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Hikayat: Short Stories by Lebanese Women
Edited by Roseanne Saad Khalaf
(Telegram Books, 2006)
Roseanne Khalaf, assistant professor of English and creative writing at
AUB's Department of English, has recently edited an anthology of 26 stories,
Hikayat written by Lebanese women authors, some as established as Emily
Nasrallah, Hanan al-Shaykh, Etel Adnan, Najwa Barakat, and Alawiya Sobh.
The authors belong to three generations of writers, as Roseanne Khalaf
pointed out in her introduction to the anthology: "the prewar period,
often considered the golden age in Lebanon; the two decades of protracted
civil strife; followed by the postwar phase of reconstruction and reconciliation."
The short stories, all written in or translated to English, reflect the
effects the three episodes had on those women writers, thus shedding light
on the overall and more universal picture of the circumstances women of
those generations have faced. Themes such as the "crippling effects"
of the war, pursuit of a romantic relationship in defiance of a conservative
society, and the aftermath of emigration and the "generational conflicts"
within families are a few of the many issues seldom addressed in literature
because of the taboos surrounding them. Hikayat, nonetheless, manages
to break the political and social taboos and constraints to render a realistic
and sometimes bitter sketch of the reality those women are living.
In addition to teaching literature and creative writing, Khalaf is a prolific
writer. Her well-known publications include Once Upon a Time in Lebanon;
Lebanon: Four Journeys to the Past; Themes, Transit Beirut: New Writing
and Images; Cleo The Hotel Cat; and Cleo Visits Downtown Beirut.
Hikayat, which received outstanding reviews in journals such as The Independent,
The Times, the Times Literary Supplement, the New Statesman, and Scotland
on Sunday, is part of a series of similar themes published by Telegram
Books. The titles of the series are Afsaneh: Short Stories by Iranian
Women; Galpa: Short Stories by Bangladeshi Women; Kahani: Short Stories
by Pakistani Women; Povidky: Short Stories by Czech Women; Qissat: Short
Stories by Palestinian Women; and Scealta: Short Stories by Irish Women.