House of Memories

Mahmoud Shukair

"Yasunari Kawabata wrote "The House of the Sleeping Beauties" in 1961, and in his ninetieth year, Gabriel García Márquez's protagonist followed the same path to explore the theme of desire in his novel "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" (2004). Today, Palestinian novelist Mahmoud Shukair, in his novel "House of Memories," introduces us to the world of these two writers, by writing, like them, about old age, its desires, and its losses.

In his novel, which evokes the two aforementioned novels, imagination intertwines with the realistic aspect of the city of Jerusalem, where the events take place. Muhammad Al-Asghar, the protagonist of "House of Memories" who suddenly loses his wife Sanaa, is captivated by them, reading them non-stop. However, their protagonists do not leave him after he finishes reading; instead, they remain with him, sharing conversations and discussions. But imagination has its limits in this land. The bitter Palestinian reality casts its shadow over the novel's events, with its borders and occupation forces, and the daily checkpoints for the people of the country. Someone is pursuing the narrator, even in the isolated space of his sleep and dreams. While death constantly stares at the novel's protagonist, the novel's events take the form of old age, its obsessions, and its dementia, in a reality that is not entirely real, and an imagination that does not rise to absolute detachment.

"A beautiful short novel, one of Mahmoud Shukair's masterpieces, which appears simple, yet teaches a lesson in the genius of simplicity and its various aesthetics."
Dr. Muhammad Obaidallah on the novel "House of Memories"

Mahmoud Shukair - a Palestinian writer born in Jabal Mukaber, Jerusalem (1941), where he currently resides after having moved between Beirut, Amman, and Prague. He writes short stories and novels for adults, and for girls and boys. Some of his books have been translated into twelve languages, including English, French, Italian, and Swedish. He has won several awards, including the "Mahmoud Darwish Award for Freedom and Creativity" (2011), the "Palestine Award for Literature" (2019), the "Honorary Award from the Union of Turkish Writers" (2023), and the "Global Palestine Award for Literature" (2023). His novel for girls and boys, "My Friend, the Donkey, and I," was also selected among the top 100 books in the world in 2018."