The Parisian
Title:
The Parisian
Parisian, or, al-Barisi
Al-Barisi
Author:
Edition:
First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition.
Call Number:
FIC HAMMA
General Note:
Maps on endpapers.
ISBN:
9780802129437
Language:
English
Physical Description:
ix, 566 pages ; 24 cm
Summary:
Midhat Kamal is the son of a wealthy textile merchant from Nablus, a town in Ottoman Palestine. A dreamer, a romantic, an aesthete, in 1914 he leaves to study medicine in France, and falls in love. When Midhat returns to Nablus to find it under British rule, and the entire region erupting with nationalist fervor, he must find a way to cope with his conflicting loyalties and the expectations of his community. The story of Midhat's life develops alongside the idea of a nation, as he and those close to him confront what it means to strive for independence in a world that seems on the verge of falling apart.