Maryam al-hakaya
Alawiyya Sobh
Novel
Dar al-Adab 2002
Maryam’s, Ibtissam’s, and Yasmine’s friend disappeared after she had written down all the stories they told her so she could write a novel, and Maryam decides to take over, telling the stories of unfortunate women, of broken destinies, of Ibtissam who wishes to marry Karim even though he is Christian… and of her own wish to flee her disrupted country Lebanon. |
Maryam ou le passé décomposé
Alawiyya Sobh
Novel
Gallimard 2007
Maryam’s, Ibtissam’s, and Yasmine’s friend disappeared after she had written down all the stories they told her so she could write a novel, and Maryam decides to take over, telling the stories of unfortunate women, of broken destinies, of Ibtissam who wishes to marry Karim even though he is Christian… and of her own wish to flee her disrupted country Lebanon. |
Matar huzayran
Jabbour Douaihy
Novel
Dar al-Nahar 2006
In 1957, after a shoot-out, a village in North Lebanon is divided in two, yet the closely intertwined lives of its inhabitants can’t be easily divided as neighbours become enemies and husbands and wives must choose between loyalty to each other and loyalty to their clan. |
Mémoires d'Ailleurs
Edouard Azouri
Novel
Dar An-Nahar 1999
A love story written by a psychiatrist. |
Menus Détails
Rafif Fattouh translated by Naoum Abi-Rached; preface Salah Stetie
Novel
L'Harmattan (coll. Ecritures arabes) 2001
Short stories written at the beginning of the eighties, in war-torn Beirut, relating terribles events: a suicide, unexpected reunions, …all with the war background. |
Mi’at wa-tamanun ghuruban
Hassan Daoud
Novel
Dar al-Saqi 2008
This is the story of a small Lebanese village that only included a few tourist shops until families gradually settled during the civil war, and of its multi-confessional inhabitants. |
Mondes, Miroirs, Magies
Andree Chedid
Novel
Flammarion (Fiction Française) 1988
This book out of reality, memoirs and dreams aims to show the unity amongst men -death, tragedy and joy, laughter and tears- and that life always carries something that last and that is shared. |
Mûriers sauvages
Iman Humaydan Younes
Novel
Gallimard 2007
This novel portrays the life of the silk-growing inhabitants of a Druze Lebanese village during a difficult economic period, through the story of young Sarah and the village’s women. |
Musk al-ghazal
Hanan el-Sheikh
Novel
Dar al-Adab 1988
The author relates the hard life of four women in an unnamed desert state. |
Nahiyyat al-Bara'a [The Side of Innocence]
Rashid al-Daif
Novel
arabic ed. Dar al-Massa; english ed. translated by Paula Haydar, Interlink Pub Group; 1997, 2001
The conditions of ordinary simple people in post-civil war Lebanon, who remain at the mercy of forces other than those of the legitimate authority. |
Nawm al-ayyam
Alawiyya Sobh
Novel
Mu’assasat al-Abhath al-Arabiyya 1986
About the love of a woman who has known war and fear… |
Nourrir les Dieux ou Mourir
François Harfouche
Novel
France Europe ed. 2003
A doctor comes across fascinating signals that he does not know whether to interpret if they are directly destined to him or if they are dictating to his patients, through him, their health bulletin. |
Nous reviendrons à Beyrouth
Elie-Pierre Sabbag
Novel
Arléa 1997
This novel tells the story of a Lebanese woman who spent her childhood in Beirut then went to live in Paric where she got married and had a daughter… until her life is disrupted. |
Nouvelles d'une guerre ancienne
Collectif
Novel
Ed. Tamyras 2005
A collection of twelve short stories, each telling in a different manner part of the larger picture of the war in Lebanon, written after March 14th 2005 and aiming at a better future. |
Nouvelles du Liban (Short Stories from Lebanon)
Collectif
Novel
Magellan & Cie 2007
A collection of short stories by authors representing Lebanese francophone literature. |
Oh, Salaam!
