Susan AbulHawa: Against The Loveless World (Author Event #4)

Susan AbulHawa is the author of three novels and one poetry book. All three of her books represent the genre of Palestinian literature. Her most recent novel, Against The Loveless World, was discussed with the Zait wa Zaatar association on the 22nd of November. Besides being an author, AbulHawa is very involved in the community as she is a community builder, a charity worker who assists in organizing literature festivals, as well as being the co-chair for the PalestineWrites association.

Against The Loveless World was initially published in 2019 in German by the name ‘Nahr’s Last Dance’. It was then published in August 2020 in English by the name that we know now. In fact, this name was not the first choice. Susan AbulHawa wanted the title to be ‘Memoirs of a Revolutionary Whore’. Unfortunately, even though this name fits the main character Nahr perfectly, no publisher would accept it. AbulHawa mentioned that her editor had inspired the name ‘Against The Loveless World’, as these words resonated in her mind as she read the book.

Susan AbulHawa explains that her book follows the journey of one woman and begins in the present where the main character tells her story from a prison cell in Israel called ‘the cube’. The novel is divided into seven sections, each beginning with a scene from the cube. Nahr, the main character, is initially deemed as a shallow woman with simple dreams, but her existence in the prison makes the reader ponder on how such a person reaches there.

In one of AbulHawa’s previous discussions, she has mentioned that ‘the cube’ is not real and in fact a product of her imagination. During the discussion with Zait wa Zaatar, she had further explained this. The author narrated that she had been thinking of writing this book for twenty years, and the majority of the content had stemmed from her own experience and incidents where she had witnessed them second hand. However, she had no understanding of what it was like to be a political prisoner and what the conditions would be like. Therefore, for the majority of the chapters relating to this, she had completed thorough research and opted to create a fictitious cell in which her character would narrate her story from.

This particular attribute of Susan AbulHawa is what made her one of my favorite authors. The fact that she does not try and sympathize with a situation that she is not familiar with, inspires me. This trait was not only witnessed now, but also in a previous book club discussion with the Leeds Lit Club. Here she narrated her opinion of how she did not think it fair for non-Palestinians to write about the situation in Palestine. She went on to explain that these people cannot understand the culture and true situation of the Palestinian people. AbulHawa assured us that she would never deem it tolerable with regard to narrating a life that she has no experience with.

When asked about her writing schedule, Susan AbulHawa disclosed that when writing, she usually starts with the seed of the story, and the other details follow after. The process of writing is a long procedure for her and editing takes place at least a few times. She mentioned that she starts off with one character, and the others follow after. Her words exactly were that it is a fun process, as the “characters end up writing themselves.”

A feature of the book that I adored was the fact that even the nature surrounding the characters came to life in certain parts of the story. When asked about this, the author went on to describe that the land of Palestine tells a story of its own, therefore she felt it an obligation to include nature so vividly as they are the “ancient citizens of Palestine.” AbulHawa mentions that it is very important to narrate the smell, sounds, and colors of the plants and animals, as they too were affected by colonialism. The people of Palestine literally had the land taken away from under their feet, therefore it plays a major role in the story.

A trend was witnessed with regards to the main characters in Susan AbulHawa’s books. These personalities usually come off as insignificant personas who, in the end, transform into someone remarkable. When questioned about this, AbulHawa described that she is interested in people who are pushed to their limits in life, and those who others don’t wish to know about. The author describes that these personalities are usually discarded for their behavior, but Susan AbulHawa is transfixed by them. For example, the main character in the book ‘Against The Loveless World’, Nahr, was a rebel in her younger days who did not perform well in school and backtalked to her elders. She then went on to be a prostitute. Many did not appeal to the idea of the protagonist to have such a background, but AbulHawa explains that she does not care for what others think, as she is only interested in writing about characters who live these kinds of lives. She enjoys narrating life from the perspective of those less appreciated.

Susan AbulHawa conducts a great amount of research when writing, but also uses her own experiences to relate her stories. An example is represented in the relationship between Nahr and her grandmother Siti Wasfiyeh. Siti, according to AbulHawa, embodies the kind of grandmother that many Palestinians have, including the authors. A person who is insufferable, and shows her love with insults, is someone who Susan AbulHawa can relate to, she said laughingly. Siti Wasfiyeh is also a representation of the Palestinian refugees. She is a person that has been traumatized by her experience as being a refugee twice, and someone who has been neglected by her own daughters. Therefore, she lashed out at those who truly loved her, Nahr, and her family. AbulHawa describes that many Palestinian families witness this.

The character of Um Buraq, a lady that has never had children but still undertakes this name, was, in AbulHawa’s words, intended to be a minor character. Once again, we witness her words that her characters take a life of their own when writing her story. Um Buraq was someone who Nahr did not like in the beginning, but their love-hate relationship caused Um Buraq to make a surprise appearance towards the end of the novel. The author went on to say that the last few chapters of her latest book were add on’s in the very end. The most spectacular part of it was that it needed very little to no editing at all! This highlights that her characters choose to make themselves significant in Susan AbulHawa’s mind, and therefore choose to make their own appearances. This tactic is indeed magnificent and plays a part in making her novels outstanding.

Since the novel was first published in German, questions about the reception of it in the country were posed. Surprisingly, the author did not have much knowledge on this, as she described that she had not received much feedback from her German publishers. She goes on to explain that that edition was not complete, and she did not want it to be published at that time. However, the hosts of the discussion had related that the German media had represented the book of one about terrorism and had discussions on whether or not Nahr’s story was legitimate. Susan AbulHawa was quite surprised at this, as she narrated that during her tour for her first book, Mornings in Jenin, it was wonderfully received in Germany. However, she felt that many readers had a reluctance to believe in anything that criticizes Israel. The author’s opinion on this was that she believed that the German readers should be more sensitive to the situation of Palestinians because of their history; many had agreed with this.

The reception from the Khaleej area was also discussed. AbulHawa described that so far, she has heard nothing but positive comments about her book. However, she reveals that the greatest test will come once the book has been released in Arabic. At the moment, she already has an Arabic publisher, but she presumes that it will be banned in many Arab countries once it has been released.

Against The Loveless World, the English publication, has been banned in Jordan. Jokingly, AbulHawa narrates that she thinks the reason for this is because of the fact that her main character did not have positive feedback about her stay there. Her first book was also banned in Jordan, but that was only the Arabic version. Susan AbulHawa reveals that she thoughts this occurred because of some of the explicit content included, but later found out that it was because of a dialogue that was mentioned by one of the characters. This line had described the collaboration between King Abdullah and Zionists. The author describes that this was a very well researched fact, and she believes it shouldn’t have been excluded because of this.

Susan AbulHawa is a person who takes great pride in her culture and represents this in her writing. Her books are beautifully written with thoroughly researched facts and anecdotes from past experiences. Her novels will make you angry, depressed, ecstatic and everything in between. If you would like to enter the world of Palestinian literature, I suggest you pick up one of her novels first!