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Quote by Rabih Alameddine

“I told her I was not sure I could bear living with memories, she said, Look up at the stars, look, they are not there, what you see is the memory of what once was, once upon a time.”

Quote by Rabih Alameddine

Work

The Angel of History

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Author

Rabih Alameddine
Rabih Alameddine

Rabih Alameddine is a Lebanese-American writer known for his poetic prose and exploration of Arab-American identity, LGBTQ+ themes, and Middle Eastern culture. Born in Beirut in 1959, he moved to the United States in 1990. His notable works include The Angel of History, An Unnecessary Woman, The Hakawati, and Koolaids. Alameddine's writing, characterized by lyrical language and innovative narrative techniques, has been nominated for numerous literary awards, making him one of the most significant contemporary Arab-American authors. more

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“Abulanam’s Pride emerged into a sky dominated by the heaven tree of a stellar nursery. Billowing thunderheads and swirling currents of sooty dust, silicate grains and gas aglow with the radiation of hot bright stars embedded in them. Ragged pillars, shaped by light and stellar winds, clawing across a dozen light years, spalling offshoots tipped with the blowsy haloes of stars birthing in collapsing knots of protostellar material. A vast, violent engine of creation.”

“Stars, on the other hand, were inexplicable. Not holes in the sky, not candles, not electric lights, not anything that resembled what you knew. The immensity of the black air overhead, the vastness of the space that stood between you and those small luminosities, was something that resisted all understanding. Benign and beautiful presences hovering in the night, there because they were there and for no other reason. The work of God's hands, yes, but what in the world had he been thinking?”

“Way up in the mountains Sea level too far to be seen The clouds mask civilization below People replaced by a sea of green. Peace falls down from heaven In the form of a cleansing rain The trees could tell endless stories If you knew how to hear what they’re saying. An ocean of gray spills out below Walk on it if you dare to drown Its tendrils reach out and the waves crash But it all happens without a sound. Above the clouds, below the stars No money here, but endless wealth Inward is the hardest adventure of all Come above the clouds and find yourself.”