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This is the fantastical, yet real, story of the merchants of Bethlehem, the young men who traveled to every corner of the globe in the nineteenth century. These men set off on the backs of donkeys with suitcases full of crosses and rosaries, to return via steamship with suitcases stuffed with French francs, Philippine pesos, or Salvadoran colones. They returned with news of mysterious lands and strange inventions—clocks, trains, and other devices that both befuddled and bewitched the Bethlehemites. With newfound wealth, these merchants built shimmering pink mansions that transformed Bethlehem from a rural village into Palestine's wealthiest and most cosmopolitan town. At the center of these extraordinary occurrences lived Jubrail Dabdoub.
The Lives and Deaths of Jubrail Dabdoub tells the story of Jubrail's encounters, offering a version of Palestinian history rarely acknowledged. From his childhood in rural Bethlehem to later voyages across Europe, East Asia, and the Americas, Jubrail's story culminates in a recorded miracle: in 1909, he was brought back from the dead. To tell such a tale is to delve into the realms of the fantastic and improbable. Through the story of Jubrail's life, Jacob Norris explores the porous lines between history and fiction, the normal and the paranormal, the everyday and the extraordinary.
Drawing on aspects of magical realism combined with elements of Palestinian folklore, Norris recovers the atmosphere of late nineteenth-century Bethlehem: a mood of excitement, disorientation, and wonder as the town was thrust into a new era. As the book offers an original approach to historical writing, it captures a fantastic story of global encounter and exchange.
1. Of a land called Amerka, Or how ammo Hanna was saved by al-Khadr
2. Of the hallowed ridge, Or how Jubrail learned to profit from Christmas
3. Of Jubrail's forebears, Or the toils of Yousef and Rosa
4. In which Bethlehem gets a new street
5. Of unruly markets and underwater ships
6. Of sunken eyes in a casket, Or how Bethlehem came to be covered in dust
7. Of mechanical wonders on near and distant shores
8. In search of Amerka
9. Of troubles on the Trocadero
10. Of the decline of Hosh Dabdoub, Or how Jubrail's schooling came in useful
11. Of a street named Rosario
12. By the truth of al-Khadr, I went and came back!
13. Of white cities and bronze medals
14. Of fertility potions and the dizzying heights of success
15. Of weeping icons, ghostly armies and visions of the Virgin
16. Of the enchanted palaces of Bethlehem
17. Of hyenas, serpents and French philanthropists
18. Of the resurrection of Jubrail Dabdoub
Epilogue
Author's Commentary