by Sinan Antoon

Paperback (Yale University Press, 2020)
ISBN ‎ 978-0300251753
312 pages

The Book of Collateral Damage (originally titled Fihris in Arabic) is a profound literary work that chronicles the aftermath of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The novel follows Nameer, an Iraqi-born scholar who has immigrated to the United States. During a visit to Baghdad after the invasion, Nameer meets a bookseller who is working on an ambitious project: documenting everything destroyed in the war, minute by minute. This encounter leads Nameer to examine his own relationship with his homeland, memory, exile, and the immeasurable cost of war beyond mere statistics.

Through a blend of fiction, catalog entries, and philosophical reflection, Antoon creates a powerful meditation on loss and the attempt to preserve what violence seeks to erase.

About the author

Sinan Antoon is an Iraqi-born poet, novelist, scholar, and translator who left Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War and currently lives in the U.S.. Born in Baghdad in 1967, Antoon holds a doctorate in Arabic Literature from Harvard University and is an associate professor at New York University. He has published several novels including I’jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody, The Corpse Washer, and The Book of Collateral Damage, as well as collections of poetry. His works have been translated into numerous languages and have received multiple awards.

Beyond his creative writing, Antoon is a respected translator of Arabic poetry into English and has contributed to various publications as an essayist and commentator on Iraqi cultural and political issues. He also co-founded and co-edited the cultural page of the Arab Studies Journal and serves as an editor with the ezine Jadaliyya.

Buy this book via your neighborhood English bookstore in Germany.