Just Like River

Thought by many Syrians to be the most influential novel of its time, this first novel of Muhammad Kamil al-Khatib is a riveting examination of Syrian political and social life during the 1980s. With a multi-voiced narration carried, like a river, from one voice to another, al-Khatib paints concise, vivid portraits of a disparate group of people in Damascus, ranging from an older officer in the Syrian army, to a university student coming to terms with her sexuality in a traditional context, to a British Orientalist on sabbatical, to a disillusioned activist who must reconcile his ideals with the realities of war and city life. Though the particularities of the explored lives may be quintessentially Syrian, the struggle between the generations, between men and women, between country and city, and between victor and vanquished are international in scope.

A prominent, independent Syrian intellectual, Muhammad Kamil al-Khatib is perhaps best known for his intellectual and critical works. He is also the author of three acclaimed novels and many short stories. Michelle Hartman holds a Ph.D. in Arabic literature from Oxford and currently teaches at Hofstra University in New York. While at the University of Damascus on a Fulbright, she met co-translator Maher Barakat., an attorney now living in Canada.