Ethics of Representation in Literature Art and Journalism

<p>This transnational collection of essays interviews and creative pieces on the 1982 Siege of Beirut explores literary representations of the siege by a diverse set of writers alongside journalism and other media including film and art. The book investigates and promotes an awareness of an ethics of representation on questions of extreme emotional investment comparing representations of the siege to representations of other traumatic events visiting responses from those of different cultural backgrounds to the same event and considering implications with respect to comparative approaches. Chapters explore how literature journalism and art contribute to overcoming the dangers of forgetting and denial memorial excess and fundamentalism the radicalization of violence and the complete breakdown of trust on international levels asking how they challenge geopolitical intellectual and psychological states of siege and instead promote awareness acknowledgement mourning and justice across divided communities. The book extends the use of postcolonial methodologies affiliated with history international relations and psychoanalysis (memory trauma) to Middle-Eastern studies and visits the siege’s effect on different forms of memory and memorialization: selective memory trauma gaps and fissures in historical accounts recording of eyewitness reports and artistic re-imaginings and realizations of alternative archives. </p>