Paving the Sea
Rashid al-Daif
The second half of the nineteenth century saw Syrians fighting to build a new Syrian state and Faris Mansour Hashem is one of the movement’s most fervent activists alongside his friend, the influential writer Georgy Zeidan. However his plans are thwarted as, whilst he is studying medicine at the newly-founded American University in Beirut, student strikes force him to emigrate to the United States. Following in the footsteps of his father and thousands of his fellow countrymen, he begins a new life in America, joining the American army and going to fight in the Spanish-American war in Cuba. It is after he marries that he decides to fulfil his dream of returning to Beirut. But the question is: can he achieve his dream?
Nomination
2012 Longlist
Rashid al-Daif
Country of origin Lebanon
About the author
Rashid al-Daif is a Lebanese writer and novelist, born in Zgharta, Lebanon, in 1945. He is Professor of Arabic Literature at the University of Lebanon and his published works include 19 novels and three poetry collections. His novel Dear Mr Kawabata (1995) has been translated into eight European languages, and Paula Haydar’s 2001 English translation of al-Daif’s This Side of Innocence (1997) received Foreword magazine’s silver award in the category of best work of fiction in translation.