On the Relations of the Circle

"What a blessing to still get new Khoury books to read even after he’s gone . . . [On the Relations of the Circle] unfolds like the fragmented memories of childhood, tracing the orphan Mansour through his encounters with his world and surroundings, mystical and material. A gorgeous and poetic tale." —Samia Saliba, Mizna

"Despite Elias Khoury’s known wizardry as one of the great contemporary narrators, his referential bedrock can always be found in the full corpus of Arabic poetry, texts he knew intimately. Yasmeen Hanoosh’s utterly lucid rendering of his first novel finally squares the circle of Khoury’s magnificent achievement. Deeply enmeshed in his own language and culture, he embraced the world fully, with all its pain, suffering, and wonder, while never ceasing to demonstrate that true human dignity emerges from active resistance to all forms of oppression." —Ammiel Alcalay

"Elias Khoury’s first novel, On the Relations of the Circle, exists within its own spacetime. Set on the eve of the Lebanese Civil War, gravity shifts in these pages, and the physics of the work follows that of dreams. Gorgeous and ethereal, this is a must read from a beloved master of Arabic fiction." —Hannah Lillith Assadi

"Elias Khoury, along with Mahmoud Darwish, is an artist giving voice to rooted exiles and trapped refugees, to dissolving boundaries and changing identities, to radical demands and new languages. From this perspective Khoury's work bids Mahfouz an inevitable and yet profoundly respectful farewell." — Edward Said

"Because the world is the way it is, because whole groups of people can be maligned, neglected, ignored, for too many years, we need the voice of Elias Khoury—detailed, exquisite, humane—more than ever. Read him. Without fail, read him." — Naomi Shihab Nye