Recognising the Stranger

On Palestine and Narrative

By: Isabella Hammad

Length: Not Yet Known

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

*FROM THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF ENTER GHOST*

Award-winning author of The Parisian and Enter Ghost Isabella Hammad delivered the Edward W. Said Lecture at Columbia University nine days before 7 October 2023. The text of Hammad’s seminal speech and her afterword written in the early weeks of 2024 together make up a searing appraisal of the war on Palestine during what feels like a turning point in the narrative of human history.

Moving and erudite, Hammad writes from within the moment, shedding light on the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Recognising the Stranger is a brilliant melding of literary and cultural analysis by one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and a foremost writer of fiction in the world today.

'Recognising the Stranger combines intellectual brilliance with moral clarity and profound resoluteness of purpose.' SALLY ROONEY

'A pitch-perfect example of how the novelist can get to the heart of the matter better than a million argumentative articles. Hammad shows us how the Palestinian struggle is the story of humanity itself, and asks us not to look away but to see ourselves.' MAX PORTER

‘Hammad’s writing burns with fierce intelligence, humane insight and righteous anger. For those at risk of despair, doubtful of the role literature has to play in times of crisis, it is a reminder of the radical potential of reading and the possibility of change.’ OLIVIA SUDJIC

©2024 Isabella Hammad (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Recognising the Stranger marks an uncharted terrain of literary critique in the shadow of Edward Said, revealing abundant insight about both the method and the intellectual. In this powerful revelation, Isabella Hammad triumphantly teaches us about anagorisis and produces a work that is its embodiment. A moving read characterised by its timelessness and the precision with which it speaks to this historical moment (Noura Erakat)

An urgent work for a devastating time, Recognising the Stranger proves that Isabella Hammad is as fine a critic as she is a novelist. Following in the tradition of Edward Said, she demands an ethical, political and artistic confrontation with the text, the world, and the other. It is hardly a surprise that she is one of our most astute writers when it comes to Palestine (Viet Thanh Nguyen)