Novel excerpt published by Word Without Borders, special issue on Lebanon, July 2018
Translated by Paula Haidar.
At an armed checkpoint, sectarian tensions come to bear on one man’s suspect identity in this excerpt from Jabbour Douaihy’s novel Chased Away​.

This is an excerpt of an article by Laure Stephan, for le Monde des Livres, Published June 18th, 2015
They often talk about their books in France, whether written in French or translated from the Arabic. Some have studied in France or lived here during their years of exile in the time of war (1975-1990). But their moorings are in Beirut, or in any case not far from the city on this side of the Mediterranean and its magical light. Beirut is the place of childhood memories or years of youth, long-term stays or torn …

Taken from Viaggioadoriente, by Francesca Del Vecchio, (and loosely translated).
September 2014.
The Mediterranean Festival of Literature, in its 12th edition this year, has tackled the narration of “Identity”. And who better than the Lebanese novelist Jabbour Douaihy could represent the essence of this argument, using a text whose starting point is precisely that of identity, “St. George looked elsewhere” (Feltrinelli 2012) (Chased away).

On Tuesday November 5th, Lebanese author Jabbour Douaihy received the Young Arab literature award, created in the Spring of 2013 by the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation, and the Arab World Institute, Paris.
Eight titles were shortlisted, by authors Saber Mansouri (“I was born eight times”, Le Seuil), Nabil Naoum (“Amir”, Actes Sud, Sindbad), Ahmed Dich (“Chibani”, Anne Carrière), Salim Bachi (“The last summer of a young man”, Flammarion), Jabbour Douaihy (“Chased away”, Actes Sud, Sindbad), Hayat El Yamani (“Bi-cultural”, Anne Carrière), Charif Majdalani (“The last lord of Marsad”, Le Seuil), Alia Mamdouh …

“Superb!”

In this lies the conflict that Douaihy recounts, that between Muslim and Christian realities, of which Nizam becomes a metaphorical symbol. At twenty, when he gets to Beirut, in the turmoil of the revolution, with the outbreak of the civil war, he must come to terms with his being Muslim and Christian. A dual membership to the two communities, seen not only with suspicion but decidedly rejected. The narrative power of Douaihy lies in his strong belief in the real possibility of telling emblematic stories, with strong characters who are never forgotten. Stories that become emblematic, like are the solitude and the identity of the torn protagonist.