Download Water on Fire: A Memoir of War

1
Water
on
Fire
A
Memoir
of
War
Description
In this evocative, insightful
memoir, a leading voice in Middle
Eastern Studies revisits his childhood in
war-torn Lebanon and his family8217sfascinating
history, coming to terms with trauma and
desire.Water on Fire tells a story of immigration
that starts in a Beirut devastated by the
Lebanese Civil War (1975821190,
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continues with experiences of displacement in
Europe and Africa, moves to northeastern American
towns battered by lake-effect snow and economic
woes, and ends in New York City on 9/11. A story
of loss, but also of evolution, it models a kind
of resilience inflected with humor, daring, and
irreverence.Alternating between his perspective
as a child and as an adult, Tarek El-Ariss
explores how we live with trauma, poignantly
illustrating the profound impact of war on our
perception of the world, our fears and longings.
His memoir is at once historical and universal,
intellectual and introspective, the outcome of a
long and painful process of excavation that
reveals internal turmoil and the predicament of
conflict and separation. A contemporary
8220inerpretation of dreams8221dealing with
monsters, invisible creatures, skin outbreaks,
and the sea, it is a book about objects and
elements, like water and fire, and about how
encountering these elements triggers
associations, connecting present and past, time
and space.