The Lives and Deaths of Jubrail Dabdoub

Or, How the Bethlehemites Discovered Amerka

Jacob Norris (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

290 Seiten

2023
Stanford University Press (Verlag)
978-1-5036-3328-5 (ISBN)

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This is the fantastical, yet real, story of the merchants of Bethlehem, the young men who traveled to every corner of the globe in the nineteenth century. These men set off on the backs of donkeys with suitcases full of crosses and rosaries, to return via steamship with suitcases stuffed with French francs, Philippine pesos, or Salvadoran colones. They returned with news of mysterious lands and strange inventions—clocks, trains, and other devices that both befuddled and bewitched the Bethlehemites. With newfound wealth, these merchants built shimmering pink mansions that transformed Bethlehem from a rural village into Palestine's wealthiest and most cosmopolitan town. At the center of these extraordinary occurrences lived Jubrail Dabdoub.

The Lives and Deaths of Jubrail Dabdoub tells the story of Jubrail's encounters, offering a version of Palestinian history rarely acknowledged. From his childhood in rural Bethlehem to later voyages across Europe, East Asia, and the Americas, Jubrail's story culminates in a recorded miracle: in 1909, he was brought back from the dead. To tell such a tale is to delve into the realms of the fantastic and improbable. Through the story of Jubrail's life, Jacob Norris explores the porous lines between history and fiction, the normal and the paranormal, the everyday and the extraordinary.

Drawing on aspects of magical realism combined with elements of Palestinian folklore, Norris recovers the atmosphere of late nineteenth-century Bethlehem: a mood of excitement, disorientation, and wonder as the town was thrust into a new era. As the book offers an original approach to historical writing, it captures a fantastic story of global encounter and exchange.

Jacob Norris is Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern History at the University of Sussex. He is the author of Land of Progress: Palestine in the Age of Colonial Development, 1905–1948 (2013) and codeveloper of the website Planet Bethlehem.

Introduction

1. Of a land called Amerka, Or how ammo Hanna was saved by al-Khadr

2. Of the hallowed ridge, Or how Jubrail learned to profit from Christmas

3. Of Jubrail's forebears, Or the toils of Yousef and Rosa

4. In which Bethlehem gets a new street

5. Of unruly markets and underwater ships

6. Of sunken eyes in a casket, Or how Bethlehem came to be covered in dust

7. Of mechanical wonders on near and distant shores

8. In search of Amerka

9. Of troubles on the Trocadero

10. Of the decline of Hosh Dabdoub, Or how Jubrail's schooling came in useful

11. Of a street named Rosario

12. By the truth of al-Khadr, I went and came back!

13. Of white cities and bronze medals

14. Of fertility potions and the dizzying heights of success

15. Of weeping icons, ghostly armies and visions of the Virgin

16. Of the enchanted palaces of Bethlehem

17. Of hyenas, serpents and French philanthropists

18. Of the resurrection of Jubrail Dabdoub

Epilogue

Author's Commentary

Erscheinungsdatum	25.11.2022
Reihe/Serie	Worlding the Middle East
Zusatzinfo	1 figure, 1 map, 29 halftones
Verlagsort	Palo Alto
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
ISBN-10	1-5036-3328-4 / 1503633284
ISBN-13	978-1-5036-3328-5 / 9781503633285
Zustand	Neuware