SOURCE: Kahf, Mohja. “The Silences of Contemporary Syrian Literature.” World Literature Today 75, no. 2 (spring 2001): 225-36.

In the following essay, Kahf examines the historic problem of censorship and repression faced by writers in Syria.

Is There a Syrian Literature?

There is, of course, no such thing as Syrian literature. Certainly, citizens of the modern nation-state of Syria write literature, but to claim that “Syrian literature” exists in the same way that, say, Russian literature or German literature exists is misleading. First, it implies that there is a language called Syrian. Syrian literature is, for the most part, written in Arabic and is part of a literary family that includes all literature written in Arabic. Second, anyone familiar with the Middle East will be quick to point out that “Syria” itself is a complicated label. From ancient times until the early twentieth century, the term has been used loosely to...