Najwa Barakat
Novel
Interlink Books 2014
A portray of the return to life after the end of the civl war, describing its consequences as well as those of gender violence through the story of three friends, an explosives expert, a sniper, and a torturer, who must make a life for themselves in a war-free country. |
Open House
Nabil A. Saleh
Novel
Quartet Books, Incorporated 2001
Spy thriller set in 1940s Beirut, where everyone is a spy or the spouse of one, keeps or divulges information to serve a personal, national or international cause. |
Other Lives
Iman Humaydan Younes
Novel
Interlink Books 2014
This novel shows the impact of war and violence on those who live them, and on the meaning of life itself, especially for women. |
Outremer
Nabil Saleh
Novel
Interlinks Publ. 1999
This novel is set in the 13th century Levant. It is about "Oriental and Western Christians, Mamelukes and other Muslims, Jews and Druzes [who] spend their lives in war and peace, compromise and confrontation, as their heirs do today as if nothing has changed and no lessons learned." |
Partition Libre Pour Isabelle
Yasmine Khlat
Novel
Seuil 2004
After a long stay in the African continent, Jean comes back to Lebanon, sick, to live by his sister Isabelle. She looks after him while evoking memories of a wild childhood and building an impossible future. |
Partition libre pour Isabelle
Yasmine Khlat
Novel
Seuil 2004
Through the story of Jean, very ill, who after a long stay in Africa, goes back to his native village accompanied by his sister Maïssa. the author portrays love between a brother and his sister. |
Passage to Dusk [Fushat Mustahdafa bayn al-Na'as wal-Nawm - Passage au Crépuscule]
Rashid al-Daif
Novel
english ed. University of Texas Press, 2001; arabic ed. Dar Mokhtarat 1986; french ed. Actes Sud, 1992; 2001, 1986, 1992
This novel deals with the Lebanese civil war of the 1970s. and focuses on the state of mind created living on the scene through a lengthy war. |
Petite Terre, Vaste Rêve
Andree Chedid
Novel
Fayard/Pauvert 2002
18 short stories reflecting Man "when he procreates in denial, invents himself in creation, thus multiplying the reach of his destiny".
"The author captures bits of a world that, far from noise and worries, would be a place of balance and serene and optimistic reflection". |
Pluie de Juin
Jabbour Douaihy
Novel
Actes-Sud 2010
In 1957, after a shoot-out, a village in North Lebanon is divided in two, yet the closely intertwined lives of its inhabitants can’t be easily divided as neighbours become enemies and husbands and wives must choose between loyalty to each other and loyalty to their clan. |
Portrait Lil-Nisyan
Renee el-Hayeck
Novel
Al-Markaz Al-Thakafi Al-Arabi 1994
Without mentioning the war, Renee el-Hayeck tells a story in which every moment, each event let through a ray of the Lebanese memory. |
Pourquoi il fait si sombre ?
Dominique Edde
Novel
Seuil 1998
A Lebanese woman comes back to Lebanon after the war and recalls forgotten memories: people and their personal stories during the war, all scarred by its violence. |
Privilège des morts
Venus Khoury-Ghata
Novel
Balland 2001
Wandering through memory, the author tells the story of characters who are neither dead nor alive, neither past nor present, between the past and insanity, dream and reality; since the "privilege of the dead" is that they remain amongst us, if the tragedy didn't end during their life. |
Qu’elle aille au diable Meryl Streep
Rashid al-Daif
Novel
Actes-Sud 2004
The intimate story of a newlywed Lebanese couple, their struggle to deal with their own differences as well as with the rapidly evolving attitudes in Lebanon toward virginity, premarital sex, and abortion… depicting a portrait of love, lust, and marriage. |
Récits bleus
Ezza Agha Malak
Novel
Editions Al-Moutanabbi, Paris 1992
In this collection of three short stories “Chagrin d'Amour” (Heartbreak), “Cette douce tyrannie” (This Sweet Tyranny), and “La Terrasse et la Colline” (The Terrace and the Hill), the author depicts the real world where even the worst cruelty is acceptable… |
Récits Roses
Ezza Agha Malak
Novel
2001
Two different stories: "Le Rôdeur Nocturne" starts with a rat that entered stealthily in the author's house and settled down in her piano; The second story is about homosexuality, a taboo subject in the Lebanese society. Both stories take place in Tripoli, the author's native town, and are told on its historical, social, geographical and cultural background. |
Rihlat Ghandi al-Saghir [Le Petit Homme et la Guerre]
Elias Khoury translated by Luc Barbulesco
Novel
arabic ed., french ed. Arléa; 1989, 1995
The tale of a humble shoe shiner living and working in Beirut coming apart during the recent Lebanese-Israeli war. |
Ring Around the Rose, a Female in the Middle Eastern Culture
Houda Sleem
Novel
Bahsoun
Lena, who suffered the injustice of a paternal traditional society, decides to educate herself and her society, and improve the status of Middle-Eastern women. |
