Mahmoud Darwish
Unfortunately, It Was Paradise
Selected Poems
$19.95, £13.95 paperback
9780520237544
Available Now
210 pages, 6 x 8 inches,
January 2003, Available worldwide
January 2003, Available worldwide
Mahmoud Darwish is a literary rarity: at once critically acclaimed as one of the most important poets in the Arabic language, and beloved as the voice of his people. He is a living legend whose lyrics are sung by fieldworkers and schoolchildren. He has assimilated some of the world's oldest literary traditions at the same time that he has struggled to open new possibilities for poetry. This collection spans Darwish's entire career, nearly four decades, revealing an impressive range of expression and form. A splendid team of translators has collaborated with the poet on these new translations, which capture Darwish's distinctive voice and spirit.
"Darwish's complex linguistic negotiations of deeply contested places, on the earth and in the mind, demand and sustain serious reading and discussion. Ê.Ê.Ê.Ê[Forché's] fluid and precise approach to translation is everywhere apparent here."—Publishers Weekly
"These translations of Mahmoud Darwish's marvelous poems reveal the lifelong development of a major world poet. The book is a gift to other poets and lovers of poetry."—American Poet
"As the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish has observed, Palestine is a metaphor for the loss of Eden, for the sorrows of dispossession and exile, for the declining power of the Arab world in its dealings with the West. Mr. Darwish, who is widely considered the Palestinian national poet, has developed this metaphor to richly lyrical effect . . . . Like Yehuda Amichai, the Israeli poet he read in Hebrew as a young man, Mr. Darwish has given expression to his people's ordinary longings and desires."—Adam Shatz, New York Times
"This book's publication is a major event. . . . Darwish is a literary giant whose voice is passionate and universal."—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
"Unfortunately, It Was Paradise offers poems, rooted in ancient traditions, that map his voyage as a Palestinian and poet—equally problematic identities…. Deserving of more prominence in a literary scene still accustomed to Eurocentricity, Darwish is to be read with urgency, in the night, when nothing else moves but his lines."—Village Voice
". . . [S]uffice it to say that Darwish, as rendered in this English-only edition, demands, and sustains, serious reading and discussion. . . "Publishers Weekly starred review
"These translations of Mahmoud Darwish's marvelous poems reveal the lifelong development of a major world poet. The book is a gift to other poets and lovers of poetry."—American Poet
"As the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish has observed, Palestine is a metaphor for the loss of Eden, for the sorrows of dispossession and exile, for the declining power of the Arab world in its dealings with the West. Mr. Darwish, who is widely considered the Palestinian national poet, has developed this metaphor to richly lyrical effect . . . . Like Yehuda Amichai, the Israeli poet he read in Hebrew as a young man, Mr. Darwish has given expression to his people's ordinary longings and desires."—Adam Shatz, New York Times
"This book's publication is a major event. . . . Darwish is a literary giant whose voice is passionate and universal."—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
"Unfortunately, It Was Paradise offers poems, rooted in ancient traditions, that map his voyage as a Palestinian and poet—equally problematic identities…. Deserving of more prominence in a literary scene still accustomed to Eurocentricity, Darwish is to be read with urgency, in the night, when nothing else moves but his lines."—Village Voice
". . . [S]uffice it to say that Darwish, as rendered in this English-only edition, demands, and sustains, serious reading and discussion. . . "Publishers Weekly starred review
"These translations of Mahmoud Darwish's marvelous poems reveal the lifelong development of a major world poet. The book is a gift to other poets and lovers of poetry. It's also an important contribution to current and future discourse on culture and politics."—Adrienne Rich, author of Fox: Poems, 1996-2000
