Moan of the Reeds: This text emerged from scattered oral tales and culminated in a grand written story—the story of the Palestinians, in the plural form, who had a place stolen from them and a warm time shattered by the Zionist invasion. While oral tradition has a special aesthetic that vanishes with the departure of its storytellers, the oral tradition preserved from oblivion by writing possesses a more penetrating and profound beauty. In the written word, stories converge, the singular becomes plural, and each tale illuminates and is illuminated by others. In writing, time is liberated from its place, expanding the present with past and future eras. It is as if Hamid, by addressing the constricted present with bygone eras, is building his people's memory as he writes a novel, confronting a potential oblivion that tampers with stories and buries their owners.

• Author: Hassan Hamid
• Publisher: Dar Al-Fikr Al-Mu'asir – Damascus
• Edition: 2
• Year of Publication: 2003
• Pages: 420
• Parts: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• Paper Type: White
• ISBN: 1-59239-225-3