''No Knives in the Kitchens of This City'' () is a novel by the Syrian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

Khaled Khalifa Khaled Khalifa (born 1964) ( ar, خالد خليفة, sometimes in English written as Khalid Khalifa) is a Syrian novelist, screenwriter, and poet. He has been nominated three times for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, including being s ...

. The novel was first published in 2013 by Al Ain publishing house in Cairo. The novel was awarded the "Najib Mahfouz Prize for Literature" in 2013, it was included in "Alqaseerah" final list of the 2014

International Prize for Arabic Fiction The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) ( ar, الجائزة العالمية للرواية العربية) is the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic ...

, known as the "Arab Booker Prize".

About the novel

The title of the novel describes the fear and fragmentation during the half-century that the Arab world has lived. It is a novel about a society that lived with oppression and

desires Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", " wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of aff ...

. Through the

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

of a family, they discovered that all their dreams died and turned into ashes, just as the mother's body turned into junk that must be disposed of so that others can continue to live. It is a novel that raises and asks basic questions and tries to reveal the facts of the devastation of Arab life under

authoritarian regimes Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political '' status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic ...

that have insulted and destroyed the lives and dreams of Arab citizens. Here,

writes about everything that is kept secret in

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

life in general and Syrian life in particular. It is a novel about grief,

fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...

, and human death.

References

{{Reflist Arabic-language novels 2013 novels Egyptian novels