In contemporary Arabic fiction from Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan as well as in Palestinian exile novels, Palestinians are predominantly depicted as and judged in terms of being representatives of the Palestinian collective. They frequently appear on the scene as guerilla fighters, a role that seems to inevitably lead to an ideologically-loaded image and stereotypical portrayal. Although the public in the Arab world is acutely aware of and sensitive to the Palestine problem, the perception of Palestinians evident in novels is for the most part fixated on the political-military setting. The real-life circumstances – whether the refugees’ sheer struggle to survive, the social and political situation of Palestinians in occupied territories or in exile, or Arab-Palestinian relations − play a subordinate role. The perspective taken by the novelist often draws on one-sided and rigid notions or is constricted to the projection of ideals: the fedayeen are depicted as the antithesis to Palestinian exile and the prototype of a “new Arab man”.
Literatures in Context is a peer-reviewed book series devoted to Near Eastern and North African literatures. The editors want the title of the series to be understood programmatically. They presuppose a concept of world literature that includes Near Eastern and North African literatures. What is more, they assume that literatures are in many ways marked by intertextuality, that they constitute readings of extremely diverse earlier texts, and that they are posited within a field of tensions, much broader than their respective national language. For the earlier eras of Near Eastern and North African literatures, this field of tensions geographically covers the regions of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor. In modern times, it has become a space of interaction that has long since included “global” Western literatures (and realities). This does not imply that the modern Near Eastern and North African literatures have severed themselves from their predecessors. Instead it is precisely the tension between different sets of references in modern Near Eastern and North African literatures, or their “local historical context”, which is a great part of their attraction, that remains a crucial field of research for the modern scholar.
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