Contrary to the inveterate opinion of most scholars, a Palestinian author actually dealt with political issues before the Nakbah in the novel Tha'r al-damm (Blood Revenge). Published in Damascus in 1939 by Muhammad Mustafa Ghandur from Acre, this work of fiction remained in oblivion for decades because the French Mandate authorities confiscated most of its copies soon after publication. It narrates the story of a young physician who forms an armed band to avenge the rape of his younger sister by British soldiers during the 1936-1939 uprising in Palestine; the woman, disguised as a man, joins the rebels and eventually dies in a fight.Through the symbolism behind the retaliation for the maiden's rape, Tha'r al-damm provides a literary interpretation of the Palestinians' shift to organized insurgency against the British Mandate in the late 1930s. By pivoting the plot around the tropes of injury and revenge, Ghandur translated the feelings of humiliation and threat, and the consequent quest for revenge and liberation shared by many Palestinians into a novel.The action of this story takes place in the Palestinian countryside, in a village community portrayed as a spotless model of national solidarity and harmoniously merged with its environment. Ghandur sketches a protagonist who exemplifies the theme of the political radicalization of modern-educated youth and argues for the leading role that they should assume in the struggle, while the only female character illustrates village women's actual involvement in the revolt.
Revolt in the Novel: Muhammad Mustafa Ghandur's Thar al-damm (Blood Revenge) & the 1936-1939 Rebellion in Palestine
Macaluso P.
Writing – Review & Editing
2017-01-01
Abstract
Contrary to the inveterate opinion of most scholars, a Palestinian author actually dealt with political issues before the Nakbah in the novel Tha'r al-damm (Blood Revenge). Published in Damascus in 1939 by Muhammad Mustafa Ghandur from Acre, this work of fiction remained in oblivion for decades because the French Mandate authorities confiscated most of its copies soon after publication. It narrates the story of a young physician who forms an armed band to avenge the rape of his younger sister by British soldiers during the 1936-1939 uprising in Palestine; the woman, disguised as a man, joins the rebels and eventually dies in a fight.Through the symbolism behind the retaliation for the maiden's rape, Tha'r al-damm provides a literary interpretation of the Palestinians' shift to organized insurgency against the British Mandate in the late 1930s. By pivoting the plot around the tropes of injury and revenge, Ghandur translated the feelings of humiliation and threat, and the consequent quest for revenge and liberation shared by many Palestinians into a novel.The action of this story takes place in the Palestinian countryside, in a village community portrayed as a spotless model of national solidarity and harmoniously merged with its environment. Ghandur sketches a protagonist who exemplifies the theme of the political radicalization of modern-educated youth and argues for the leading role that they should assume in the struggle, while the only female character illustrates village women's actual involvement in the revolt.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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