Beirut Noir

by Iman Humaydan

  * * *

  After he was gone, she opened the window to banish the last traces of Farid’s cologne that still lingered in the room. It would take her some time to get herself together again. She thought she heard the ringing of a telephone, which evoked in her neither the desire to get up, nor the slightest bit of curiosity. No doubt it’s Farid, wanting to check on his bride’s “mood.” She couldn’t picture him as one day being her life partner. “High expectations” are a beautiful thing; she won’t substitute them for a sliver of hope.

  She breathed out a great sigh of relief. She would grow old peacefully, without hopes, with quiet despair. The sails set off, never to return, and the honking of car horns returned in the street. She didn’t know how late it was when, half-asleep, she picked up the phone near her bed.

  “Hello, Lamia?”

  “Yes, who’s this?”

  “Lamia, it’s Nazih.”

  “Nazih? Did something happen? Is Hyam all right? Are you both okay?”

  “Why is your voice shaky? Have you been crying?”

  “No, I was sleeping.”

  “Are you ill? It’s still early . . .”

  “No, I’m not sick . . . Have you sorted out your troubles?”

  “Lamia, I just wanted to tell you before it’s too late: you are my ultimate love.”

  Originally written in Arabic.

  ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

  Muhammad Abi Samra (b. 1953) is a Lebanese novelist and journalist. He is currently the director of the weekly investigative journalism section of Nahar newspaper, a field he has been working in since 1977. He has published many novels and other collections of writing.

  Tarek Abi Samra (b. 1983) is a short-story writer and freelance journalist born and living in Beirut. He writes in both French and Arabic. He holds a BA in clinical psychology and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in the same field.

  Najwa Barakat was born in Beirut and has lived in Paris since 1985. She has worked as an independent journalist for various Arabic newspapers and magazines as well as the BBC and RFI. Barakat has written five award-winning novels in Arabic, most of which have been published by Dar al-Adab in Beirut and translated into a number of European languages. She has also written one novel in French, La locataire du Pot de Fer. Since 2005, she has run writing workshops to discover previously unknown talents.

  Abbas Beydoun (b. 1945) is a Lebanese poet, novelist, and journalist, born in Tyre, Lebanon. He has published numerous volumes of poetry, which have been widely translated; English translations of his poetry have appeared in Banipal magazine. He has also published six novels, two of which have been translated into English. Beydoun has been cultural editor of the Beirut-based newspaper As-Safir since 1997.

  Bana Beydoun (b. 1982) has been writing poetry for ten years. She published her first poetry collection, The Guardian of Illusion, in 2012. She studied cinema at the Jesuit University in Beirut and the Sorbonne in Paris. She has also directed a number of short films, including A Moment Alone (2001), Sanayeh Bath (2004), and Ninar (2004). She currently works as a journalist in Lebanon and is a film critic for the newspaper al-Akhbar.

  Leila Eid is a Lebanese novelist and poet born in the Shouf, Lebanon. She lives in Beirut where she works as a journalist for the national news agency. She has published a novel, Pub Number Two, and two collections of poetry, From Where, I Don’t Know and Sometimes I Dance.

  Rawi Hage is a writer and a visual artist, born in Beirut and currently residing in Montreal. His first novel, De Niro’s Game, won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, among other major prizes. Cockroach, his second novel, was also a finalist for many prestigious awards. His latest novel, Carnival, is about the beautiful, twisted existence of life in the modern city, told from the perspective of a taxi driver, and was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Award and won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction.

  Michelle Hartman is a literary translator from Arabic and French into English, and associate professor of Arabic literature at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University. Her translations include Muhammad Kamil al-Khatib’s Just Like a River (cotranslated with Maher Barakat), Alexandra Chreiteh’s Always Coca-Cola and Ali and His Russian Mother, and Iman Humaydan’s Other Lives and Wild Mulberries, which was runner-up for the Banipal Prize for the best novel translated from Arabic in 2009.

