Topic: Elias Khoury

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Scene from the play "The Queen Commanded Him to Forget" by Ofira Henig (photo: Peter Adamik)

Israeli director Ofira Henig

"We don’t give any answers, we ask questions"

A leading light of Israeli theatre, Ofir Henig has directed the Israel Festival and is the only female director to have been awarded the Israel Theatre Prize. These days, however, she rarely works in her home country. By Ceyda NurtschMore

Jaffaʹs Arabic-Hebrew theatre: Model for a democratic, secular IsraelThe West-Eastern Divan Orchestra: Consoling concertosLiraz Charhi’s "Roya": An Israeli-Iranian act of rebellion
Lebanese author Elias Khoury (photo: imago/ZUMA Press)

Author and critic Elias Khoury

"Lebanon has always rebelled against political repression"

For years the Arab intellectual elite looked to Lebanon, coveting its atmosphere of freedom. Feigning the non-existence of repression, Beirut welcomed intellectuals from across the region, published their works and celebrated them. Yet, even following the murder of Lokman Slim, the powers that be are incapable of controlling everything. An essay by Elias KhouryMore

Elias Khoury on the Arab Spring 2019: The re-birth of Tahrir SquareNovelist and critic Elias Khoury: The nightmare of reality″The Broken Mirrors: Sinalcol″ by Elias Khoury: A dizzying sense of displacementLebanon slips further into the abyss: The assassination of Lokman Slim – silencing no lambLebanese author Elias Khoury in interview: Beirut's ruling class – "The stupidest mafia there is"
Lebanese writer and critic Elias Khoury (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/B. Hussein)

Lebanese author Elias Khoury in interview

Beirut's ruling class – "The stupidest mafia there is"

Fifty percent of Lebanese already live below the poverty line – and there is no end in sight. In interview with Lena Bopp, writer Elias Khoury talks about the crisis and about the state of culture in his home countryMore

Beirut residents awake to scenes of devastation after deadly port explosionBeirut on the brink: Regardless of corona, Lebanon is at economic breaking pointNovelist and critic Elias Khoury: The nightmare of reality
Lebanese novelist and critic Elias Khoury (photo: imago/ZUMA Press)

Novelist and critic Elias Khoury

The nightmare of reality

The Lebanese novelist and critic, Elias Khoury, examines the nature of writing in a world rent repeatedly by violence and vicious conflict – and finds hopeMore

Book review: ″The Broken Mirrors: Sinalcol″ by Elias Khoury: A dizzying sense of displacementElias Khoury's Novel ''Yalo'': The Word and the WarArabic literature as a cultural asset: Uncharted waters
Lebanese author Elias Khoury (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/B. Hussein)

Book review: ″The Broken Mirrors: Sinalcol″ by Elias Khoury

A dizzying sense of displacement

Originally published in Arabic in 2012, ″The Broken Mirrors: Sinalcol″ was only translated into English this year. It contains many of the tropes that Elias Khoury readers will find familiar: shifting perspectives, an unreliable narrator, obscured memories, uncertain truths, and reflections upon narration. Nahrain al-Mousawi has read the bookMore

Elias Khoury's Novel ''Yalo'': The Word and the WarThe Assad regime and the civil war in Syria: Clash of barbarismsThe genesis of Islamic State: A new chapter in the decline of the Arab world
Syrian opposition fighters get ready to destroy a poster of President Bashar al-Assad, early June 2015 (photo: DW/AA/I. Hariri)

The Assad regime and the civil war in Syria

Clash of barbarisms

Over the past four years, Assad has razed Syria to the ground. According to Lebanese intellectual Elias Khoury, Assad's regime has reached the end of the line, and the region finds itself in a situation similar to that at the end of the Ottoman EmpireMore

Four years of war in Syria: Where the uprising began and still lives onThe economic impact of the Syrian war: Escaping the Middle East's violence trapPolitical prisoners in Syria: Around-the-clock tortureSyria and the international community: The least we can do for SyriaInterview with Rafik Schami: Defending the Assad kingdom
Portraits of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad (photo: DW)

Syria and the Ba'ath regime

Assad and the post-eternity era

Assad and no other. Assad is no one. He is a nebulous being soaked in blood and trampling on corpses, a man who claims to be president of a republic that no longer exists, writes Elias Khoury in his essayMore

Russia, the US and the Syrian Civil War: A Bloody Game of ChessBook review: "The Wisdom of Syria's Waiting Game": How to stay in power against the oddsNon-violent resistance in Syria: Sowing the seeds of democracy
Cover of the book "Contemporary Artists – Arab World" (source: Steidl-Verlag)

Book review: "Contemporary Artists – Arab World"

Perceptions of reality

The book "Contemporary Artists – Arab World" shows how different Arab artists have reacted to the upheaval in their countries. By Kersten KnippMore

Egyptian Cinema: Enormous Creative EnergyEgyptian Film "Ein Shams – Eye of the Sun": Between Humanist Fiction and Raw RealityElias Khoury's Novel ''Yalo'': The Word and the War
Elias Khoury (photo: dpa)

Elias Khoury's Novel ''Yalo''

The Word and the War

More than twenty years after the end of Lebanon's civil war, the conflicting parties can still not agree on a single narrative of events. With "Yalo", Elias Khoury has written a magnificent novel on the Lebanese struggles for history. By Sonja HegasyMore

Elias Khoury on the Arab Spring: At a CrossroadsInterview with Fawwaz Traboulsi: A Collective History for LebanonHistory of the Lebanese Civil War: Coming to Blows over a School Textbook
Democracy activists and demonstrators on Tahrir Square (photo: DW)

Political Prospects after the Arab Spring

At a Crossroads

In the opinion of the acclaimed Lebanese author Elias Khoury, after the toppling of the old regimes, Arab societies are now heading towards either lasting democratic change or a return to dictatorship by another nameMore

Twelve Months after the Start of the Arab Spring: Year Two of the Rebellions2011 in the Arab World: ''Change We Can Believe In''2011 in the Arab World: No Reason to Fear the Democratic ExperimentThe Arab Spring and the ''Nahda'' Reform Movement: The Second Arab Renaissance