The Lanterns of the King of Galilee , livre ebook

The American University in Cairo Press - Ibrahim Nasrallah ,
traduit par Nancy Roberts

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351 pages

English

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An epic novel of historic Palestine from the author of Time of White Horses
In eighteenth-century Palestine, on the shores of Galilee's Lake Tiberias, visionary political and military leader Daher al-Umar al-Zaydani undertakes a journey toward the greatest aim anyone could hope to achieve in his day: the establishment of an autonomous Arab state. To do so he must challenge the rule of the greatest power in the world at the time-the Ottoman Empire-while translating the ideals of human dignity, justice, and religious tolerance into concrete daily realities.
In this compelling story of love and loss, victory and defeat, loyalty and betrayal, award-winning poet and novelist Ibrahim Nasrallah, author of the Arabic Booker shortlisted Time of White Horses, once again brings Palestinian history alive with a set of characters and events both real and imagined to capture the essence of a rich and dramatic epoch in the turbulent annals of a land that has been fought over for millennia.

Sujets

Historical

Fiction

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Publié par	The American University in Cairo Press
Date de parution	01 janvier 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781617976469
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Ibrahim Nasrallah

Translated by Nancy Roberts
The American University in Cairo Press
Cairo New York
This electronic edition published in 2014 by
The American University in Cairo Press
113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt
420 Fifth Avenue, New York 10018
www.aucpress.com
Copyright 2012 by Ibrahim Nasrallah
First published in Arabic in 2012 as Qanadil malik al-Jalil by Arab Scientific Publishers, Inc.
Protected under the Berne Convention
English translation copyright 2014 by Nancy Roberts
First published in paperback in 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978 977 416 666 2
eISBN 978 161 797 646 9
Version 1
To Mai Nasrallah, Ali Nasrallah, and the Arab Spring witnessed by their generation, I dedicate this new journey in search of deeper roots
Contents
Acknowledgments
Author s Note
Map of Palestine
Lake Tiberias
The Seaside Paradise
Paradise between Two Seas
Torment in Paradise
Glossary
Qur anic Quotations
Sources
Acknowledgments
Special thanks go to the following friends and colleagues: Dr. Ziyad al-Zu bi for his assistance in locating a number of manuscripts and for the numerous discussions we had on the topic of this novel; Dr. Juni Mansur for his help in procuring manuscripts and oral testimonies, as well as every new piece of information being published on the time period I was researching; researcher and critic Elias Nasrallah for his rich, insightful, and detailed observations on many of the novel s events; Dr. Jabbur Khuri who, in a loving gesture that took me totally by surprise, made a tour in which he photographed many of the fortresses and other places where the events of this novel are set; Muna Darwaza for her observations and comments, and for translating various materials dealing with the period in which Daher lived from English into Arabic; Hanna al-Hajj; Ghazi Mas ud; and finally, Dr. Muhammad Abd al-Qa-dir for the careful observations he offered from start to finish.
Author s Note
In the eighteenth century, on the shores of Lake Tiberias among the mountains of Galilee, an ordinary man began his journey toward the greatest aim anyone could hope to achieve in those days, namely, the liberation of his land and establishment of an autonomous Arab state in Palestine. In so doing, he was destined to challenge the rule of the most powerful state in the world at that time, the Ottoman Empire, which had extended its sway over the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The man s name was Daher al-Umar al-Zaydani (1689-1775).
While researching sources for my novel Time of White Horses, I happened across various short studies of Daher al-Umar al-Zaydani. However, they weren t exhaustive enough to give me a complete picture of this historical figure and his grand liberation scheme. Then one day in December 1997, at the opening of an art exhibit in Amman, Jordan, I met engineer Ziyad Abu al-Saud, who gave me a book entitled Daher al-Umar: A Book on the History of Galilee in Particular, and the Lands of Syria in General by Tawfiq Mu ammar al-Muhami. When I read the book, I did so with the idea of drawing on it for Time of White Horses, and some of the events it recounted made a powerful impression on me. I also thought of writing a play some day based on the book s contents.
In fact, however, none of the events recounted in al-Muhami s book appeared in Time of White Horses , nor did I ever write the play I had in mind. What happened was even better: Daher al-Umar began to steal ever so gradually into my inner being, taking shape in his own time.
I was afraid at first that if I attempted a novel about such a major historical figure, I would find myself unduly restricted in what I could say. However, after reading two biographies of Daher al-Umar, one by Mikhail Niqula al-Sabbagh (Tarikh Daher al-Umar) and the other by Abbud al-Sabbagh (al-Rawd al-zahir fi tarikh Daher), I began to feel more confident about the prospect. When I finished my study of this man and began forming my own vision of him, I thought: Why not travel back to the eighteenth century and live there for a while? It s an opportunity that might not present itself again! Why not learn how to be free even when writing about a historical figure of the stature of Daher al-Umar al-Zaydani? And that is what I did.