  Bachir Hilal (b. 1947-2015) was a lawyer and writer born in Lebanon. He wrote a weekly column on political issues for the Arabic daily newspaper al-Hayat. His short stories and poetry have been published in the culture sections of many Arabic-language newspapers. He moved from Beirut to Paris during the Lebanese Civil War.

  Iman Humaydan is a Lebanese writer, creative writing instructor, translator, editor/publisher, journalist, and cofounder and current president of the Lebanese PEN association who splits her time between Beirut and Paris. Her novels B as in Beirut, Wild Mulberries, and Other Lives have been translated into English and other languages; her most recent novel is Three Ounces of Paradise. She is the screenwriter for the acclaimed film Here Comes the Rain, and coauthor of the documentary Asmahan: Une Diva Orientale.

  Hala Kawtharani (b. 1977) is editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab weekly Laha magazine. She is the author of four Arabic novels: al-Usbu‘ al-Akhir (The Final Week), Studio Beirut, Ali al-Amerkani (Ali the American), which won the 2013 Sharjah Book Fair prize for Best Arabic Novel, and Karisma (Charisma), all published by Dar al-Saqi. Kawtharani holds an MA in Arabic literature and a BA in political studies from the American University of Beirut.

  Zena el Khalil (b. 1976) has lived in Lagos, London, New York City, and Beirut. A visual artist, writer, and cultural activist, el Khalil works in a variety of formats ranging from painting, installation, performance, mixed media, collage, and writing. She has exhibited internationally, and held solo exhibitions in Lagos, London, Munich, Turin, and Beirut. Her memoir, Beirut, I Love You, was translated into several languages including Italian, Spanish, Swedish, and Portuguese.

  Mazen Maarouf (b. 1978) is a Palestinian poet, writer, and journalist born in Beirut. He has published three collections of poetry: The Camera Doesn’t Capture Birds, Our Grief Resembles Bread, and An Angel Suspended on the Clothesline. His poetry has been translated into many languages, and the South Lebanon Council honored him in 2009. His first collection of short stories is forthcoming.

  Alawiya Sobh (b. 1955) was born in Beirut and has published novels, poetry, literary criticism, and journalism. Her novels have been translated into several European languages and have won a number of important literary prizes. She frequently lectures about women’s issues, among other subjects, throughout the Arab world and beyond.

  Marie Tawk is a writer and renowned translator currently based in Jbeil (Byblos), Lebanon. She has published numerous literary translations from French into Arabic, as well as from Arabic into French. She recently translated chapters of Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones from French into Arabic in the Nahar newspaper’s cultural supplement, and she has published a number of her own short stories and literary criticism in Lebanese newspapers and journals. Tawk is currently working on her first novel.

  The Amazin’ Sardine is the author of An Ever-Receding Tide. He has been performing under this nom de plume for several years. In his performances, he always strives to be the devil’s advocate and impersonates unsavory characters to elicit a reaction from his audience and push them to reconsider established truths.

  Hyam Yared (b. 1975) is a French-language Lebanese novelist and short-story writer. Her three novels have won numerous prizes. Her most recent novel is La Malédiction (The Curse), the story of a modern-day Middle Eastern Medea. She is the president of the PEN association’s Lebanon chapter, where she is engaged in the struggle for freedom of expression for all writers, especially those imprisoned or subjected to other forms of intimidation and censorship.

  Translator's Acknowledgments

  I would like to first acknowledge Ibrahim Ahmad’s thoughtful, consistent,
and enthusiastic support of this project. I would also like to thank all of the authors of the stories in this collection who were helpful and insightful in their comments and suggestions. Sincere and deep thanks are owed to Iman Humaydan, who continues to teach me so much about literature and language itself. I also would like to express a sincere debt of gratitude to Bader Takriti for working so hard to help me finish the translations, as well as the careful readings of Katy Kalemkerian.

