My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness
A Poet's Life in the Palestinian Century
A biography of the poet Taha Muhammad Ali, and of the Palestinians who remained inside Israel after 1948.
A biography of the Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali, who was fourteen when his village of Saffuriyya was destroyed in 1948, kept a souvenir shop in Nazareth, taught himself literature, and began publishing poems in middle age. Adina Hoffman uses his life to tell the century’s story from inside the Palestinian community that remained in Israel, and to recover the literary world of Nazareth and Haifa around him. Winner of the UK Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize.
Recommended by 1 Person
Raja Shehadeh
She had to face up to what her adopted country had done in 1948 and what happened to the Palestinians who stayed in Israel. She studied Arabic in order to read the poetry and speak with Ali and his family in their own language. She wanted to get behind the façade and she does a tremendous job. Literature became a way for Palestinians in Israel to preserve their identity. The book charts a difficult journey.
Interview · February 2011
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