We Wrote in Symbols, Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers
Edited by Selma Dabbagh
Literary anthology
Saqi Books, September 2021
We Wrote in Symbols offers a collection of poetry and prose that deciphers the signposts for the phases and stages of longing, lust, and love: anticipation, courtship, intoxication, commitment, adoration, in/fidelity, betrayal, complacency, danger and more. Women of Arabic heritage from around the world and across three millennia most often celebrate, sometimes ridicule, and all evaluate the nuances of sex and love and their power dynamics. The first prose selection, “A Free Girl's Tale" by Saeida Rouass*, examines agency and consequences. The protagonist realizes, “As I wondered in my naivety I had no inclination that my simple existence shook the very foundations of power…” Much later in this collection Hanan al-Shaykh's longer “Cupid Complaining to Venus" thematically overlaps and diverges from S.R.’s interpretation of the erotic deity. Malika Monstadraf's “Housefly" poignantly distills the essence of anticipation. “At Last" by khulud khamis [sic] resonates with succinctly piercing heartache. There's the voice of unapologetic demand in Rita El Khayat's “Messalina Unbound" in eleven compelling verses. Metaphorical cheekiness in “If You Want to Know" by Umm al-Ward al-Ajlaniyya. “Arachnophobia" by lisa luxx [sic] entangles provocative themes with unconventional text formatting. Appropriately, the Cinderella spin of “Happy Endings" by Zaynab Fawwaz appears among the last few contributions.
In the prose and the poetry it's mostly women's points of view, but not all, as in the reality morphing “Tangled Roots" by Noor Mohanna. Overall, We Wrote in Symbols examines and honors humans as embodiments of multifaceted layers of generations of sensory and cultural experiences from the sweet and self-effacing conciliatory to the sour and violently combative and every combination between these two extremes. Every word offers worthwhile reading including the introduction, footnotes, glossary, list of suggested additional reading, acknowledgements, authors' biographies and credits. Allowing time to savor is highly recommended.
*Saeida Rouass is scheduled to be a panelist for the featured discussion of adaptations during the third annual The Write Women Book Fest (for which Cardyn Brooks is the outreach coordinator) on Saturday, October 9th from 12 noon to 5 p.m. at Marietta House Museum in Glenn Dale, Maryland.
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