In The Presence Of Absence

(Written by Mahmoud Darwish, 2006)

As a way to commemorate Thursday’s upcoming Revolutionary Revue: Palestinian Liberation Cinema, from Epoch to Exile, Write Brain TV is presenting a special TRIPLE DROP of some of the most revolutionary and beautiful works of prose and poetry to come out of Palestine in the last half-century!

And our third featured work in this trio is from the godfather of modern Palestinian literature, Mahmoud Darwish, is the double-book (making this technically a FOUR BOOK DROP), In the Presence of Absence and A River Dies of Thirst, punctuates this collection as an end-of-life dirge of poetic prose and diary entries by the man who stands tallest among Palestine’s literary giants. With echoes of the pain of the past ringing more true in the present with each passing day, this beautiful, prophetic, & chilling collection communicates the oppression of the Palestinian people by one of the most renowned voices from Gaza. Using Palestine in comparison to Eden, Darwish’s birth was shaped around themes of life, death, & rebirth. Unlike many of his contemporaries murdered by the occupiers, he would suffer a heart attack in 2008 at 67, but his spirit lives on. Israel tried to compare his works & poems to Mein Kampf, but using abstract language allowed him to often be one step ahead of the censors in Israel, making his work more widespread, with a pointed public commentary that never feared striking Apartheid Israel directly. Knowing he was close to death & health rapidly declining, he penned this final autobiographical metaphysical Arabic masterpiece.