Novel
The Tree Stump
القرمية
Samiha Khreis · 1998
Synopsis
A novel of the Arab Revolt of 1916 against the Turks, led with the support of the British, at the origins of Jordan. Drawing on interviews with tribal elders, the narrative mixes tribal customs, religion, politics and love, and stages, alongside Arab fighters and strong women, real figures such as King Faisal, Auda Abu Tayi and T. E. Lawrence, who tries in vain to photograph a Bedouin woman.
Context
The Arabic original is not identified with certainty; Nesreen Akhtarkhavari translated the novel into English in 2019 for Michigan State University Press, under the title The Tree Stump. The American publisher regards it as one of the Arabic novels that document the revolt in the greatest detail, and M. D. Allen reads in it an Arab-centred narrative, opposed to Lawrence's version.
Who it is for
For reading the birth of Jordan told by a Jordanian novelist, against the grain of Lawrence's account.
Prizes and reception
M. D. Allen, in World Literature Today in 2020, finds the portrait of Lawrence unconvincing and the translation careless.
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