What saddens me now is that I didn t come to know this great man earlier in my life. And what saddens me even more is that he remains virtually unknown to a large sector of the population, both in Palestine and elsewhere. This matchless character has long been worthy of the attention of novelists and film and television producers, who could have made him a luminous part of our popular consciousness and the ongoing struggle of the people who have populated and given life to the land of Palestine. I m certain that if we had made Daher al-Umar s acquaintance before, we would be the better for it!
Unfortunately, many people are ignorant of what Daher achieved toward establishing an autonomous Arab homeland in Palestine. Ironically, it was this very homeland that later fell prey to the Zionist onslaught that wrested it from its owners by means of myths, tanks, and collusion, both external and internal, claiming that it was a land without a people for a people without a land when, in fact, it was a land teeming with life!
Given the stature of Daher al-Umar al-Zaydani, or the King of Galilee -as he came to be known during the middle phase of his liberation struggle before his influence extended beyond Galilee-the experience of writing this novel was exceptionally difficult, and laid on my shoulders a huge weight of responsibility. However, I emerged from the experience a changed man. I feel as though the time I spent with Daher al-Umar rearranged my soul and laid a wonderful new foundation for my identity, enabling me to trace the roots that go so deep into the land of Palestine: Arab Palestine; the Palestine of beauty, tolerance, and the willingness to embrace the other, accepting his or her difference and respecting this difference in all its forms; the Palestine of cultural, spiritual, and human richness; the Palestine that aspires to all that is free, lovely, and good. If I have any hope, it is that those who read this novel will relive all the feelings I experienced in the course of writing it, and when that happens I m sure they ll sense how much better they ve become.
And now for a few necessary remarks:
- The two biographies of Daher s life together come to a mere hundred pages, and contain occasional discrepancies. Hence, given the brevity of these accounts and the points on which they diverge, I found it necessary to overlook or rewrite some events, as well as to add events that would help create a narrative world that went beyond literal factuality. It was also necessary to create additional characters in order to establish a novelistic structure that could do justice to this rich and lengthy historical period.
- The dramatic course of the novel required me to move a few events up and to delay others in keeping with the logic of the narrative.
- Despite its overall faithfulness to the facts, this work does not purport to be fully accurate in the information it presents. Rather, it relies primarily on the power of reality and imagination as they combine to communicate the essence of events and characters.
Translator s Note
The body of water from which the Jordan River arises has two names: the Sea of Galilee and Lake Tiberias. The novelist refers to it most often as the lake.
Map of Palestine in the eighteenth century
What you believe doesn t matter to me. What matters to me is what you do with your belief!
Lake Tiberias
Daher opened his eyes one morning to find his brothers standing over his head. If it hadn t been for the fact that their swords were in their sheaths, he would have thought they were about to kill him! So, are you going to sleep through the night and leave us in this state of confusion? Saad wanted to know. Daher rubbed his eyes with the back of his right hand. Have you arrived at a solution? he asked. No, we haven t, said Saleh. Oh yes we have! Saad contradicted him. Tonight we ll light the lanterns!
In that spacious room four lanterns shone. The wind was still, and there was nothing but the sound of breaths, breaths coming from distant lungs that didn t belong to the four statue-like bodies. The waves rolling in from Lake Tiberias and striking the wall of the house had the impact of a roaring sea. Each of them sat staring into the flame of the lantern before him, certain that he was staring into his own fate.
The Enormous Shadow and the Barefoot Woman
T he road to the cemetery one winter s day was the beginning of their journey. The brothers buried their father, Umar al-Zaydani, in silence, each of them stealing glances at the others. At the same time, people were watching every move being made by the eldest brother, Saad al-Umar.
The father s departure had come as no surprise. He had died after a protracted, enervating illness, which had given him time to choose one of his sons as his successor. However, the four brothers, who alone were aware of their father s wishes, kept them well concealed.
A powerful wind blew up and scattered the dirt that had been brought up from deep in the earth. Daher, the youngest of the four, began thinking about how far that winter s rain had soaked into the ground, and was surprised to find that the water that had come pouring down hadn t reached any deeper than it had.
Everyone gathered around the grave managed to hold back their tears, with the exception of Bishr, a boy who stood crying some distance away. Daher gestured to him to come forward. With timid steps, he approached until he was standing i