As Though She Were Sleeping by Elias Khoury

As Though She Were Sleeping by Elias Khoury

Beirut in the 1930s: a young woman has the gift of seeing the past in her dreams, and she can also predict the future. Over the course of three nights, Milia recalls her love affair with Mansour, between Beirut and Nazareth, and dreams of episodes in the lives of her family: of a grandmother who regains her virginity after the birth of her son; of the bizarre death of an uncle, who accidentally hangs himself by a church-bell rope; of her relationship with her mother. Dreams are a way to escape all forms of oppression, whether from family, religion or politics; Milia's visions are of a kind of Garden of Eden, of frangipani trees and orange blossom, and yet she foretells the political and social transformations to come: Jewish immigration to Palestine, the influence of foreign Christian missions and the Westernization of morality. As Though She Were Sleeping is a reminder of what life once was in the Middle East; Elias Khoury has again crafted a compelling and many-layered narrative of great sensuality.

Elias Khoury is the author of twelve novels, four volumes of literary criticism and three plays. He was editor-in-chief of the cultural supplement of Beirut's daily newspaper, An-Nahar, and is Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. Humphrey Davies has been awarded the Banipal Prize for his translation of Khoury's Gate of the Sun, and the prize for Best Translation of 2007 by the Society of Authors for Alaa Al Aswany's The Yacoubian Building.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780857050519
ISBN 10	0857050516
Title	As Though She Were Sleeping
Author	Elias Khoury
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Quercus Publishing
Year published	2011-05-26
Number of pages	368
Prizes	Winner of Prix du Roman Arabe (Arabic Novel Prize) 2008
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.