Lettering Narratives of Love and Resistance: Palestinian Life Writing and the Art of the Letter in Ghassan Kanafani’s Fiction

Abstract

Ghassan Kanafani, a multifaceted writer known as a Palestinian poet, playwright, novelist, and political activist, is associated with myriad labels, yet the notion of letter writing remains neglected as part of his legacy, despite its prominence. Kanafani's love letters to the writer and colleague Ghada Al Samman, published by her two decades after his assassination, have revealed a previously unknown aspect of his life and stirred controversy. While Kanafani’s personal letters came to the forefront posthumously, his fictional works, including Ma Tabakka Lakum (1966), translated by May Jayyusi and Jeremy Reed (2004) and the poignant Waraqa Min Gaza (1956), translated by the Tricontinental Society of London (1980), become solid proofs to his deliberate use of letters as integral components of both fiction and reality. Unlike other literary genres, letters enter into the “private” domain, addressing sensitivities concealed from public scrutiny. Kanafani, however, employs letters, which are personal and sentimental in his fictional works, to stress the enduring Israeli-Palestinian war – an ongoing Nakba – by expressing themes related to identity, displacement, exile, estrangement, and resistance. By incorporating letters into his fictional works, Kanafani crosses the borders of this private discourse, transforming these exchanges into potent instruments of resistance, steadfastness (Sumud), and survival in the face of exile, while preserving their inherent personal entity and transporting/translating it into his fictional works. This thesis aims to introduce Kanafani as a “man of letters” amongst the many other labels the world ascribes him to. The Dictionary of Merriam Webster defines the term “men of letters” as “a person who creates a written work”, usually associating these persons as white male writers' part of the literary cannon whether in English or American literature. However, I also draw on the Arabic word adab and its history in relation to resistance literature to take this rigid definition and try to modify it entirely in the context of Arabic and Palestinian literature in the case of Ghassan Kanafani. I use the term “man of letters” to serve a double meaning not only to show that Kanafani was a person who created numerous literary works, but who implemented the art of letter writing not only as a means of communication to stay in touch with friends and fellow writers in his life but also in most of his fictional works. That is to emphasize the significance of letter writing in his literary oeuvre. The second chapter will explore letters in his life, particularly the correspondences with Al-Samman, his son Fayez, and his niece Lamis. The third chapter will examine the role of letters in his fictional works, elucidating their thematic and narrative significance. This thesis concludes by underscoring the overlooked yet indispensable role of letter writing within resistance literature (Adab al-Muqawama), a term Kanafani coined, revealing how letters, even after Kanafani’s death, write back as is evident in the letters that his family and friends addressed to him after his passing.