"At this critical moment in world relations, cultural, creative projects feel more necessary than ever. Celebrate this most comprehensive gathering of Mahmoud Darwish's poetry ever translated into English. Darwish is the premier poetic voice of the Palestinian people, and the collaboration between translators Akash and Forché is a fine mingling of extraordinary talents. The style here is quintessential Darwish—lyrical, imagistic, plaintive, haunting, always passionate, and elegant—and never anything less than free—what he would dream for all his people."—Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Fuel
"At this critical moment in world relations, cultural, creative projects feel more necessary than ever. Celebrate this most comprehensive gathering of Mahmoud Darwish's poetry ever translated into English. Darwish is the premier poetic voice of the Palestinian people, and the collaboration between translators Akash and Forché is a fine mingling of extraordinary talents. The style here is quintessential Darwish—lyrical, imagistic, plaintive, haunting, always passionate, and elegant—and never anything less than free—what he would dream for all his people."—Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Fuel
Acknowledgments Munir Akash
Introduction Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché
FROM Fewer Roses (1986)
I Will Slog over This Road
Another Road in the Road
Were It Up to Me to Begin Again
On This Earth
I Belong There
Addresses for the Soul, outside This Place
Earth Presses against Us
We Journey towards a Home
We Travel Like All People
Athens Airport
I Talk Too Much
We Have the Right to Love Autumn
The Last Train Has Stopped
On the Slope, Higher Than the Sea, They Slept
He Embraces His Murderer
Winds Shift against Us
Neighing on the Slope
Other Barbarians Will Come
They Would Love to See Me Dead
When the Martyrs Go to Sleep
The Night There
We Went to Aden
Another Damascus in Damascus
The Flute Cried
In This Hymn
FROM I See What I Want to See (1993)
The Hoopoe
FROM Why Have You Left the Horse Alone? (1995)
I See My Ghost Coming from Afar
A Cloud in My Hands
The Kindhearted Villagers
The Owl's Night
The Everlasting Indian Fig
The Lute of Ismael
The Strangers' Picnic
The Raven's Ink
Like the Letter "N" in the Qur'an
Ivory Combs
The Death of the Phoenix
Poetic Regulations
Excerpts from the Byzantine Odes of Abu Firas
The Dreamers Pass from One Sky to Another
A Rhyme for the Odes (Mu'allaqat)
Night That Overflows My Body
The Gypsy Woman Has a Tame Sky
FROM A Bed for the Stranger (1999)
We Were without a Present
Sonnet II
The Stranger Finds Himself in the Stranger
The Land of the Stranger, the Serene Land
Inanna's Milk
Who Am I, without Exile?
Lesson from the Kama Sutra
Mural (2000)
Mural
Three Poems (before 1986)
A Soldier Dreams of White Tulips
As Fate Would Have It
Four Personal Addresses
Glossary
Introduction Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché
FROM Fewer Roses (1986)
I Will Slog over This Road
Another Road in the Road
Were It Up to Me to Begin Again
On This Earth
I Belong There
Addresses for the Soul, outside This Place
Earth Presses against Us
We Journey towards a Home
We Travel Like All People
Athens Airport
I Talk Too Much
We Have the Right to Love Autumn
The Last Train Has Stopped
On the Slope, Higher Than the Sea, They Slept
He Embraces His Murderer
Winds Shift against Us
Neighing on the Slope
Other Barbarians Will Come
They Would Love to See Me Dead
When the Martyrs Go to Sleep
The Night There
We Went to Aden
Another Damascus in Damascus
The Flute Cried
In This Hymn
FROM I See What I Want to See (1993)
The Hoopoe
FROM Why Have You Left the Horse Alone? (1995)
I See My Ghost Coming from Afar
A Cloud in My Hands
The Kindhearted Villagers
The Owl's Night
The Everlasting Indian Fig
The Lute of Ismael
The Strangers' Picnic
The Raven's Ink
Like the Letter "N" in the Qur'an
Ivory Combs
The Death of the Phoenix
Poetic Regulations
Excerpts from the Byzantine Odes of Abu Firas
The Dreamers Pass from One Sky to Another
A Rhyme for the Odes (Mu'allaqat)
Night That Overflows My Body
The Gypsy Woman Has a Tame Sky
FROM A Bed for the Stranger (1999)
We Were without a Present
Sonnet II
The Stranger Finds Himself in the Stranger
The Land of the Stranger, the Serene Land
Inanna's Milk
Who Am I, without Exile?
Lesson from the Kama Sutra
Mural (2000)
Mural
Three Poems (before 1986)
A Soldier Dreams of White Tulips
As Fate Would Have It
Four Personal Addresses
Glossary
Essay: A War for War's Sake, by Mahmoud Darwish, about Israel and the Palestinians, April 11, 2002
Finalist, 2004 PEN Literary Award for Poetry in Translation, PEN American Center
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