In Mahmoud Darwish: The Poet’s Art and His Nation, Mattawa pays tribute
to one of the most celebrated and well-read poets of our era. With
detailed knowledge of Arabic verse and a firm grounding in Palestinian
history, Mattawa explores the ways in which Darwish’s aesthetics have
played a crucial role in shaping and maintaining Palestinian identity and
culture through decades of warfare, attrition, exile, and land confiscation.
Mattawa chronicles the evolution of his poetry, from a young poet igniting
resistance in occupied land to his decades in exile where his work grew in
ambition and scope. In doing so, Mattawa reveals Darwish’s verse to be
both rooted to its place of longing and to transcend place, as it reaches for
the universal and the human.
