Elias Khoury: Remembering the life of Lebanese novelist with a look back at six works

The celebrated writer, who died on Sunday, frequently explored themes of conflict and the Palestinian cause in his work

Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily newspaper confirmed the death of Elias Khoury on Sunday. AP

Elias Khoury, who died on Sunday aged 76, was a leading voice in the Arabic literary scene. He had been battling illness and was hospitalised several times in the past year, an Arabic newspaper he worked for stated. Through his prolific work as a novelist, journalist, playwright and critic across different genres, he was dedicated to exploring themes around collective memory, war, exile and trauma.

Khoury's work across literary mediums earned him a number of prestigious literary awards including the Palestine Prize in 2000 for his novel Gates of the Sun, which was also named in The New York Times Notable Book list, the Unesco Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture in 2011 for his efforts in promoting Arab culture and literature and the Mahmoud Darwish Award for Creativity in 2016 in recognition for his contributions to literature.

Aside from his fiction writing, Khoury was also a journalist and editor. He was the editor of the cultural section of Lebanon’s An-Nahar newspaper from 1993 until 2009 and was the editor-in-chief of the Palestine Studies magazine until his death.

Khoury also taught Arabic literature at universities in the Middle East such as the American University of Beirut as well as internationally in institutions such as Columbia University and New York University where he was recognised as a global distinguished professor.

Khoury’s time as a journalist and his research into the circumstances of everyday Palestinians and his own experience in Lebanon’s civil war are perhaps why his novels gave such accurate and piercing accounts in first-person narration of the harrowing realities of displacement, war and trauma.

His unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and his perspective as a storyteller is the reason why his novels have been widely read in the Arab world and why many of them have been translated into languages such as English, French and Hebrew. With 15 novels, two short story collections, five non-fiction books, three plays, two screenplays and countless articles, it’s hard to know where to start with a writer of Khoury’s calibre. Here are The National's top picks.

Little Mountain (1977)

Little Mountain takes the reader into Beirut through the perspectives of the three characters as the Lebanese Civil War unfolds. Photo: Random House

Set amid the Lebanese Civil War, which lasted from 1975 to 1990, Little Mountain is told from the perspectives of three characters – a Joint Forces fighter, a distressed civil servant and an elusive figure who is part fighter, part intellectual. The story takes the reader into Beirut through the perspectives of the three characters as the civil war unfolds. Khoury explores concepts of fractured identity, through thoughtful and poetic language and a repetitive and fragmented storytelling motif as Lebanon’s people and landscape are transformed by conflict. The novel was praised by critics for its unique narrative style where Khoury blends aesthetic and political dimensions in the story and pokes fun at notions of national identity.

The Journey of Little Gandhi (1994)

Elias Khoury's The Journey of Little Gandhi has more than 100 characters. Photo: Random House

Little Gandhi has been shot dead at his shoeshine box outside the American University in Beirut. In the novel's following chapters, more than 100 characters uses stories within stories to look into his life and death while exploring the meaning of life and humanity. Narrated by an ageing sex worker named Alice, her retelling not only creates multiple layers within the novel but acts as a frame intertwining the multitude of characters and stories to explore themes of violence, poverty and war.

The Kingdom of Strangers (1996)

The Kingdom of Strangers is set amid Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Photo: Random House

This is one of the first of Khoury’s novels that looks directly at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It tells the story of Jurji Khairy, a Lebanese monk who is murdered in Jerusalem using interwoven, non-linear stories from three main characters. Jurji's tale is discovered by the narrator of the novel who then takes the reader into other stories, chiefly of Faysal, an 11-year-old Palestinian who witnesses the massacre of his family; and Widad, a Circassian girl kidnapped from Azerbaijan and sold into servitude in Beirut. Set against the backdrops of the Dead Sea, Jerusalem and the Shatilla Refugee Camp, Khoury weaves together human stories within broader historical and cultural contexts.

Gate of the Sun (1998)

Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury was adapted into a movie in 2004. Photo: Picador

Considered Khoury's best work by many, Gate of the Sun details the experiences of Palestinian refugees since the Nakba. The story is set in a refugee camp in Lebanon where the narrator Khalil lives. He's a doctor who was raised by Yunes, a Palestinian freedom fighter who is currently in a coma. Khalil tells stories to Yunes by his hospital bed in the hopes of reviving him. His stories include various intimate details of Palestinian daily life and the Palestinian experience of displacement, within significant historical moments such as the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Lebanese Civil War. The novel was adapted into a film in 2004 by Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah.

Yalo (2008)

Yalo is set during the Lebanese Civil War. Photo: Random House

Yalo is a young man who grew up on the streets of Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War. After getting caught up with a dangerous gang, he is forced to confess to crimes he didn’t commit and is imprisoned. In jail, Yalo begins to write and rewrite the story of his life and his family’s past to remember who he is. It’s another complex narrative from Khoury, where stories within stories take on a life of their own, all of them powerful, poignant and interconnected, delving into themes of identity, trauma and scars left by war.

Children of the Ghetto (2016)

Children of the Ghetto is written in the form of notebook penned by the narrator Adam Dannnoun. Photo: Random House

Adam Dannoun is a Palestinian man who is grappling with who he is after emigrating to New York. Starting from his childhood in Lydda, Palestine, during the Nakba to leaving his family and surviving outside of his homeland, the harrowing story is filled with poignant details. Structured as a collection of notebooks, which were allegedly written by Adam, Children of the Ghetto focuses on the experience of the individual to reflect the broader Palestinian narrative and struggle.