A luminous, inventive, and deeply personal exploration of living in the liminal space between Jewish and Arab, ancient and modern, by a gifted Palestinian writer. Chosen by The New York Times as one of the best books of 1988, Arabesques is a luminous novel that engages with history and politics not as propaganda but as literature. That engagement begins with the language in which the book is written: Anton Shammas, from a Palestinian Christian family and raised in Israel, wrote in Hebrew, as no Arab novelist had before. The choice was provocative to both Arab and Jewish readers. Arabesques is divided into two sections: “The Tale” and “The Teller.” “The Tale” tells of several generations of family life in a rural village, of the interplay of past and present, of how memory intersects with history in a part of the world where different people have both lived together and struggled against each other for centuries. “The Teller” is about the writer’s voyage out of that world to Paris and the United States, as he comes into his vocation as a writer, and raises questions about the authority of the storyteller and the nature of the self. Shammas’s tour de force is both a personal and a political narrative—a reinvention of the novel as a way of envisioning and responding to historical and cultural legacies and conflicts.

The Arabesque from Kant to Comics tracks the life and afterlife of the arabesque in its surprising transformation from an iconoclastic literary theory of early German Romanticism to aesthetic experimentation in both avant-garde art and popular culture. Its explosive growth in popularity was followed by an inevitable taming as arabesques became staples in book illustration, poetry publications, and even the decoration of printed scores. The subversive potential of the arabesque was preserved in one of its most surprising offspring, the comic strip: born at the moment when the cholera pandemic first swept through Europe, the comic translated the arabesque’s rank growth into unnerving lawlessness and sequences of contagious visual slapstick. Focusing roughly on the period between 1780 and 1880, this book illuminates the intersecting histories of avant-garde theories of writing, visual culture, and even the disciplinary origins of art history. In the process, it explores media history and intermediality, social networks and cultural transfer, as well as the rise of new and nontraditional art forms. This book will be of particular interest to scholars of art history, intellectual history, European art, aesthetics, book illustration, material culture, reproduction, comics, and German history.

These meditations inspired by a Matisse painting are “a paean to the act of seeing, celebrating our capacity to be transformed by the truths art holds.” —The New York Times Book Review Named a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year and a Los Angeles Times Favorite Nonfiction of the Year Just out of college, Patricia Hampl was mesmerized by a Matisse painting in the Art Institute of Chicago: an aloof woman gazing at goldfish in a bowl, a Moroccan screen behind her. In Blue Arabesque, Hampl explores the allure of this lounging woman, immersed in leisure, so at odds with the rush of the modern era. Hampl’s meditation takes us to the Cote d’Azur and to North Africa, from cloister to harem, pondering figures as diverse as Eugene Delacroix, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Katherine Mansfield. Returning always to Matisse’s portraits of languid women, she discovers they were not decorative indulgences but something much more. Moving with the life force that Matisse sought in his work, Blue Arabesque is Hampl’s dazzling and critically acclaimed tour de force.

Amy May is the best at everything she does. But how do you know you're really the best until you're tested? Until you're pushed to the limit? A botched kidnapping drags Amy and her best friend, Mia, into the depths of a criminal underworld, a world where the players think with bullets and blackmail.

Much-loved author and James Beard nominee Reem Kassis presents an acclaimed and unique collection of original contemporary recipes tracing the rich history of Arab cuisine.

Provides keys to the understanding of Moroccan architecture and geometical arabesques.

Greg Malouf is widely admired as one of Australia’s most innovative and influential chefs. His passion for the food of his Lebanese heritage, combined with his extensive travels, have led him to forge a modern Middle Eastern cuisine. Arabesque, co-written with Lucy Malouf, is a much-loved guide to the food of the Middle East. From apricots to cous cous, pomegranates to silverbeet, this book welcomes the stars of Arabic cooking into the modern kitchen with descriptions of the history and the role the ingredients play, information on selecting and using them, and exciting recipes. The collection of 170 recipes is not slavish to tradition, but rather Greg’s modern takes on the food he has grown up with. Seven-Vegetable Couscous is served with Onion Jam and Green Harissa Broth, and Salmon Kibbeh Nayeh is served with Saffron Yoghurt Cheese. Arabesque is a volume to treasure and a cookbook to read and enjoy while discovering new experiences in the kitchen. It is a must for anyone interested in new flavours, techniques and culinary history, and is a source of inspiration for professional chefs, keen home cooks and gourmets alike.