Rabee Jaber is perhaps Lebanon's best known younger author. Born in Beirut in 1972; he works as a journalist, but his degree, from the American University in Beirut, was in physics. Jaber's first novel was Sayed Al-Atmah (Master of Darkness), published in 1992. It was after its publication that he started working as the editor of Afaaq (Horizons), the weekly cultural supplement of the daily international newspaper Al-Hayat. Many of Jaber's novels have been translated to languages like French, German and Polish; and in 2010 Jaber was on the shortlist for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF, better known as the Arabic Booker) for America (made into an eponymous film in 2009, which went on to win six prestigious awards at international festivals such as the FIPRESCI award at Cannes Film Festival and Best Arabic Film at the Cairo International Film Festival). Finally, in 2012, he won the IPAF for his novel Dorouz Belgrade: Hekayet Hanna Yacoub (The Druze of Belgrade: The Story of Hanna Yacoub). Jaber is remarkably prolific, and his oeuvre includes Sayyid Al-Atmah (Master of Darkness) in 1992, Shaii Aswad (Black Tea) in 1995, Al-Bayt Al-Akhir (The Last House) in 1996, Al-Farasha Al-Zarqaa (The Blue Moth) in 1996, Ralph Rizqallah fi Al-Mir'at (Ralph Rizqallah in the Mirror) in 1997, Kuntu Amiran (I was a Prince) in 1997, Nazra Akhira ala Kin Say (A Last Look at Kin Say) in 1998, Youssef Al-Ingelizi (The Youssef the Englishman) in 1999, Rehlet Al-Gharnati (The Journey of the Granadian) in 2002 and was translated to German in 2005, Bayrut Madinat Al-Allam (Beirut City of the World) in 2003, Byretus Madinat Taht Al-Ard (Byretus Underground City) in 2005, Bayrut Madinat Al-Allam 2 (Beirut City of the World 2) in 2005, Takrir Mehlis (The Mehlis Report) in 2006, Bayrut Madinat Al-Allam 3 (Beirut City of the World 3) in 2007, America in 2009, Dorouz Belgrade: Hekayet Hanna Yacoub (The Druze of Belgrade: The Story of Hanna Yacoub) in 2010 and Teyour Al-Holiday Inn (Birds of the Holiday Inn) in 2011. Here as elsewhere Jaber's fiction operates in a clearly historical register, whether it draws on distant or recent history, as in his huge three-part trilogy Bayrut Madinat Al-Allam (Beirut City of the World), the first volume of which was published in 2003. Jaber restricts the action of Dorouz Belgrade to the 1860s, at the time of the Druze-Maronite civil war of Mount Lebanon, which took place under Ottoman rule — in itself a challenging setting, and he centres the action on Hanna Yacoub, whose life is the main line of the narrative with all the other characters contributing to telling his story. This protagonist, Hanna Yacoub, is a Christian egg seller whose only mistake is being in the wrong place at the wrong time: among the Druze prisoners, who also happen to be selling eggs, being deported at the port. Yacoub is arbitrarily detained and exiled in place of one of four brothers whose father bribes the authorities to let him stay. The prisoners are transferred to Belgrade Fortress on the frontier of the Ottoman Empire to spend their jail time, accused of various crimes during the civil war. Yacoub is forced to leave behind his wife Helena Costantine and his young daughter Barbara, who are unaware of what happens to him. Jaber uses Helena's search for Yacoub to document the wretched state of Beirut. And his style is eloquent enough to deliver an engaging a blend of the factual history with the details of Yacoub's story in exile, convincingly conveying the details of a little known place and time. Jaber proves he is able to create his own remarkable narrative space. The reader traces the story of Yacoub in the harsh conditions of the prison community, where the prisoners are surviving against the odds, from heavy chains tying their hands and legs on the ship to starvation at Belgrade Fortress. He must do so as someone other than himself, a Druze with a different name. The prisoners are periodically released to serve in battles against the Ottoman Empire. After 12 years in exile, Yacoub finally manages to escape by joining a Macedonian group on a pilgrimage and later leaving them in Damascus, whence he heads to Beirut in search of his wife and daughter.
