War's Other Voices - (Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East) by Miriam Cooke (Paperback)
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About this item
Highlights
- This book challenges the assumption that men write of war, women of the hearth.
- About the Author: miriam cooke, professor of Arabic language and literature at Duke University, is the author of The Anatomy of an Egyptian Intellectual, Yahya Haggi.
- 216 Pages
- Social Science, Women's Studies
- Series Name: Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East
Description
Book Synopsis
This book challenges the assumption that men write of war, women of the hearth. The Lebanese war has seen the publication of many more works of fiction by women than by men. Miriam Cooke has termed these women the Beirut Decentrists, as they are decentered or excluded from both literary canon and social discourse.
Although they may not share religious or political affiliation, they do share a perspective which holds them together. Cooke traces the transformation in consciousness that has taken place among women who observed and recorded the progress towards chaos in Lebanon. During the so-called "two year" war of 1975-76 little comment was made about those (usually men in search of economic security) who left the saturnalia of violence, but with time attitudes changed. Women became aware that they had remained out of a sense of responsibility for others and that they had survived. Consciousness of survival was catalytic: the Beirut Decentrists began to describe a society that had gone beyond the masculinization normal in most wars and achieved an almost unprecedented feminization. Emigration, the expected behavior for men before 1975, became the sin qua non for Lebanese citizenship. The writings of the Beirut Decentists offer hope of an escape from the anarchy. If men and women could espouse the Lebanese women's sense of responsibility, the energy that had fueled the unrelenting savagery could be turned to reconstruction. But that was before the invasion of 1982.From the Back Cover
This book challenges the assumption that men write of war, women of the hearth. The Lebanese war has seen the publication of many more works of fiction by women than by men. Miriam Cooke has termed these women the Beirut Decentrists, as they are decentered or excluded from both literary canon and social discourse. Although they may not share religious or political affiliation, they do share a perspective which holds them together. Cooke traces the transformation in consciousness that has taken place among women who observed and recorded the progress towards chaos in Lebanon. During the so-called "two-year" war of 1975-76, little comment was made about those (usually men in search of economic security) who left the saturnalia of violence, but with time attitudes changed. Women became aware that they had remained out of a sense of responsibility for others and that they had survived. Consciousness of survival was catalytic: the Beirut Decentrists began to describe a society that had gone beyond the masculinization normal in most wars and achieved an almost unprecedented femininization. Emigration, the expected behavior for men before 1975, was rejected. Staying, the expected behavior for women before 1975, became the sine qua non for Lebanese citizenship. The writings of the Beirut Decentrists offer hope of an escape from the anarchy. If men and women could espouse the Lebanese women's sense of responsibility, the energy that had fueled the unrelenting savagery could be turned to reconstruction. But that was before the invasion of 1982.Review Quotes
War's Other Voices is a book to cherish: it is an extensive and rewarding study of women writers: The Beirut Decentrists. . . . [They] have produced a body of literature--fiction, poetry, essays, and short stories--informed by feminist afflatus that gives it a distinction within the vast corpus of war literature.-- "World Literature Today"
About the Author
miriam cooke, professor of Arabic language and literature at Duke University, is the author of The Anatomy of an Egyptian Intellectual, Yahya Haggi. She is an editor for Syracuse University Press's Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East series.Dimensions (Overall): 8.96 Inches (H) x 6.0 Inches (W) x .6 Inches (D)
Weight: .86 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 216
Genre: Social Science
Sub-Genre: Women's Studies
Series Title: Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Format: Paperback
Author: Miriam Cooke
Language: English
Street Date: August 1, 1996
TCIN: 88971817
UPC: 9780815603771
Item Number (DPCI): 247-56-3451
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
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Shipping details
Estimated ship dimensions: 0.6 inches length x 6 inches width x 8.96 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 0.86 pounds
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