Learning English A Novel

No matter how hard Rachid tries to recreate himself, to become educated and worldly- to “learn English” — it is impossible for this hip Beiruti with his cell phone and high-speed internet to sever the connection to his past in the Lebanese village of Zgharta, known for its “tough guys” and old-fashioned clan mentality.

When the news of his father’s murder, a case of blood revenge, reaches him by chance through a newspaper report, it drags him inescapably back into the world of his past. Suddenly he is plunged once again into the endless questions that plagued his childhood: questions about his parents’ marriage and his own legitimacy, questions he would rather have forgotten and which threaten not only his new lifestyle, but now, according to the protocol of vendetta culture, his very life.

The accomplished al-Daif hooks his readers from page one of this, his ninth, novel- partly with pieces and fragments of suspense-filled plot and partly with his typically idiosyncratic narrator, whose bizarre stories, comical asides and uncannily perceptive comments on human nature lead us through this tantalizing, funny, and sober book about the hold the past has on Lebanon, and on us all.

About the Authors

Rashid al-Daif is the celebrated author of eleven works of fiction and poetry. He is best known internationally for his novel Dear Mr. Kawabata (1995), which has been translated into eight European languages. Several of his other works have been translated into French and English and enjoy a wide reading audience. He lives in Beirut, Lebanon, where he teaches Arabic literature at the Lebanese University. Paula Haydar has translated many novels and collections of poetry from the Arabic, including the work of Elias Khoury and Fuad Rifqa. She lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with her husband and two children.

Paula Haydar is Assistant Professor of Arabic at the University of Arkansas. She holds a PhD degree in comparative literature and an M.F.A. degree in literary translation. She has translated numerous novels by contemporary Lebanese, Palestinian, and Jordanian authors. Her translation of Lebanese novelist Jabbour Douaihy's June Rain was selected as the highly commended runner-up of the 2014 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation and also made the Daily Star's list of Top Middle East Novels of 2014. Her translations of Lebanese authors also include three novels by Elias Khoury (Gates of the City, The Journey of Little Gandhi, and The Kingdom of Strangers) and three novels by Rashid al-Daif (This Side of Innocence , Learning English, and Who's Afraid of Meryl Streep?). She has also translated Palestinian writer Sahar Khalifeh's The End of Spring and Adania Shibli's Touch(Interlink), and Jordanian writer Jamal Naji's Season of Martyrdom. Her most recent translation is Jabbour Douaihy's The American Quarter (Interlink 2018).

Adnan Haydar is professor of Arabic and comparative literature at the University of Arkansas. He has authored, co-authored, or co-edited six books, including Naguib Mahfouz: From Regional Fame to International Recognition. He has published many translations from Arabic, including Jabra Ibrahim Jabra's celebrated The Ship.