EP4: Faisal Darraj

In this episode we speak to literary critic Faisal Darraj about the specificities of Palestinian literature and its development since the beginning of the 20th century, as well as notions such as hope, despair, and defeat and how Palestinian literature handles these notions.

Faisal Darraj is a literary critic, writer and researcher. He was born in the village of al-Ja’una, near Safad, Palestine in 1943. Along with his family, he was displaced to the Golan Heights in 1948 and moved shortly after to Damascus, where he lived and studied until he earned a degree in philosophy in 1968. He then earned a PhD in philosophy from Toulouse University in 1974, before moving to Beirut, where he wrote and worked for numerous Palestinian and Arabic periodicals such as: Shu’un Filastiniya, al-Karmil, al-Adab and al-Tariq, among others. Darraj moved back to Damascus in 1982, where he took up numerous positions in academia and research. Between 1989 and 1992, he published the periodical Qadaya wa Shahadat along with Abd al-Rahman Munif and Sa’dallah Wannous. Since 1989 Darraj has published over 10 books on Philosophy, Arabic and Palestinian literature.

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Produced by the PalREAD – Country of Words project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC)

Interviewer and co-editor: Rand Khdeir

Writer, Producer and Editor: Ibrahim Abdou

Host & Concept Design: Refqa Abu-Remaileh

Research Support: Heba Tebakhi

Sound Editing & Design: Ziad Fayed

VO Recording: Gianpiero Tari

Music: “The Astounding Eyes of Rita” by Anouar Brahem (ECM Records, 2009)

Cover Art: Alexandra Sophia Handal