Northwestern University Press, 2008 Paper: 978-0-8101-2510-0 | Cloth: 978-0-8101-2509-4 | eISBN: 978-0-8101-6266-2 Library of Congress Classification PS3619.T665S77 2008 Dewey Decimal Classification 811.6
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Stone's moving debut collection of verse is inspired by her encounter with perhaps the last cohesive, traditional Jewish community in the Middle East and North Africa. According to their story of origin, a handful of exiles arrived on the island of Djerba, Tunisia, in 586 B.C., carrying a single stone from the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem. Drawing from this cosmology, the poems follow a stranger who arrives into an ancient community that is both at home and deeply estranged on the island. Its people occupy the uneasy space of all insular communities, deciding when to let the world in and when to shut it out. The poems are about the daily lives and deeper cosmos of the Jews of Djerba as well as the Muslims next door. In her exploration, Stone sees vivid recurring images of keys, stones, homes, the laughter of girls, the eyes of men, the color blue, and the force of blood or bombs. With this journey of faith, doubt, longing, and home, Stone has brought readers a rare look into a story that resonates powerfully with questions of cultural preservation and coexistence.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
NOMI STONE is an assistant editor at the Middle East Journal. She has a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies from Oxford and was a Fulbright Scholar. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland.
REVIEWS
"Stone is a genuine poet, with the capacity of seeming artless while being extremely artful." —Alicia Ostriker
"Nomi Stone brings to life the searing heat, the balance of superstition and tradition, and the flow of history that has built up to become the tremendous monument that is daily life. Stone speaks from a point both inside and out, letting us see the frame and stand inside it at the same time. It's an electric place to be." —Cole Swensen
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Beginnings 000
I.
The Stranger, Preparing for a Long Journey, 2003 000
The Fall of the First Temple, 586 B.C.E., Jerusalem 000
Notes on How They Came 000
La Ghriba ("The Stranger") Tells How and Why
Jerusalem 000
End of Time 000
II.
From Her Notes: The Village 000
Trapped on Djerba, Island of the Lotus Eaters 000
Day of Repentance, Day of Forgiveness 000
The Girls / First Day of School 000
Learning Hebrew/ Learning Hebrew 000
Welcome Party 000
This House 000
What We Ask the Messiah to Save 000
III.
Us and Them 000
From Her Notes 000
Many Scientists Convert to Islam 000
Us and Them 000
The Wound 000
A Prayer 000
Jewish New Year 000
IV.
How We Recognized Our Longing 000
Practicing Stoicism 000
Haram 000
Parable 000
From Her Notes 000
Women and Men 000
From Her Notes 000
V.
When the Messiah Did Not Come 000
Ways to Be Redeemed 000
Saturday Twilight 000
Outside of Time 000
The Sabbath 000
Why I Came 000
The Path of the Boy-God's Arrow 000
Purim, Spring Festival: How to Escape Massacres 000
Purification Rite 000
Time Ends 000
Djerban Folk Song 000
VI.
Arriving 000Where 000
Taking Notes 000
Dancing in Ashqelon 000
A Map 000
The Closest Thing 000
In the Songs and the Homes 000
Acknowledgments and Notes 000
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Northwestern University Press, 2008 Paper: 978-0-8101-2510-0 Cloth: 978-0-8101-2509-4 eISBN: 978-0-8101-6266-2
Stone's moving debut collection of verse is inspired by her encounter with perhaps the last cohesive, traditional Jewish community in the Middle East and North Africa. According to their story of origin, a handful of exiles arrived on the island of Djerba, Tunisia, in 586 B.C., carrying a single stone from the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem. Drawing from this cosmology, the poems follow a stranger who arrives into an ancient community that is both at home and deeply estranged on the island. Its people occupy the uneasy space of all insular communities, deciding when to let the world in and when to shut it out. The poems are about the daily lives and deeper cosmos of the Jews of Djerba as well as the Muslims next door. In her exploration, Stone sees vivid recurring images of keys, stones, homes, the laughter of girls, the eyes of men, the color blue, and the force of blood or bombs. With this journey of faith, doubt, longing, and home, Stone has brought readers a rare look into a story that resonates powerfully with questions of cultural preservation and coexistence.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
NOMI STONE is an assistant editor at the Middle East Journal. She has a master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies from Oxford and was a Fulbright Scholar. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland.
REVIEWS
"Stone is a genuine poet, with the capacity of seeming artless while being extremely artful." —Alicia Ostriker
"Nomi Stone brings to life the searing heat, the balance of superstition and tradition, and the flow of history that has built up to become the tremendous monument that is daily life. Stone speaks from a point both inside and out, letting us see the frame and stand inside it at the same time. It's an electric place to be." —Cole Swensen
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Beginnings 000
I.
The Stranger, Preparing for a Long Journey, 2003 000
The Fall of the First Temple, 586 B.C.E., Jerusalem 000
Notes on How They Came 000
La Ghriba ("The Stranger") Tells How and Why
Jerusalem 000
End of Time 000
II.
From Her Notes: The Village 000
Trapped on Djerba, Island of the Lotus Eaters 000
Day of Repentance, Day of Forgiveness 000
The Girls / First Day of School 000
Learning Hebrew/ Learning Hebrew 000
Welcome Party 000
This House 000
What We Ask the Messiah to Save 000
III.
Us and Them 000
From Her Notes 000
Many Scientists Convert to Islam 000
Us and Them 000
The Wound 000
A Prayer 000
Jewish New Year 000
IV.
How We Recognized Our Longing 000
Practicing Stoicism 000
Haram 000
Parable 000
From Her Notes 000
Women and Men 000
From Her Notes 000
V.
When the Messiah Did Not Come 000
Ways to Be Redeemed 000
Saturday Twilight 000
Outside of Time 000
The Sabbath 000
Why I Came 000
The Path of the Boy-God's Arrow 000
Purim, Spring Festival: How to Escape Massacres 000
Purification Rite 000
Time Ends 000
Djerban Folk Song 000
VI.
Arriving 000Where 000
Taking Notes 000
Dancing in Ashqelon 000
A Map 000
The Closest Thing 000
In the Songs and the Homes 000
Acknowledgments and Notes 000
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE