“What, if anything, is Arab American poetry?”
May 9th, 2008 by Menachem Wecker
My review of “Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry,” edited by Hayan Charara (University of Arkansas Press, 2008, site here) is in this week’s issue of The Arab American News.
Here’s part of the review:
The 39 poets, whose work is collected in Hayan Charara’s “Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry,” all bear some relation to the term “Arab American,” though each also resists such a title insofar as it is limiting. If “Inclined” can be said to expose one unifying theme that binds Arab American poets together, it is their resistance to be stereotyped as Arab Americans on the one hand, yet their insistence on Arab and American components to their identity and experiences.
Interview with Hayan to follow…