An Old Carriage with Curtains

Ghassan Zaqtan’s impeccable weaving of Palestinian memory serves as a reminder of how far such memory can extend in a confined, ever-shrinking geopolitical space constantly eroded by Israeli colonialism and the ensuing military Occupation. The last book in a trilogy, An Old Carriage with Curtains (Seagull Books, 2023) does not pick up from Where the Bird Disappeared (2018), although the themes explored in the books carry similar strands and one is still reminded of the previous. Interspersed with earlier history which centres Palestine’s significance, the book is rooted in the present navigations of the narrator attempting to secure a visitation permit for his mother to visit the village of Zakariyya. The narrator’s solitary musings, based upon incessant observation, illustrate scenes … Continue reading An Old Carriage with Curtains