The contributors were asked to write on what it means to be Palestinian in the diaspora and to speak from the heart, avoiding politics and intellectual intrusions . Difficult as this task may appear, I believe they have succeeded—some of them having recourse to autobiographical memories and others to analysis of personal feelings; but they all spoke of the unforgettable effect on them of being forcibly dispossessed of their homes and homeland when Israel was created in 1948. Doing so, they revealed an indelible and specific Palestinian identity that, despite their dispersion in the world, has continued to be alive in the diaspora, even after they had acquired the citizenship of their host countries. This identity is not exactly the same for all Palestinians, but there are sufficient common elements of it for them all to make it a mark of belonging. First among those, of course, is language—the spoken Arabic language of Palestine, with its village and city varieties and its special cadences. But there are other elements that each contributor to the volume spoke of, even if language was not mentioned or was taken for granted, and they are mainly cultural. The material culture of Palestine is reflected quite strongly in many essays of the book, including food, even particular dishes like mujaddara (rice and lentils) or dips like zayt u za‘tar (olive oil and powdered thyme), but it is also reflected in dress embroidery, in music and song, and in dance—especially dabkeh, a group folk dance characterized by exuberant joy in social celebrations and sometimes with political implications. Existential experiences, however, are most pertinent for most contributors, as they report their personal feelings on contemporary Palestinian conditions of injustice , suffering, struggle for survival, resilience , and continuing restlessness. One contributor says appositely, “I am a Palestinian rock that is still rolling to its final resting place.” There is hope, always hope, as an element of Palestinian identity. Editor Suleiman, himself a Palestinian, is to be congratulated on this volume of personal reflections collected from Palestinians in the shatat (the diaspora), for the use of all those who may be curious and interested to learn more about his people who, in the West especially, are unfairly maligned by their enemies. Issa J. Boullata McGill University, Montreal Tahar Ben Jelloun. By Fire: Writings on the Arab Spring. Trans. Rita S. Nezami. Evanston, Illinois. Curbstone Books / Northwestern University Press. 2016. 120 pages. Where does one begin to speak of the Arab Spring, after all that has been expended in dreams, analysis, and lives? In By Fire, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Moroccan intellectual and one of the most acclaimed novelists writing in French today, attempts to creatively rescue from the ashes Mohamed Bouazizi, the self-immolating fruit vendor credited with igniting the Tunisian revolt. This slim novella, the first fictional account to tackle the subject, was initially published in 2011 at the height of Marina Tsvetaeva Letter to the Amazon Trans. A’Dora Phillips & Gaëlle Cogan Ugly Duckling Presse This book contains an essay, written in letter form from Tsvetaeva to American Natalie Clifford Barney, that captures a snapshot of the tragic poet’s life and ideas less than ten years before her tragic death. Speaking frankly on the gap between her desires as a lover and her instincts as a mother, Tsvetaeva eulogizes a relationship she shared with another woman twenty years earlier. Dumitru Tsepeneag The Bulgarian Truck Trans. Alistair Ian Blyth Dalkey Archive Press Innovative Romanian novelist Dumitru Tsepeneag raises the bar on recursive fiction in his latest novel to be translated into English, The Bulgarian Truck. While juggling his affair with young Slovak novelist Milena and his unhappy marriage with Marianne, Tsepeneag’s narrator struggles to bring new characters to life without destroying himself in the process. Nota Bene WORLDLIT.ORG 97 the protests. Gracefully translated, with an illuminating and exhaustive introduction , by Rita S. Nezami, By Fire is a work of imaginative empathy and real compassion. Upon reading the work of fiction in one sitting, Nezami spontaneously combusted into translation: “There are urgent stories out there that need to be told in as many languages as possible and made available to world readers.” Ben Jelloun, for...