Mahmoud Darwish - A River Dies of Thirst: Journals (Archipelago Books, 2009).  Translated from the Arabic by Catherine Cobham.

ISBN: 9780981955711 | 164 pages | PDF


MAHMOUD DARWISH (1941-2008) was an world-renowned Palestinian poet and author who won numerous awards for his work and was regarded as the national poet of Palestine.  

A central theme in Darwish's poetry is the concept of watan or homeland.  In his work, Palestine became a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile.  Darwish has been described as incarnating and reflecting "the tradition of the political poet in Islam, the man of action whose action is poetry."

This remarkable collection of poems, meditations, fragments, and journal entries was Darwish’s last volume to come out in Arabic. It is at once lyrical and philosophical, questioning and wise, full of irony, resistance, and play. Darwish's musings on unrest and loss dwell on love and humanity; myth and dream are inseparable from truth. Throughout this personal collection, Darwish returns frequently to his ongoing and often lighthearted conversation with death.

A River Dies of Thirst is a collection of quiet revelations, embracing poetry, life, death, love, and the human condition.

See also the biography of Darwish at Wikipedia: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_darwish


Reviews

"Mahmoud Darwish is one of the greatest poets of our time. In his poetry Palestine becomes the map of the human soul." -- Elias Khoury

"Darwish is to be read with urgency, in the night, when nothing else moves but his lines." -- Village Voice

"Darwish is the premier poetic voice of the Palestinian people . . . lyrical, imagistic, plaintive, haunting, always passionate, and elegant -- and never anything less than free -- what he would dream for all his people." -- Naomi Shihab Nye