[Ṭubūl al-ḥubb] 2013
Emerging from the feverish early years of the Syrian uprising, Drums of Love (Ṭubūl al-ḥubb) is a novel pulsing with the digital heartbeat of a revolution. The story’s focus is Rima, a woman living in the safety of Paris, who is divided between her life in Europe and her online activity. She knows a Syrian man online and they fall in “love”: he updates her about the situation in Syria. She experiences the Syrian conflict not through traditional news, but through the visceral, immediate intimacy of social media and instant messaging.
Maha Hassan captures the “dual presence” of the modern exile. She masterfully portrays the psychological process of being physically secure while emotionally besieged, showing how a notification sound can carry the weight of a bomb blast. It is a story where the “drums” of the title signify both the rhythmic call to protest and the pounding anxiety of a heart waiting for a reply from a war zone. Hassan’s narrative style reflects this fragmentation, mirroring the way modern technology both connects us to our tragedies and keeps us at a haunting distance.
[Hassan, M. (2013). Tubūl al-ḥubb. Riad El-Rayyes Books.]
Sources:
https://www.newarab.com/author/74977/maha-hassan
