{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.03411390575310783, 'fraction_numerical': 0.008673026886383347, 'mean_word_length': 4.43171114599686, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Nawal El-Saadawi, Searching , trans. Shirley Eber (London: Zed Books, 1991). Pp. 114.

At the end of the novel, she is shot dead by her sniper lover and thus becomes the victim of both war and sexuality. In Etel Adnan's Sitt Marie-Rose, the title character, a teacher in a school for deaf and dumb children stands up firmly to a group of militia men during the Tel al-Zaatar seige. She too is killed as the militia cannot come to terms with the womanly strength she represents. They kill what they fear. Accad offers an interpretation based on Gerard Mendel's article, "La violence est un langage," in which he explores "elements of alienation, dehumanization, identity problems" that "could begin to give some explanations for that attraction exerted by violence in terms of boredom, depression, fascination with death, fear of reality, fear in general." In the third novel, written by Andrde Chedid, the characters Amal and Miriam arrange a peace march that would bring together people from both sides of Beirut. The groups are to meet at the border "to stretch their hands towards each other, exchange in a symbolic kiss, and then shake their yellow scarfs in the air to call out all those waiting for them" (p. 3). Kalya, who has accompanied her granddaughter Sybil on a visit to the homeland, comes armed with a gun which she seems to believe will protect Amal and Miriam. The party is shot at; Miriam and Amal are wounded, and Kalya's granddaughter is shot dead. Accad deplores Kalya's resorting to carrying a gun, a violent action, and finds hope in the thought that Amal and Miriam will recover to pursue their goals. In the third part of the book Accad deals with writings by Tawfiq Yusuf Awad, Death in Beirut (first published in Arabic in 1972), Halim Barakat's Days of Dust (first published in Arabic in 1969), and Elias Khoury's al-Jabal al-saghir (first published in Arabic in 1977). The fascination of men with war is the theme of her analysis of the three novels. She uses studies that range from Sigmund Freud to Gerard Mendel to shed light on the psychology of those men involved in brutalities. In Tawfiq Yusuf Awaad's novel, both Ramzy and Hany manage to bring misery to Tamima who decides at the end of the novel to join the Palestinian armed resistance, a decision that Professor Accad does not favor. Halim Barakat's novel records the bitterness and disillusionment of the Six Days War in June 1967. In it he uses the myth of the flying Dutchman and the Palestinian folktale of the hyena that separates the bridegroom from his bride. Women represent the land of Palestine; war may still bring out what is best in the Arab character. Virginity rites, according to Accad, are related to war: "Virginity of a woman is the honor of her husband and her family. As long as this virginity is not checked, fear and anxiety remain present. At a very deep level, the war with Israel is like marriage, a trial of virginity" (p. 116). In al-Jabal al-saghir, Elias Khoury, who himself fought in the Six Days War, presents characters who are fascinated with violence and death but lack maturity in their emotional and sexual lives. War is a valid solution since war can bring victory. Accad concludes that "there is a need for a new rapport between men and women, women and women, men and men: there is a need for relationships based on trust, recognition of the other, tenderness, equal sharing, and love devoid of jealousy and possession" (p. 114).