In The Aleph, Jorge Luis Borges tells the story of Carlos Argentino Daneri, a mediocre poet on a quest to create a masterpiece- a poem that describes in detail all the places in the world. Upon receiving the news that his house will be demolished, Daneri is enraged. He confesses to the narrator that he needs the house to finish his poem, as the ceiling contains an Aleph, i.e. a point in space that contains all other points and he has been using it as an aide for his writing. The story ends with the narrator experiencing for himself the Aleph but refusing to acknowledge its existence to Daneri. There are a number of reasons for me bringing this story, which bears no obvious connection to the works of the two Palestinian writers that I will be reviewing. First, it is a way of insuring myself. Much of Borges’s story is devoted to the attempt of Daneri to hide his lack of talent behind the mask of erudition. He constantly draws parallels between his work and those of the great …show more content…
Despite their young age at the time, the image of the homeland they left behind is a recurring motif in much of their writing. Palestine and the past are to an extent idealised. The homeland is a place of harmony, the land of oranges, olives and prosperity. The past is heroic and dignified and is in sharp contrast with the present, which brings poverty and humiliation. These themes can be seen clearly in Kanafani’s The Land of the Sad Oranges, which depicts sharp contrast between the fruitful and rich homeland in the past and the impoverished existence of the present. The Gun, dealing with the heroism and dedication of a fighter in Palestine and to an extent Men in the Sun could be seen as other examples of the same trend. The idea is also present in Azzam’s Because He Loves Them, telling the stories of some of the inhabitants of a Lebanese refugee camp before and after leaving Palestine and Bread of Sacrifice, talking about the devotion to defending the