Through writing, local author embraces her Lebanese heritage
As a teenager in the 1950s, Evelyn Shakir dreamed of being a writer. But the idea of writing "Remember Me to Lebanon," her new book of short stories about Lebanese women in Boston, would come far in the future.
"It was difficult, because I felt very foreign," said Shakir, then and now a resident of West Roxbury, the center of the city's Lebanese community. "It was a different era, because people were not talking about diversity or multiculturalism, but a melting pot. You had to become as American as possible, but still my parents retained a pride in their culture and background, which led to tension sometimes."
In time, Shakir embraced her Lebanese heritage, becoming a professor of Arab-American literature at Bentley College. She never forgot those strong-willed Lebanese women she grew up around, and interviewed several for her first book, "Bint Arab," published in 1997.
"Remember Me to Lebanon" is Shakir's first work of fiction. A common thread is power struggles, from a father trying to influence his daughter through folk tales to a mother who returns from the grave to shape up her family.
One story is set during the civil war in Lebanon. The only main character who isn't Arab obsessively watches her Arab neighbors after the 9/11 attacks. Overall though, Shakir said, she was driven "just to tell stories, not to make a point," and found that she had the time to do it now that she is semiretired. "I circled back to what I always wanted to do," she said, "but it took decades."
RON DePASQUALE 