Threshold of Pain

Pain does not fit man’s humanity; 
death is more beautiful, 
more appropriate. 
But is the choice between pain and death a fair one? 
Are painkillers the solution?

“I think it’s likely that this is the true central point around which the novel revolves. It is a warm dialogue between man—possessed by this sort of pain, produced and protected by injustice such that hopelessness might prevail in approaching the idea of society/watan; that the idea of historiography instead take its place as a bearer of the question of whether pain is useful; and that a separation from this tale of Sisyphean outcomes take place—and reality, with its gloomy construction of outcomes more dangerous still. Ridding oneself of pain, after all, necessitates measures totally incompatible with the available forms of treatment—treatment that preserves the existence of pain while merely increasing one’s abilities to bear it.”

Hasan Sami Yusuf was born in 1945 in the Palestinian village of Lubya. His family were expelled to Syria, by way of Lebanon, where they would settle in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus. Yusuf earned his bachelor’s degree in Syria.
 His many novels include The Palestinian (1988), The Boat (1990), A Letter to Fatima (1996), Moon Girl (1999), Concerns of Drama (2001), The Gate of Heaven (2007), and Threshold of Pain (2016).
His television miniseries include The Bitter Orange Tree, The Sisters, Summer Clouds, Pardon, and Regret. He collaborated with Najib Nseir in the production of Little Women, Secrets of the City, Before Sunset, Tale of an Autumn, Our Beautiful Days, Men and Women, Waiting, A Time of Shame, Mirage, and Chaos.

Najib Nseir, author of the foreword, is a well-known Syrian journalist, researcher, and television screenwriter. His partnership with Yusuf has resulted in many successful screenplays.