Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- "Culture is humanity's highest need" / As if ... / Slogans, slogans everywhere -- Freedom and democracy -- Our literature does not leave the country / Nadia al-Ghazzi / Colette al-Khuri -- No such thing as women's literature / Ulfat Idilbi / Salons and Mallahat al-Khani / Nadia Khust and the Nadwa -- Commissioned criticism / Culture after the Fall of the Wall / Commissioned criticism / The fantasy of choice -- Dissident performances / Performing dissidence / The ghoul / -- Historical miniatures -- Filming dreams / The extras / Dreaming features / Documenting dreams -- Lighten your step / Ibrahim Samuil / Waiting / Ghassan al-Jaba'i / Lessons from a rogue state -- Leaving Damascus -- Postscript -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary
An account of dissidence in Hafiz Asad s Syria, describing how intellectuals tried to navigate between charges of complicity with the state and treason against it
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-184) and index