Palestine Remembered: Narrating the Diaspora in Selected Palestinian Autobiographical Works

Abstract

This thesis discusses the crucial role of memory in preserving the cultural and national identities of Palestinians. The research starts from the main premise that the Palestinian exilic experience is greater than any narration and can hardly be limited to the confines of a single text. In fact, the untold part or the silenced part of the Palestinian Diaspora is something that is beyond any human writing. Chapter One discusses the historical background of the Palestinian Question and the cultural and theoretical background of the work done on cultural memory studies in general and Palestinian historical and memory studies in particular. In chapter two I examine two poetic autobiographies by Darwish and Barghouti since they are written by two distinguished Palestinian poets who mastered the Arabic language and considered it a marker for their national identity. Moreover, the two poets’ shared characteristics in the themes and style of writing will be highlighted. In Chapter three, I examine two memoirs or autobiographies written by two prominent Palestinian intellectuals who represent another side of the Palestinian exilic experience; namely, Edward Said and Ghada Karmi. Both memoirs are written in English and share many features, despite their varied experiences. The thesis is divided into three chapters and a conclusion. In Chapter One entitled, “Collective/Cultural Memory and Modes of Historical