Janus City
“Lina is one of my favorite writers, and by that I mean I steal from her all the time...seriously talented with intelligence that cuts through the bullshit. No one, I mean no one, can write about Beirut better.”
—Rabih Alameddine“Janus City is a small masterwork. Lina Mounzer is one of the finest chroniclers of modern-day Lebanon...possessed of enormous talent & emotional clarity, all of it on display in this raw, beautiful book.”
—Omar El Akkad“Disaster is a literature of its own...Janus City stays inside it, recording it, seeing that nothing is forgotten...Lina Mounzer has given us a master class in what it means to not simply walk away, to abide.”
—Salar Abdohabout the bookabout
A lyrical essay interweaving a personal, political, and mythological history of Beirut, as much a place of beguiling legend as it is of political disaster. Janus City is a tribute to a beloved, complicated city, and an attempt to understand what it means to make home in a place balanced eternally on the rim of disaster. Featuring original artwork by Jana Traboulsi.
This book is a part of OR SHORTS Series I, an annual subscription of six short books released once every two months. Unified by voice-driven and incisive writing, elegant design and printing, and leftist politics approached through contemporary cultural criticism, OR SHORTS are brief and beautiful. To learn more about the subscription and its benefits, click here.
About The Author / Editor
Lina Mounzer is a Lebanese writer and translator. Her work has appeared in Equator, The Paris Review, Freeman’s, and The Baffler, as well as in the anthologies Tales of Two Planets, Best American Essays 2022, and Gaza: The Story of a Genocide. She is senior editor at literary arts and culture magazine The Markaz Review.
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Janus City
“Lina is one of my favorite writers, and by that I mean I steal from her all the time...seriously talented with intelligence that cuts through the bullshit. No one, I mean no one, can write about Beirut better.”
—Rabih Alameddine“Janus City is a small masterwork. Lina Mounzer is one of the finest chroniclers of modern-day Lebanon...possessed of enormous talent & emotional clarity, all of it on display in this raw, beautiful book.”
—Omar El Akkad“Disaster is a literature of its own...Janus City stays inside it, recording it, seeing that nothing is forgotten...Lina Mounzer has given us a master class in what it means to not simply walk away, to abide.”
—Salar Abdohabout the bookabout
A lyrical essay interweaving a personal, political, and mythological history of Beirut, as much a place of beguiling legend as it is of political disaster. Janus City is a tribute to a beloved, complicated city, and an attempt to understand what it means to make home in a place balanced eternally on the rim of disaster. Featuring original artwork by Jana Traboulsi.
This book is a part of OR SHORTS Series I, an annual subscription of six short books released once every two months. Unified by voice-driven and incisive writing, elegant design and printing, and leftist politics approached through contemporary cultural criticism, OR SHORTS are brief and beautiful. To learn more about the subscription and its benefits, click here.
About The Author / Editor
Lina Mounzer is a Lebanese writer and translator. Her work has appeared in Equator, The Paris Review, Freeman’s, and The Baffler, as well as in the anthologies Tales of Two Planets, Best American Essays 2022, and Gaza: The Story of a Genocide. She is senior editor at literary arts and culture magazine The Markaz Review.
Preview
Coming Soon.