Dinarzad's Children: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Fiction

3.9/5 ( ratings)

In The Thousand and One Nights it is ShahrazadAa's sister, Dinarzad, who each night asks for a story. This collection of twenty-four modern tales by eighteen authors offers up a mix of previously published and new works, creating a literary road map to Arab American literature today.
Here authors of Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, Egyptian, and Libyan descent, some with established reputations, others new young writers, tell tales about Muslims and Christians, recent immigrants and fully assimilated Americans, teenagers and grandmothers, guerillas and peaceniks, professors, housewives, grocers, bookies, those who long for their homeland, and those who refuse to speak Arabic. A number of the stories center on conflicts between immigrants and their American-born children. Others wrestle openly with topics such as in-group stereotyping, domestic violence, familial discord, and other difficult issues. But what sets this literature apart from other ethnic literatures is its tendency to keep an eye on the overseas political situation. By turns sassy or lyrical, biting or humorous, always moving, the stories in this collection are good reading and an important contribution to the body of ethnic American literature.

Contents:

How we are bound by Patricia Sarrafian Ward
The new world by Susan Muaddi Darraj
A frame for the sky ; Lost in freakin' yonkers by Randa Jarrar
Oh, Lebanon by Evelyn Shakir
Fire and sand by Laila Halaby
News from Phoenix ; And what else? by Joseph Geha
The salad lady by Rawi Hage
The coal bin by D.H. Melhem
Manar of Hama ; The spiced chicken queen of Mickaweaquah, Iowa by Mohja Kahf
Stage directions for an extended conversation by Yussef El Guindi
It's not about that by Samia Serageldin
Airport ; Bluebird by Pauline Kaldas
Edge of rock by May Mansoor Munn
Shakespeare in the Gaza Strip by Sahar Kayyal
Arabic lessons by David Williams