| Contents |
Foreword : translating violence: reflections after Ayodhya / Meena Alexander -- Part 1: Remembering. Lament to the spirit of war (Sumerian poem) / Enheduanna (Sumeria, 2300 B.C.) -- To Waris Shah (Punjabi poem) / Amrita Pritam (India, 1948) -- Intimations of anxiety (Arabic poem) / Laila al-Saih (Palestine, 1984) -- On the road to Solomon's pools (Arabic short story) / Samira Azzam (Palestine, 1960) -- Where is my mother? (Hindi short story) / Krishna Sobti (India, 1960s) -- Blackout : Calcutta 1971 (English poem) / Chitra Divakaruni (India 1990) -- Do you remember the color of the sea at Dair Yasin? (Arabic poem) / Siham Daud (Palestine, 1978) -- Night patrol (an Israeli soldier on the West Bank) (English poem) / Hanan Mikhail Ashrawi (West Bank, Israel, 1988) -- Beirut nightmares (Arabic novel) / Ghada Samman (Syria, 1980) -- No man's land (English poem) / Meena Alexander (India, 1989-1990) -- One cannot kill a baby twice (Hebrew poem) / Dahlia Ravikovitch (Israel, 1982) -- Auschwitz from Colombo (English poem) / Anne Ranasinghe (Pakistran, 1966) -- Our daily bread (Arabic short story) / Emily Nasrallah (Lebanon, 1990) -- Genocide (English poem) / Jean Arasanayagam (Sri Lanka, 1970) -- Colossus (Malayalam poem) / B. Sugathakumari (India, 1940s) -- A new wait (Arabic short story) / Aliya Talib (Iraq,1988) -- The seas is there (Arabic short story) / Aliya Shuaib (Kuwait, 1992) -- Part 2: Waging peace. Meditation of Mahakali (Indian Sanskrit hymn to the Goddess) -- For her brother (Arabian poem) / Al-Khansa (sixth century C.E.) -- Indigo (Bengal: 1779-1860) (English poem) / Chitra Divakaruni (India, 1987) -- From Inner recesses outer spaces (English memoirs) / Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (India, 1986) -- From Memoirs of an unrealistic woman (Arabic novel) / Sahar Khalifa (West Bank, Israel, 1986) -- From Farewell communism "Long live Jewish-Arab friendship!" (Hebrew memoirs) / Nessia Shafran (Israel, 1981) -- Where Did She Belong? (Urdu short story) / Suraiya Qasim (India, 1960s) -- Two faces, one woman (Arabic short story) / Nuha Samara (Palestine/Lebanon, 1980) -- Draupadi (Bengali short story) / Mahasweta Devi (India, 1978) -- A short hike (Farsi short story) / A. Rahmani (Iran, 1981) -- The future (Arabic short story) / Daisy al-Amir (Iraq, 1980) -- Testimony (Pushto) / Anonymous Afghan woman (Afghanistan, 1987) -- The morning after (Hindi short story) / Mridula Garg (India, 1988) -- Interview with Nand Kaur Singh : Gadar Indian nationalist poetry in America (Punjabi and English interview, songs, and poems) / Jane Singh (United States, 1985) -- From Of blood and Fire (Bengali diary) / Jahanara Imam (Bangladesh, 1989) -- Greening (Arabic short story) / Aliya Talib (Iraq, 1988) -- I remember I was a point, I was a circle (Arabic poem) / Huda Naamani (Syria, 1980) -- The gull and the negation of the negation (Arabic poem) / Fadwa Tuqan (West Bank, Israel, 1987) -- The sound of leaves (Bengali poem) / Razia Hussain (Bangladesh, 1970s) -- After the storm (English short story) / Attia Hosain (India, 1953) -- Tears of joy (Pushto short story) / Shukria Raad (Afghanistan, 1989) -- Two hands (Urdu short story) / Ismat Chugtai (India, 1960s) -- Aboud's drawings (Farsi short story) / Ghodsi Ghazinur (Iran, 1981) -- The peace game (English poem) / Yasmine Gooneratne (Sri Lanka, 1970s) -- Song of becoming (Arabic poem) / Fadwa Tuqan (West Bank, Israel, 1969). |
| Abstract |
"The experiences of women in twentieth-century wars in South Asia and the Middle East challenge the concept of the separation of front and homefront and of family and society common to most modern western wars. Women there have not only entered into what was once considered male-only territory in men's roles wearing men's clothing, but more important, they have entered explicitly as women playing a variety of roles in the conflicts surrounding them. Their self-conscious, self-confident presence has changed the nature of that territory. This anthology reflects the realization that through their writing, women have created a new mythology of the war-peace paradox--one that is grounded in the reality of their own lives. The works collected here illustrate the many ways in which women have become active participants in social conflict and military battles, speaking of war not only as an extraordinary but also as an ordinary experience of coping with violence and conflict on a daily basis. Women's involvement with the rituals of violence does not begin or end with traditional war; their daily struggles for survival stretch seamlessly into the more public arena of political war. In this anthology, Drs. Cooke and Rustomji-Kerns offer a collection of journal entries, interviews, fiction, and poetry by twentieth-century Middle Eastern and South Asian women writing about war and political conflicts. Some of the works were written in English, but the majority were translated specifically for this anthology and are published here for the first time in English. Blood Into Ink is an important and much-needed addition to the rapidly growing literature on war and peace. The anthology will greatly enlarge our understanding of the role of women in one of the most central of human concerns"-- Provided by publisher. |