Risala min Canada
Renée Hayek
Novel
Dar al-Tanweer publ. 2012
The story of 3 children, 2 brothers and 1 sister, whose mother left them in Lebanon and went to live in Canada with her husband… |
Riwayat Bayroot (The Story of Beirut)
Alexandre Najjar
Novel
Dar al-Saqi 2010
Through this story of three generation of a Lebanese family, the author recounts the history of Beirut and its struggle. |
Romans
Andree Chedid
Novel
Flammarion (Mille & une pages); 1998
9 novels |
Rutbat al-ghiyab (Hierarchies of Absence)
Antoine al-Duwaihi
Novel
Dar al-Nahar 2000
Book 2 of the “Hadeeqat al-fajr” trilogy: Texts mirroring the author’s feelings in relation to reactions, premonitions, thoughts and ideas concerning time, the body, women, cities, love…. |
SAHRA TANAKKURIYYA LIL-MAWTA
Ghada Samman
Novel
Ghada Samman Publ. 2003
Seven Lebanese immigrants and a French doctor come for the holidays to Beirut “this city that has changed or isn’t anymore”, a city of social, regional and international struggles, where free men are at a risk of choking; so they leave or dream of leaving. |
Saint Georges regardait ailleurs
Jabbour Douaihy
Novel
Actes-Sud 2013
The Lebanese civil war portrayed through the eyes of a young man uprooted by the conflict, a victim of the sectarian reality in Lebanon during this period: born a Muslim, brought up a Christian, the hero of this novel is trapped in the growing madness of the civil war, always at the wrong place at the wrong time… |
SAKHRAT AL-RAWSHE
Latifa Al-Hage Kudaih
Novel
Dar Al-Farabi 2003
Haifa wonders why this young man she has been seeing for some time now and who had never showed strong feelings towards her, suddenly tells her he loves her; “does he really love her? Or the psychology student she is?” |
SAKR QURAYSH
Karam Melhem Karam
Novel
Dar An-Nahar 2003
Historical novel. |
Salat min ajl al-‘a’ila (Prayer for the Family)
Renée Hayek
Novel
Al-Markaz al-Thaqafi al-Arabi 2007
This novel depicts the difficulties encountered by a Lebanese family in their struggle when they are forced to relocate their lives as a result of the civil war. |
Samarcande
Amin Maalouf
Novel
JC Lattès 1988
This novel is about the Persia of Omar Khayyam, poet and astronomist, but also that of Hassan Sabbay, founder of the Assassins order. |
Sanat al-otomateek
Hassan Daoud
Novel
Dar al-Nahar 1996
In 1960s Beirut, our young hero works in the family bakery and spends his free time with his friends. He sings all day while the exhausted employees dream of becoming wrestlers… until his father buys the revolutionary new bread-making machine and they must adapt and forget about their dreams. |
Seenalkool
Elias Khoury
Novel
Dar al-Adab 2012
This novel depicting a portrait of Lebanese society since the 1960s tells the story of two brothers, a medical student and a leftist, both in love with the same girl who marries the leftist after the medical student goes to settle in France… until the latter leaves his wife and children in France, and goes back to Lebanon to find a man known only as Sinalcol. |
Shareed al-manazil (St. George Was Looking Away / Chased Away / The Vagrant)
Jabbour Douaihy
Novel
Dar al-Nahar 2010
The Lebanese civil war portrayed through the eyes of a young man uprooted by the conflict, a victim of the sectarian reality in Lebanon during this period: born a Muslim, brought up a Christian, the hero of this novel is trapped in the growing madness of the civil war, always at the wrong place at the wrong time… |
Sinalcol: le miroir brisé
Elias Khoury
Novel
Actes-Sud 2013
This novel depicting a portrait of Lebanese society since the 1960s tells the story of two brothers, a medical student and a leftist, both in love with the same girl who marries the leftist after the medical student goes to settle in France… until the latter leaves his wife and children in France, and goes back to Lebanon to find a man known only as Sinalcol. |
SIRNA Al-LISTA
Jawad Sidawi
Novel
Dar Al-Farabi 2002
The narrator wonders about life, old age and death (the different kinds of deaths); in Lebanon after the Civil War. |
Sitt Marie-Rose
Etel Adnan translated by Georgina Kleege
Novel
Post-Apollo Press 1978 and 1997
In Beirut., Marie-Rose because of her sympathies for the Palestinian refugees, and her love for a Palestinian man, has relinquished the protection of her people, the Christians. |
Somewhere, Home
Nada Awar Jarrar
Novel
Random House 2003
A novel about the lives of three women who live through war, displacement, separation and exile but are all linked by a special house in Mount Lebanon which is a sentimental symbol of home. |
Sous la tonnelle
Hyam Schoucair Yared
Novel
Ed. Sabine Wespieser 2009
This novel tells the story of an old woman of Armenian origin, widowed at the age of thirty-one, in Beirut during the civil war, who decided to devote her life to others, and who gradually turns out to be complex and mysterious. |
