Narrating the Past and Reclaiming Memory in Palestinian Anglophone Literature: Haunting Trauma - Hardcover

by Wael J. Salam (Author)

This book explores the creative depiction of Palestinian traumas in Palestinian Anglophone novels, examining memory as a trope of resistance against erasure and forgetfulness in the works of Isabella Hammad, Susan Abulhawa, Hala Alyan, and Selma Dabbagh. Moving beyond North American and European models of trauma and remembrance, it extends the analysis of trauma tropes to literature from the Global South. In the context of a Palestinian archival history that has been systematically destroyed to obscure the brutal realities of settler colonialism, popular memory and testimonial forms--including literature--emerge as adversarial strategies that counter the politics of memoricide and historical erasure.

Author Biography

Wael J. Salam is an Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Postcolonial Literature at the University of Jordan. He is also affiliated with the University of Kuwait, serving as an Associate Professor of English. He earned his PhD from the University of Texas at Dallas. Previously, he taught at the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas at Austin, Kenyon College, and Middlebury College. His research interests include comparative literature, postcolonial literature, Arabic literature, Arab American literature, and trauma theory. He has published articles in prestigious journals, including Interventions, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, English Studies, Style, CEA Critic, Textual Practice, Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, and E-learning and Digital Media.