"The writers
always converge in their words, thoughts, experiences, histories and
pain. The future recalls the past memories, and the past repays its
history to the future" - Kawther Salam
It was a wonderful day, the golden lines of the sun rising on a spring
day were dallyed my lineament at the morning. I waked up and stood in
front of the window. The dawn hours were filled with a special kind of
beauty and enjoyment.
I love hearing the birds singing and flying at the trees branches from
tree to tree, I love smelling the zephyr mixed with dew drops the same
like the birds, flowers and plants. I love watching the rush hour
forebode a new day at the morning.
I gave silent thanks for my life and new day. How I can find work, what
do I have to do? I collected some films I took in Palestine. I must
develop these films.
My mother called: "I missed you, I'm kissing your pictures hanged on
the walls", she said. I left home with painful memory from my homeland.
My mother, my family, my friends, the occupation, the news which carried
the killing of a Palestinian infant 16 months old, Ilayan Albshe, who
was hit by a bullet to the head while playing in front of his home. The
Israeli snipers were shooting on the densely populated Khan Yunis
refugee camp in the south of the Gaza strip. Two years before the IDF
snipers had killed a seven months infant, Iman Hijjo, also from Khan
Yunis. Iman was the youngest victim of Sharon's hatred of the
Palestinians.
(Note: Image on the
left from Al-Quds newspaper / Jerusalem, image on the right from
Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah / Ramallah newspaper)
I return home, the evening carried that Lillian Hellman granted me a
prize. The American playwright Lillian Hellman, who left money in her
will to assist writers from around the world who had been politically
persecuted and were in financial need. The executors of her estate asked Human Rights Watch to set up and
administer such a fund. Ms. Hellman's request was prompted by her
experiences and those of her long-time companion, the novelist Dashiell
Hammett, during the anti-Communist paranoia in the U.S after World War
II.
Hellman and Hammett were both interrogated about their political
beliefs and affiliation by Congressional committees. Hellman suffered
professionally and had trouble finding work for number of years. Hammett
spent time in prison. A few lines about Lillian's background follow. I
include in this diary a small part of what I found with Google.
Lillian Florence Hellman
was born in New Orleans on June 20, 1905, the daughter of a shoe
salesman. When she was five years old, her family moved to New York.
She studied at New York University (1922-24) and Columbia University
(1924), but did not earn a degree. In 1925, she began reviewing books
for the New York Herald Tribune, and by 1930, she was employed as a
script-reader by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Hollywood.
In the autumn of 1930, she met
Dashiell Hammett with whom she would remain intimate until his death in
1961. Hammett, a mystery writer and author of The Maltese Falcon, would
prove to be one of the greatest influences in Hellman's life. He
reportedly suggested that she write a stage adaptation of 'The Great
Drumsheugh Case,' an episode from William Roughead's Bad Companions
which detailed the scandal at a Scottish boarding school when a pupil
accused two teachers of having a lesbian affair. Hellman's adaptation,
The Children's Hour (1934), shocked and fascinated Broadway audiences
with its frank treatment of lesbianism and enjoyed a run of 691
performances. It also spawned two film adaptations including These Three
(1936) penned by Hellman herself. Hellman also wrote the scripts for
such films as Dark Angel (1935), Dead End (1937), and The North Star
(1943).
Hellman's next stage success,
Little Foxes (1939), has become perhaps her most well-known play. It is
a chilling study of the financial and psychological conflicts within a
wealthy Southern family. Already hailed as one of the greatest
playwrights of her time, Hellman was a curiosity in the largely
male-dominated world of American theatre. Soon she found herself being
labelled as a 'second Ibsen' or 'the American Strindberg', but there
were rough waters ahead for the young playwright. Throughout her career,
Hellman openly held left-wing political views and was active in the
campaign against the growth of fascism in Europe. As a result of her
well-known political views, she was subpoenaed to appear before the
House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952. Pressured to reveal the
names of associates in the theatre who might have Communist
associations, she replied:
"To hurt innocent people
whom I knew many years ago in order to save myself is, to me, inhuman
and indecent and dishonorable. I cannot and will not cut my conscience
to fit this year's fashions, even though I long ago came to the
conclusion that I was not a political person and could have no
comfortable place in any political group."
As a result of her
defiance, Hellman's name was added to Hollywood's blacklist and she was
slapped with an unexpected and unexplainable tax bill. Even worse, her
partner, Dashiell Hammett, was sentenced to prison for six months. Alone
and cut off from her only source of income, Hellman was soon forced to
sell her home. Fortunately, she managed to stage a revival of The
Children's Hour and used the proceeds to relocate to New York.
Hellman continued to write,
adapting several works for the stage including Anouilh's The Lark and a
musical version of Voltaire's Candide which featured a score by Leonard
Bernstein. The proceeds from these productions enabled her to purchase
some property in Martha's Vineyard. However, almost a decade would pass
before Hellman would write another completely original work. Again,
Hammett would suggest the theme. Toys in the Attic opened in February
1960 with Jason Robards in the lead role. Although this would be her
last work for the stage, Hellman remained active throughout her life.
She taught creative writing classes at the University of New York, Yale
University, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. And in her later years, she focused on several
autobiographical works including An Unfinished Woman (1969), Pentimento
(1973), and Scoundrel Time (1976). She died of cardiac arrest on June
30, 1984, at her home in Martha's Vineyard. In her will, Hellman
established two literary funds. The Lillian Hellman fund was to be used
to advance the arts and sciences, and the second, intended to further
radical causes, was named for Dashiell Hammett, her longtime companion
and critic.
Hellman received numerous
awards during her lifetime including the New York Drama Critics Circle
Award for Watch on the Rhine (1941) and Toys in the Attic (1960),
Academy Award nominations for the screenplays The Little Foxes (1941)
and The North Star (1943), and numerous honorary degrees from various
universities. In 1993, Cakewalk, a play based on Hellman's relationship
with Peter Feibleman, premiered.