED NO. 12 - SHORT STOREIS
KASTANIOTIS EDITONS S.A. ATHENS - GREECE
IN TRANSLATION: NASEEM AL ATRASH
HUNGARIAN:
1969 LANGOLO EG ALATT (MEN IN THE SUN) – A NOVEL
EUROPA KONYKIADO, BUDAPEST - HUNGARIA
IN TRANSLATION: SIMON ROBERT PRILESZKY
POLISH:
1982 GLOWA KAMIENNEGO LWA – SHORT STORIES
PANSTWOWY INSTITUT WYDAWNICZY, WARSZAWA - POLAND
IN TRANSLATION: JANUSZ DANECKI
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CZECH:
1982 MUZI NA SLUNNCI (MEN IN THE SUN) – A NOVEL
NAVART DO HAJFY (RETURNING TO HAIFA AND OTHER STORIES)
SVOBODA PUBLISHER, PRAHA - CZECHOSLOVAKIA
IN TRANSLATION: IVAN HRBEK
SLOVAKIA (BRATISLAVIA):
1988 KTO ZABIL LAYLA AL-HAJIKOVU (WHO KILLED LAYLA AL HAJIK)
MUZI NA SLNKU (MEN IN THE SUN)
MAJ PUBLISHER, BRATISLAVA - SLOVAKIA
IN TRANSLATION: LADISLAV DROZDIK
RUSSIAN:
1984 RADUGA PUBLISHING HOUSE, MOSKWA - USSR
IN TRANSLATION: A. AGARE SJAVE & E. CIDOROV
1984 BACK TO HAIFA – A NOVEL
WHO KILLED LAYLA AL HAYEK – A NOVELETTE
PROGRESS PUBLISHING HOUSE, MOSKWA - USSR
IN TRANSLATION: E. SIDOROVA
JAPANESE:
1976 MEN IN THE SUN – A NOVEL
RETURNING TO HAIFA AND OTHER STORIES
KAWADE SHO8O - SHINSHA PUBLISHER, TOKYO - JAPAN
IN TRANSLATION: MUTZUAKI NUTAHARA & HISHO KURODA
KOREA
2002 MEN IN THE SUN – A NOVEL
AND PALESTINIAN SHORT STORIES
YOLIMWON PUBLISHING CO., SEUL – KOREA
IN TRANSLATION:
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DANISH:
1981 ALT HVAD I HAR TILBAGE (ALL THAT’S LEFT TO YOU) – A NOVEL
TILBAGE TIL HAIFA (RETURNING TO HAIFA AND OTHER STORIES)
FORLAGET RHODOS, COPENHAGEN - DENMARK
IN TRANSLATION: SUZANNE PELCH
1990 MAND I SOLEN (MEN IN THE SUN) – A NOVEL
FORLAGET RHODOS, COPENHAGEN - DENMARK
IN TRANSLATION: FAYEZ KANAFANI
SWEDISH:
1975 MAN I SOLEN (MEN IN THE SUN) – A NOVEL
UM SAAD AND OTHER PALESTINIAN STORIES
BOCKFORLAGET PRISMA, STOCKHOLM - SWEDEN
IN TRANSLATION: INGVAR RYDBERG
NORWEGIAN:
1977 MENN UNDER SOLA (MEN IN THE SUN) – A NOVEL
UM SAAD AND OTHER PALESTINIAN STORIES
PAX FORLAG, OSLO - NORWAY
IN TRANSLATION: TORSTEIN BUGGE HOVERSTAD
DUTCH:
1977 MANNEN IN DE ZON - A NOVEL
HET WERELDVENSTER BAARN, THE NETHERLAND
IN TRANSLATION: F. SCHRODER
1977 OEMM SAAD - A NOVELLETE
STICHTING PALESTINA PUBLIKATIES,
AMSTERDAM - THE NETHERLAND
IN TRANSLATION: RUUD PETERS
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RADIO PLAYS:
MEN IN THE SUN
DANISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
SWEDISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
CZECH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
SLOVAK BROADCASTING CORPORATION
POLISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
RADIO DRS - STUDIO BERN - SWITZERLAND
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION
UM SAAD
DANISH BROAD CASTING COOPERATION
FINISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
RETURNING TO HAIFA
ICLANDIC NAT. BROADCAST SERVICE
THEATRE:
HISTORIEN OM MOR SA’D (THE STORIES ABOUT UM SAAD)
BRUKSTEATERN, SWEDISH THEATER, MALMO - SWEDEN
RETURNING TO HAIFA
VIETNAM THEATRE
HOSHE MNEH CITY
DIE KLEINE LATERNE
PUPPET PLAY THEATRE FOR CHILDREN
THE RED BAND THEATRE GROUP, COPENHAGEN – DENMARK.
THE LITTLE LANTERN
CHRISTMAS SHOW FOR CHIDREN
THEATRE WORSHOPK, EDINBURGH - SCHOTLAND.
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