Anton Shammas is a Palestinian Christian Arab. He is well known for the novel Arabesques, written in Hebrew and
chronically the history of the Shammas family in both Palestine, Israel and
Lebanon.
The novel created a splash when it first came out in
the 80s. Here was Shammas, an Arab
writer, writing in the language of Israel’s majority. The novel also reflects the kind of aesthetic
of certain 80s novels, with elements of magic realism and a post-modern
structure.
As the title implies, this
book is not only about Arabs, but about arabesques: intricate patterning and
motifs. They often loop around each
other, join, and depart.
This makes Arabesques a somewhat complex
novel to read, yet Shammas, with his great concern for character and shades of
emotional meaning, softens the blow.
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