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A moving novel about modern Lebanon, this story intermingles the lives of three women and explores their reactions to war, loss, displacement, exile and return to the homeland. This is Nada A. Jarrar's first novel.
Notes
Dedication: For my family
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Meditation on Memory and Belonging : Nada Awar Jarrar's 'Somewhere Home'Dawn Mirapuri,
2009single work criticism — Appears in:
Arab Voices in Diaspora : Critical Perspectives on Anglophone Arab Literature2009;(p. 463-485)Dawn Mirapuri argues that 'Somewhere, Home participates in the dialogue within Lebanon about the memory of war.' As Mirapuri outlines: 'My reading will show that in the first part of the novel, the lacuna presented by the obvious omission of the civl war reflects the amnesia that has prevailed in the postwar era. I will show that this kind of amnesia fosters forms of subjectivity and representation that abrogate responsibility and hinder reconciliation. It will be shown that, in the second part of the novel, Jarrar conveys the necessity to address the issue of communal guilt and shame in relation to the war. My reading of the third story in the novel is that Jarrar focuses attention afresh on the people left behind through migration or exile, to show that their loss of a loved one who has moved away needs to be highlighted in memory discourses' (pp. 468-469).
Meditation on Memory and Belonging : Nada Awar Jarrar's 'Somewhere Home'Dawn Mirapuri,
2009single work criticism — Appears in:
Arab Voices in Diaspora : Critical Perspectives on Anglophone Arab Literature2009;(p. 463-485)Dawn Mirapuri argues that 'Somewhere, Home participates in the dialogue within Lebanon about the memory of war.' As Mirapuri outlines: 'My reading will show that in the first part of the novel, the lacuna presented by the obvious omission of the civl war reflects the amnesia that has prevailed in the postwar era. I will show that this kind of amnesia fosters forms of subjectivity and representation that abrogate responsibility and hinder reconciliation. It will be shown that, in the second part of the novel, Jarrar conveys the necessity to address the issue of communal guilt and shame in relation to the war. My reading of the third story in the novel is that Jarrar focuses attention afresh on the people left behind through migration or exile, to show that their loss of a loved one who has moved away needs to be highlighted in memory discourses' (pp. 468-469).
