Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories

Written and published in the 1950s and 1960s, this slender volume of stories by Ghassan Kananfani speaks of the displacement of Palestinians in ways that are timeless and still fresh today. They speak of loss more than hope, and although the author was an activist and spokesman for the Palestinian Popular Front, he seemed in these writings to simply bring attention to the human cost of political struggle in the Middle East. He himself was killed by a car bomb in Beirut in 1972. The most compelling of these stories is the novella "Men in the Sun," which tells of the efforts of three men being smuggled into Kuwait from Iraq and the truck driver who has offered to help them across the border. The fierce desert heat represents the terrible odds against their ever being able to escape the consequences of war and loss of homeland. But this is only one theme among many, as Kananfani explores traits of Arab character which seem to intensify inner conflict and erode the ability to act purposefully. The story "If You Were a Horse" concerns itself with superstition, fear, and overwhelming regret that divides father from son and leads to misfortune. The book includes an informative introduction by Hilary Kilpatrick.

"Men in the sun", a novel by Ghassan Kanafani, is a story about the suffer of the Palestinian people since 1948 (and earlier in the 20th century). "Men in the sun" is neither a story about Yasser Arafat's legacy and his PLO's sense of politics nor a debate on Oslo and Madrid agreements. The novel is a piece of art that visualizes the Palestinian tragedy and extreme reality. It is the story of three men's quest for a better life. They plan to migrate from the "occupation cage" to a new "promise land" where they meet the "promised demise" in the desert, a home of the many Arabs and Bedouins. In this story, the dream of the three main figures of the story represents the dream of every man who loses the feeling of belonging to a certain place at a certain time. To achieve that dream, it requires struggle with harsh circumstances of life. The result is not always guaranteed. Suffer, resistance, commitment, dreams, hope, fatigue, thirst, and death will form a strange, yet unique, amalgam that describes the Palestinian identity. The symbolism in this story is just intriguing. In fact, the trends can symbolize the migration of any man to any "self-imposed exile", where "enforced dreams" replace the simple -but lost- passion, love and happiness to form a complex and bitter reality. The novel ends with a beautiful and so influential paragraph that tries to raise the question of why the 3 men (main figures of the novel) did not try to knock on the walls of their symbolic "prison" (Empty tanker)? Why did not they call for help? "Why? Why? Why?"; one may understand The "Whys" of Kanafani at the close of his masterpiece as follows: why did not some of the oppressed people reject the abject reality? Why did not they fight for their life and freedom? Could it be that they were so hopeless and tired, or were they so afraid from going back to the occupied home-land? Did they prefer death to losing their dream? The questions were asked by Kanafani in the past to project on present exprience, and to reflect the suffer of the "palestinean-age" on the future memory of humanity.

This book contains a novella as well as several short stories by the prominent Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani. Kanafani is known in the Arab world as a literary master, and "Men in the Sun" is deemed by many to be his masterpiece. The book was a tremendous pleasure to read and at the same time intensely thought-provoking. Kanafani's original writing style is brought out beautifully in this excellent translation. In these stories, Kanafani experiments with various literary techniques that were revolutionary in the world of literature at their time (1960s). I particularly enjoy the twists of plot at the end of each story, and how the very last sentence forces me to re-think and re-evaluate my entire understanding of the piece. Seeped in the author's struggle for freedom and for a homeland, these stories reflect a deep understanding of human relationships and the human condition. Yet despite (or perhaps because of) this depth, the main characters tend to always be ordinary human beings - usually from the lower classes. Another feature of "Men in the Sun" is the variation of voice and perspective from paragraph to paragraph. For a moment we are in the head of one character, an old man crossing the desert to Kuwait. The next we're taken back in time to 1948, when that man was forced to leave his country by the ravages of war. Then we're transplanted into the shoes of another character, a young man hitching a ride from Jordan to Iraq. All this is done smoothly enough not to interrupt the narrative, but instead, the perspective of the plot wanders as thoughts naturally wander in one's mind. Truly Kanafani was a master of literary techniques. Few have been able to pack so many ideas and characterization and so much change into a short story.

Kanafani, Ghassan, "Men In the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories" (London: LynneRienner Publishers, 1999), pp.115, cloth, $12.99. The importance of homeland is a theme that runs throughout this emotional collection of stories, written in a manner that expresses both the fear and pain that the Palestinian people felt after 1948. In "Men In the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories", Kanafani creates "everyman" characters, who easily move the reader through their struggling losses of land, occupation, family members, and comfort. Underlying this theme within Kanafani's stories is strong allegory and symbolism. These characteristics can be clearly examined in the first story of the collection, "Men In the Sun". Kanafani weaves memory with an intense meta-narrative in "Men In the Sun", through three primary characters that reflect the vulnerability, hardship, and loss of Palestinian refugees. Set in 1958, these characters, a young boy of sixteen, a resistance fighter in his twenties, and an old peasant, all dream of leaving behind their painful past and finding new hope in Kuwait. Their destinies collide when they meet a smuggler who promises a safe journey across the border to a new, happier life. Although his greedy attitude and method of transportation frightens the lot, desperation places the three men in his care. The journey holds a tragic ending for these three "everyman" characters, as their beating fists and hearts are muffled into silence. The author uses time and symbolism in this story to make strong allegorical connections to the concepts of homeland, nature, manhood, and the political meta-narrative. Throughout the plot, specific words and sights cause the men to"flashback", remembering events that took place during the war of 1948. For the smuggler, Abul Khaizuran, it is the traumatic war injury that led him to the operation that rendered him infertile. This injury coincides with the Palestinian loss, and Khaizuran becomes overcome with greed, as he tries to replace his manhood with money. Equally agonizing memories also follow the three men who try to escape to Kuwait. Abu Qais, the older peasant man, is reminded of the groves of trees he once owned in Palestine, as well as of the death of a friend who he admired in the war. The resistance fighter, Assad, has flashback memories of being betrayed by those he trusted because of money, as well as of the life in chains as a resistance fighter, that he left behind. The youngest of the group, Marwan, is constantly remembering his mother and hungry siblings, who were deserted by his father, and who exist as the primary cause of his trip to Kuwait. The story uses these memory flashbacks, as well as altering perspective, to allow the reader a greater understanding of the economic desperation and motivation towards Kuwait, as well as of the jolting contrast between life before and after the war. The other six stories that make up the collection reflect an equally emotional rea

I believe that kanafani is an undiscoverd treasure of the palestinian literature to the west. An art teacher, and a novelist, who takes over the life of the palestinian people in a poetic way. His writing is very humane and very innocent. He is a winner of many French awards and if the death did not steal him at an early age (in his thirties) in a dramatic way, his talent may have taking him to be a Nobel Prize Winner. He was bombed in his car and died in his thirties. In Men in the Sun, he takes with him to live the dreams of three people who are looking for better life and the truck driver who is their destiny and the one who supposed to be taking them to their dreams. Tragedic endings. This novel was made into a movie. Its a must read book. Enjoy...