Sayed Kashua [ Israel ]

Sayed Kashua was born in Tira, Israel, in 1975. From the age of  fifteen he attended the Israeli Academy for Arts and Sciences in Jerusalem, one of a very small number of Arab students. He graduated in philosophy and sociology, from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, worked as a journalist for the Israeli magazine »kol ha-ir« and now writes a satirical column for the Israeli newspaper »Ha’aretz«.

His first novel »Dancing Arabs« was published in Hebrew in 2002 and, clearly based on   autobiographical material, deals with the adolescence of a gifted Arab-Israeli.  One final , doomed attempt at linguistic, social, and cultural integration into society’s mainstream is portrayed in a tragicomic tone. The adolescent hero shifts between over-assimilation and the need to prove himself. In this process he reveals and criticises stereotypes and the perceptions of self and others  of Arab and Jewish Israelis alike. This approach led both to Arab commentators making accusations of betrayal and unjustified criticisms on the part of  Jewish readers. In this confusion of identities the protagonist is just as confused as the reader by the insurmountable nature of society’s divisions. The reportage-style novel »And It Became Morning«, published in 2005, also depicts a hero who is cut adrift between identities. The narrator, an Arab-Israeli, loses his job as an editor and leaves Tel Aviv with his family, returning to his hometown, Tira. While trying to become re-assimilated into village life he becomes aware of society’s hypocrisy and deceit, the dominance the clans, nepotism and corruption. Shortly after his return, the Israeli army cuts the village off from the outside world. Chaos and anarchy break out in the wake of the siege. The villagers fight over food and water, rival drug gangs pillage and loot, and illegal Palestinian labourers are handed over to the Israelis without question. Finally, the village is set to be integrated into the Palestinian territory and the villagers are expected to support the Palestinian authorities in setting up a democratic Palestine.

Kashua wrote the scripts for the 2007-2008 television series »Avoda Aravit« (tr: Arab Work; which is, in Hebrew,  a pejorative term that implies laziness and lax work ethics). The central characters are Amjad, an Arab-Israeli editor,,his wife Buschra and their sharp-witted daughter. The series is comic, satirical and, at times, even sarcastic, showing Amjad’s attempts to become integrated into Israel’s Ashkenazi elite.

His wife and daughter in turn interrupt his over-assimilation.  Constant shiftis between the characters’ identities call stereotypes on both sides into questions. Despite the (subtitled) bilingual script and disadvantageous broadcasting times, »Avoda Aravit« has achieved  remarkably high ratings on commercial  television in Israel. Saved Kashua lives in Jerusalem.

© international literature festival berlin