Mahmoud Darwish

Mahmoud Darwish is a Palestinian poet and author who is regarded as the Palestinian national poet. 

Darwish uses Palestine as a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile. 

He has been described as incarnating and reflecting "the tradition of the political poet in Islam, the man of action whose action is poetry.".

He also serves as an editor for several literary magazines in Israel.

We had the pleasure listening to him at the Cultural Center in Stockholm (Kulturhuset). He spoke, was interviewed and read some of his poems.

The interesting thing about this last readings, was that one had two Swedish persons reading his poems in Swedish, before he himself read them in Arab.

Although we do not understand Arab, neither Aurore, nor I, we became much more fascinated with his reading then with the Swedish interpretations.

This to a part due to the fact that he read them with ardour and passion, reflecting the content of his writing while the Swedish "interpreters" read in a typically anemic Swedish or Nordic fashion, withouot feelings or the fervor Darwish displayed.

We felt the same thing as we had felt when listening to Adonis the 9th of May this year.

Thanks to Darwish (not the Swedish representatives) this evening became magic.

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