I Am You (<i>Ana Hiya Anti</i>): A Novel on Lesbian Desire in the Middle East by Elham Mansour. Translated and Edited with an Introduction by Samar Habib
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I Am You (Ana Hiya Anti): A Novel on Lesbian Desire in the ...

Chapter :  Introduction
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Reviews

“This book provides a narrative that depicts everyday lives of lesbians in the Middle East, moving beyond seeing victims of homophobic laws, in order to explore their desires and the possibilities for living life outside societal parameters. I Am You is unique in that it is the first novel published in Arabic to truly take up lesbianism as an issue, and I would argue, a cause. For indeed, it is a highly political novel, questioning every prevailing societal belief about homosexuality, and contending that homosexuality is a natural phenomenon. As the first text of its kind, I Am You will no doubt one day take its place as a lesbian literary classic, but, more importantly, it outs lesbianism in the Arab world (and specifically, in Lebanon), acting as survival literature, and perhaps, opening up a door for further lesbian representation in Arabic culture.”
– Dr. Rebecca Beirne, Author of Lesbians in Television and Text after the Millennium and editor of TelevisingQueer Women: A Reader