Velvet (novel)
2016 novel by Huzama Habayeb / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Velvet (Arabic: مُخْمَل) is an Arabic language novel by Palestinian author Huzama Habayeb published in 2016.[1] The book won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2017.[2][3][4] The novel depicts several Palestinian women experiencing tragic love stories under the compelling circumstances and within the ultraconservative community of Baqa'a refugee camp in Jordan.[5]
Author | Huzama Habayeb |
---|---|
Language | Arabic |
Genre | Arabic Literature |
Published | January 2016 |
Publisher | Arab Institute For Research & Publishing |
Publication place | Palestine |
Pages | 361 |
Award | Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature (2017) |
The original title "مُخْمَل", which in English means "Velvet", is the all-time favorite kind of fabric to Qamar, a widowed lonely tailoress and one of the main female characters in the novel. The female protagonist of the novel, whose name is Hawwa, meets Qamar and becomes a protégé of hers. In addition to tailoring, Hawwa learns a lot about life from Qamar; and along the way, the love of velvet is passed on by the mentor to the apprentice.[6]
Unlike most other Arabic novels with content closely or remotely related to Palestine, "Velvet" is almost bereft of any political or patriotic themes pertaining to the Palestinian issue; it rather employs the narrative to portray the utterly humane dimensions of common Palestinians — particularly the women — with little or no attention to politics. Rasheed El Enani, one of the members of the committee that awarded the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2017, described the novel by saying, "It is not about the political cause, the resistance, the dream of return. It is rather about ordinary Palestinians whose lives go on meanwhile, unnoticed and unrecorded, in the background, while the high dramas of politics occupy center-stage."[7][8]