In praise of hatred is a must read for several reasons. First of all, the books introduces us to a new author in the world of Arabic literature, who has great literary depth, comparable to Faulkner and Garcia Marquez, which Khalifa cites as his preferred authors, but who do not have a profound influence on his writing. Another name seems to linger between the lines of this novel, and that is perhaps the name of Gibran, especially for the longing moral sense of freedom, that the complex story seems to suggest.

Elogio Dell Odio is the Italian title of Khaled Khalifa’s In Praise of Hatred, published by Bompiani this May 2011.

In 2008, Khaled Khalifa’s book was shortlisted in Abu Dhabi’s international prize for Arabic fiction (or Arab Booker prize), and Khalifa had given the interview below to Michele Farina, Corrier della sera.

Interview of Khaled Khalifa by Peter Puchot, for Mediapart:

“I defend the right of my people for democracy, I closely watch the process of change of which I can actually testify. For the first time in 40 years, the Syrian society begins to break the wall of fear. It’s as if it saw itself for the first time: (it sees) fear of the future and at the same time, confidence to lead its way into it. Since the departure of Mubarak, I’ve been waiting for the Syrian revolt, but I could not imagine what form it would take, nor where it would be triggered.”

SAMAR YAZBEK 40 years old, blue eyed gentle cosmopolitan. Watching her at first, it is impossible to tell from which part of the world she is. But then it takes little to realize how deeply a daughter of Syria she is. How delighted she is with her language, Arabic, to which she has dedicated her studies, and which has accompanied her work as a feminist and political activist, as a journalist, screenwriter for cinema and TV, and especially a writer. It also takes little to realize that this soft aspect of hers hides an immense courage.