Palestinian Writings in the World: A Polylingual Literary Category Between Local and Transnational Realms

In this article I focus on the problems and possible consequences deriving from putting together literary productions from the Americas, Europe and Israel by Palestinian authors and authors of Palestinian descent who may write in languages other than Arabic. Due to their daily engagement in the languages of local majorities, literature from these distinct contexts is commonly characterized by the authors’ attempts at preserving cultural boundaries and exploring national identities both against the backdrop and under the influence of foreign cultural elements. I present critical readings of Anglophone, Latinate and Hebrew literary productions to facilitate my proposal for the necessity of establishing a polylingual literary category to include these texts in the national canon, and suggest a theoretical framework for reading them within both local and transnational contexts as well as alongside Palestinian literary productions composed in Arabic.