  BONUS MATERIAL

  Excerpt from USA Noir: Best of the Akashic Noir Series

  Also available in the Akashic Noir Series

  Akashic Noir Series Awards & Recognition

  INTRODUCTION

  WRITERS ON THE RUN

  From USA NOIR: Best of the Akashic Noir Series, edited by Johnny Temple

  In my early years as a book publisher, I got a call one Saturday from one of our authors asking me to drop by his place for “a smoke.” I politely declined as I had a full day planned. “But Johnny,” the author persisted, “I have some really good smoke.” My curiosity piqued, I swung by, but was a bit perplexed to be greeted with suspicion at the author’s door by an unhinged whore and her near-nude john. The author rumbled over and ushered me in, promptly sitting me down on a smelly couch and assuring the others I wasn’t a problem. Moments later, the john produced a crack pipe to resume the party I had evidently interrupted. This wasn’t quite the smoke I’d envisaged, so I gracefully excused myself after a few (sober) minutes. I scurried home pondering the author’s notion that it was somehow appropriate to invite his publisher to a crack party.

  It may not have been appropriate, but it sure was noir.

  From the start, the heart and soul of Akashic Books has been dark, provocative, well-crafted tales from the disenfranchised. I learned early on that writings from outside the mainstream almost necessarily coincide with a mood and spirit of noir, and are composed by authors whose life circumstances often place them in environs vulnerable to crime.

  My own interest in noir fiction grew from my early exposure to urban crime, which I absorbed from various perspectives. I was born and raised in Washington, DC, and have lived in Brooklyn since 1990. In the 1970s and ’80s, when violent, drug-fueled crime in DC was rampant, my mother hung out with cops she’d befriended through her work as a nearly unbeatable public defender. She also grew close to some of her clients, most notably legendary DC bank robber Lester “LT” Irby (a contributor to DC Noir), who has been one of my closest friends since I was fifteen, though he was incarcerated from the early 1970s until just recently. Complicating my family’s relationship with the criminal justice system, my dad sued the police stridently in his work as legal director of DC’s American Civil Liberties Union.

  Both of my parents worked overtime. By the time my sister Kathy was nine and I was seven, we were latchkey kids prone to roam, explore, and occasionally break laws. Though an arrest for shoplifting helped curb my delinquent tendencies, the interest in crime remained. After college I worked with adolescents and completed a master’s degree in social work; my focus was on teen delinquency.

  Throughout the 1990s, my relationship with the urban underbelly expanded as I spent a great deal of time in dank nightclubs populated by degenerates and outcasts. I played bass guitar in Girls Against Boys, a rock and roll group that toured extensively in the US and Europe. The long hours on the road not spent on stage gave way to book publishing, which began as a hobby in 1996 with my friends Bobby and Mark Sullivan.

  The first book we published was The Fuck-Up, by Arthur Nersesian—a dark, provocative, well-crafted tale from the disenfranchised. A few years later Heart of the Old Country by Tim McLoughlin became one of our early commercial successes. The book was widely praised both for its classic noir voice and its homage to the people of South Brooklyn. While Brooklyn is chock-full of published authors these days, Tim is one of the few who was actually born and bred here. In his five decades, Tim has never left the borough for more than five weeks at a stretch and he knows the place, through and through, better than anyone I’ve met.

  In 2003, inspired by Brooklyn’s unique and glorious mix of cultures, Tim and I set out to explore New York City’s largest borough in book form, in a way that would ring true to local residents. Tim loves his home borough despite its flagrant flaws, and was easily seduced by the concept of working with Akashic to try and portray its full human breadth.

  He first proposed a series of books, each one set in a different neighborhood, whether it be Bay Ridge, Williamsburg, Park Slope, Fort Greene, Bed-Stuy, or Canarsie. It was an exciting idea, but it’s hard enough to publish a single book, let alone commit to a full series. After we considered various other possibilities, Tim came upon the idea of a fiction anthology organized by neighborhood, each one represented by a different author. We were looking for stylistic diversity, so we focused on “noir,” and defined it in the broadest sense: we wanted stories of tragic, soulful struggle against all odds, characters slipping, no redemption in sight.

