City Gates

"City Gates" was first published in Arabic in 1981, and in English in 1993. It is a further exploration of the themes of exile, dislocation, and identity. Elias Khoury's early works show him finding the distinctive voice that explodes in his epic "Gate of the Sun." A stranger arrives at the gates of a city from which everyone appears to have fled. The once besieged and now deserted city is Beirut. "City Gates" is a fable of displacement and a visionary tale about the consequences of civil war in the Middle East.