Being There, Being Here

Maurice Ebileeni is Lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Haifa.

A landmark volume for the field of Palestinian literature.-- "Contemporary Levant" Takes the reader on a multifaceted journey through land, continents and languages as these intertwine with Palestinian authors' perceptions, imaginings and affinities to Palestine.-- "Middle East Monitor" In addition to his meticulously attentive readings of these authors, who are 'speaking in tongues' about his own personal predicament as a second-generation immigrant, Ebileeni is redrawing, in effect, the discursive boundaries of what constitutes 'Palestinian literature' in the first place. If nothing else, this seems to be the singular and glowing contribution of this ingenious and path-breaking study.-- "Anton Shammas, University of Michigan" Political, engaged with national displacement, and expressing multiple polylingual sites of production, Ebileeni's excellent book positions itself at the crossroads of these productive tensions and tells the story of expanding trajectories of literary development. This is Palestinian literary criticism at its best. -- "Bashir Abu-Manneh, University of Kent" Being There, Being Here is an engaged and engaging treatment of Palestinian literature in languages other than Arabic....It is bound to stir discussions and debates within the fields of Palestinian literature and cultural studies, as well as politics and history; yet also outside it. -- "Shai Ginsburg, Duke University" Original and provocative, Being There, Being Here is an important contribution to both comparative literature and Palestine studies. With keen insight into the historical and textual legacies of exile and diaspora, Ebileeni reminds us that being Palestinian is about much more than being in Palestine. -- "Lital Levy, Princeton University"