{"product_id":"a-bridge-too-soon-afifa-karam-and-the-arabic-novel-in-the-united-states-9780815612193","title":"A Bridge Too Soon: ?Afifa Karam and the Arabic Novel in the United States","description":"\u003cp\u003eMore than a century before contemporary debates about Arab American identity, a Lebanese immigrant woman living in Shreveport, Louisiana, was championing intercultural dialogue and women's solidarity across cultural divides through the radical medium of the Arabic novel. ?Afifa Karam (1883-1924) not only wrote groundbreaking fiction, she also theorized the novel as a genre that could empower immigrant women readers at a time when the Arabic novel itself had yet to gain acceptance as a legitimate literary form. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eElizabeth Saylor offers the first comprehensive study of Karam's life and work, recovering a pivotal yet overlooked figure in the Nahda, the Arabic cultural renaissance. Drawing on Karam's articles in the New York-based newspaper al-Huda and her three published novels, Saylor reveals how this writer, journalist, and translator developed a distinctly gendered theory of fiction while addressing the urgent questions facing Syrian immigrants navigating between Arab and American cultures. Karam's novels--Badi?a wa-Fu?ad, Fatima al-Badawiyya, and Ghadat ?Amshit--feature heroines who embody hybrid identities, forge unlikely cross-cultural friendships, and resist patriarchal oppression in both their ancestral homeland and their adopted country. Karam emerges as a bold social critic and literary innovator whose work remains strikingly relevant to contemporary discussions of transnational feminism and cultural hybridity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Elizabeth Claire Saylor\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Syracuse University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/16\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSeries:\u003c\/b\u003e Critical Arab American Studies\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 244\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.06lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.08h x 6.36w x 0.82d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780815612193","brand":"Syracuse University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48794035617929,"sku":"9780815612193","price":74.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_7b44246e-fd55-4cea-becd-7f32e4c37160.jpg?v=1793144686","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/a-bridge-too-soon-afifa-karam-and-the-arabic-novel-in-the-united-states-9780815612193","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}