  Conventional wisdom dictates that literary anthologies don’t sell well, but this idea was too good to resist—it seemed the perfect form for exploring the whole borough, and we got to work soliciting stories. We batted around book titles, including Under the Hood, before settling on Brooklyn Noir. The volume came together beautifully and was a surprise hit for Akashic, quickly selling through multiple printings and winning awards. (See pages 548–550 for a full list of prizes garnered by stories originally published in the Noir Series.)

  Having seen nearly every American city, large and small, through the windows of a van or tour bus, I have developed a deep fondness for their idiosyncrasies. So for me it was easy logic to take the model of Brooklyn Noir—sketching out dark urban corners through neighborhood-based short fiction—and extend it to other cities. Soon came Chicago Noir, San Francisco Noir, and London Noir (our first of many overseas locations). Selecting the right editor to curate each book has been the most important decision we make before assembling it. It’s a welcome challenge because writers are often enamored of their hometowns, and many are seduced by the urban landscape’s rough edges. The generous support of literary superheroes like George Pelecanos, Laura Lippman, Dennis Lehane, and Joyce Carol Oates, all of whom have edited series volumes, has been critical.

  There are now fifty-nine books in the Noir Series. Forty of them are from American locales. As of this writing, a total of 787 authors have contributed 917 stories to the series and helped Akashic to stay afloat during perilous economic times. By publishing six to eight new volumes in the Noir Series every year, we have provided a steady venue for short stories, which have in recent times struggled with diminishing popularity. Akashic’s commitment to the short story has been rewarded by the many authors—of both great stature and great obscurity—who have allowed us to publish their work in the series for a nominal fee.

  I am particularly indebted to all sixty-seven editors who have cumulatively upheld a high editorial standard across the series. The series would never have gotten this far without rigorous quality control. There also couldn’t be a Noir Series without my devoted and tireless (if occasionally irreverent) staff led by Johanna Ingalls, Ibrahim Ahmad, and Aaron Petrovich.

  * * *

  This volume serves up a top-shelf selection of stories from the series set in the United States. USA Noir only scratches the surface, however, and every single volume has more gems on offer.

  When I set out to compile USA Noir, I was delighted by the immediate positive responses from nearly every author I contacted. The only author on my initial invitation list who isn’t included here is one I couldn’t track down: the publisher explained to me that the writer was “literally on the run.” While I’m disappointed that we can’t include the story, the circumstance is true to the Noir Series spirit.

  And part of me—the noir part—is expecting a phone call from the writer, inviting me over for a smoke.

  Johnny Temple

  Brooklyn, NY

  Ju
ly 2013

  ___________________

  More about USA Noir

  The best USA-based stories in the Akashic Noir Series, compiled into one volume and edited by Johnny Temple!

  “All the heavy hitters . . . came out for USA Noir . . . an important anthology of stories shrewdly culled by Johnny Temple.” —New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice

  “Readers will be hard put to find a better collection of short stories in any genre.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “A must read for mystery fans, not just devotees of Akashic’s ‘Noir’ series, this anthology serves as both an introduction for newcomers and a greatest-hits package for regular readers of the series . . . There isn’t a weak story in the collection . . . Strongly recommended for readers who enjoy mysteries published by Hard Case Crime, as well as for fans of police procedurals.” —Library Journal (starred review)

  “The 37 stories in this collection represent the best of the U.S.-based anthologies, and the list of contributors include virtually anyone who’s made the best-seller list with a work of crime fiction in the last decade . . . a must-have anthology.” —Booklist (starred review)

  “It’s hard to imagine how the present anthology could be topped for sheer marquee appeal . . . Perhaps the single most impressive feature of the collection is its range of voices, from Joyce Carol Oates’ faux innocent young family to Megan Abbott’s impressionable high school kids to the chorus of peremptory voices S.J. Rozan plants in a haunted thief’s head. Eat your heart out, Walt Whitman: These are the folks who hear America singing, and moaning and screaming.” —Kirkus Reviews