Bassem Khandaqji; trans. Addie Leak
A Mask the Color of the Sky by Bassem Khandaqji, translated from the Arabic by Addie Leak, won the 2024 International Prize for Arabic fiction. It is a complex novel in which a Palestinian man from the Ramallah refugee camp interrogates his identity.
Nur al-Shadi, an archaeology student, has aspirations of writing a novel about Mary Magdalen based on her portrayal in the Gnostic Gospels. He discovers an Israeli identity card for Or Shapira in the pocket of a second-hand leather jacket he purchased. Nur’s knowledge of Hebrew, light-colored skin, and fair hair enable him to adopt the identity of Or and pass as an Ashkenazi Jew. His fluid identity alternates between Palestinian or Israeli depending on the circumstances. As Or, he travels to a kibbutz to participate in an archeological dig with the hope of conducting research for his upcoming novel. His situation is exacerbated when he meets two women on the team, an Israeli Zionist and a Palestinian Muslim. The two women clash and Nur/Or finds himself caught in the middle as he interrogates his identity.
The novel’s structure is layered. It alternates between third-person and Nur’s first-person point of view. Peppered throughout are Nur’s thoughts on how to construct his novel and his attempts to grasp the nature of Mary Magdalene’s transformation after her interaction with Jesus. He records his thoughts in letters to his close friend imprisoned in an Israeli jail—letters he knows will never be sent. His internal conflicts are manifested in the form of dialogues between Nur and Or, Self and Other.
The novel also explores the dynamics between inanimate objects and identity. Nur’s fake Israeli identity card and the star of David he wears around his neck give him access to places he would never be allowed to enter as a Palestinian. They endow him with a power denied to other Palestinians and provide him with insight on the lives of those he sees as enemies. The mask he assumes acts as the catalyst for his journey of self-discovery. Although externally he passes as an Israeli, internally, he remains a Palestinian, highlighting the tension between external appearances and internal truths.
Connected to this is Nur’s exploration of the different texts written about Mary Magdalene. He considers how objects—in this case, the written word—can be manipulated to promote a specific agenda. This idea is reinforced when the archaeological team unearths artefacts or encounters remains of Arab villages that are now occupied by Israeli settlers. How is this material interpreted and who gets to interpret it? These issues force Nur to interrogate his fake identity vs. his true identity. At the end of the novel, he liberates himself from the oppressive mask he had maintained. He discards his Israeli identity card and the Star of David necklace and embraces his authentic Palestinian identity.
A complex, challenging narrative that articulates the physical, emotional, and psychological impact of displacement and occupation while exploring the interplay between objects and identity.