From Publishers Weekly
Employing two narrators, this semi-autobiographical "elaborate tapestry" by an Israeli Arab interweaves the 150-year history of the Shammas clan in Fassuta, a village in northern Israel, with contemporary scenes in Paris and at the University of Iowa. PW said, "The multilayered pyrotechnics are dazzling and sophisticated but may render this work impenetrable for many American readers." Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
These two novels reflect the turmoil in the divided land from which they stem. Kaniuk, an Israeli Jew, centers the Arab-Israeli conflict in the mind of a "good Arab," the son of an Israeli heroine and a Palestinian scholar. His "confessions," as fantastical as his origins, elicit the truth that "in a tragedy there isn't one justice but two" and leaves him as divided as he was at birth. Shammas, an Israeli Arab and a Christian, moves in the other direction: interlacing myth, history, and familiar memories, he creates a tale that takes him toward some resolution of the disparate sources of his own identity. Depicting men and women as colorful as reality itself, he portrays Palestinians in a light that will surprise and please many American readers. Both novels manifest the literary influence of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and both deserve wide readership. L.M. Lewis, Eastern Kentucky Univ., RichmondCopyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Kirkus Reviews, "Back in Print" section
"[A] 'vibrant and original' work."


Book Description
Available again, Arabesques is a classic, complex novel of identity, memory, and history in the Middle East and points beyond-including Iowa and New York City. Anton Shammas, the first Arab to write a novel in Hebrew, has given us a riveting look at a people we hear too little about: Palestinian Christians. Arabesques was chosen as one of the best books of 1988 by the editors of the New York Times Book Review.


Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Hebrew


From the Back Cover
"Arabesques is a classic of the exploration of identity. . . . A Palestinian master of Hebrew, living at the seam between Jews and Arabs, between the ancient and the modern, between loyalties and appetites, Shammas has written beautifully about his search for design. He transforms fact into fantasy without changing a thing."-Leon Wieseltier


About the Author
Anton Shammas is Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan.

ANNOTATION

The first important Palestinian author to write in Hebrew presents a sophisticated, experimental novel about Arab village life.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Arabesques is a classic of the exploration of identity. . . . A Palestinian master of Hebrew, living at the seam between Jews and Arabs, between the ancient and the modern, between loyalties and appetites, Shammas has written beautifully about his search for design. He transforms fact into fantasy without changing a thing."-Leon Wieseltier

"This book is a history of its author's youth and the memoir of a family and a fabled region-Galilee. . . . A beautifully impressive piece of prose." (William H. Gass, New York Times Book Review)

"Arabesques really brings, as novels were once supposed to bring, 'news' from elsewhere. . . . This book has already added something notable to Israeli literature." (Irving Howe, New York Review of Books )

"If Hebrew literature is at all destined to have its Conrads, Nabokovs, Becketts and Ionescos, it could not have hoped for a more auspicious beginning." (Muhammed Siddiq, Los Angeles Times Book Review)

"Intricately conceived and beautifully written. . . . A crisp, luminous, and nervy mixture of fantasy and autobiography. . . [and] an elegant example of postmodern baroque." (John Updike, The New Yorker)

Author Biography: Anton Shammas is Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan.

SYNOPSIS

Available again, Arabesques is a classic, complex novel of identity, memory, and history in the Middle East and points beyond-including Iowa and New York City. Anton Shammas, the first Arab to write a novel in Hebrew, has given us a riveting look at a people we hear too little about: Palestinian Christians. Arabesques was chosen as one of the best books of 1988 by the editors of the New York Times Book Review.

FROM THE CRITICS

Kirkus Reviews

[A] 'vibrant and original' work.

Publishers Weekly

Employing two narrators, this semi-autobiographical ``elaborate tapestry'' by an Israeli Arab interweaves the 150-year history of the Shammas clan in Fassuta, a village in northern Israel, with contemporary scenes in Paris and at the University of Iowa. PW said, ``The multilayered pyrotechnics are dazzling and sophisticated but may render this work impenetrable for many American readers.'' (May)

Library Journal

These two novels reflect the turmoil in the divided land from which they stem. Kaniuk, an Israeli Jew, centers the Arab-Israeli conflict in the mind of a ``good Arab,'' the son of an Israeli heroine and a Palestinian scholar. His ``confessions,'' as fantastical as his origins, elicit the truth that ``in a tragedy there isn't one justice but two'' and leaves him as divided as he was at birth. Shammas, an Israeli Arab and a Christian, moves in the other direction: interlacing myth, history, and familiar memories, he creates a tale that takes him toward some resolution of the disparate sources of his own identity. Depicting men and women as colorful as reality itself, he portrays Palestinians in a light that will surprise and please many American readers. Both novels manifest the literary influence of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and both deserve wide readership. L.M. Lewis, Eastern Kentucky Univ., Richmond

Kirkus Reviews