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IN/SOMNIA
Poetry. "In/somnia explores fissures within words as places where thought enters. Sleepless sleepers, we dream among ever more complex and hallucinatory `in/tense/in/season'"—Rosmari e Waldrop. Other titles by Etel Adnan, available from SPD include, IN THE LIGHT AND THE DARKNESS OF THE SELF AND OF THE OTHER; OF CITIES & WOMEN (LETTERS TO FAWWAZ); PARIS, WHEN IT'S NAKED; and THE ARAB APOCALYPSE.
- GenresPoetry
38 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
85 people want to read
About the author
Etel Adnan
92 books357 followersEtel Adnan was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1925. She studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, U.C. Berkeley, and at Harvard, and taught at Dominican College in San Rafael, California, from 1958–1972.
In solidarity with the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962), Adnan began to resist the political implications of writing in French and became a painter. Then, through her participation in the movement against the Vietnam War (1959–1975), she began to write poetry and became, in her words, “an American poet.” In 1972, she returned to Beirut and worked as cultural editor for two daily newspapers—first for Al Safa, then for L’Orient le Jour. Her novel Sitt Marie-Rose, published in Paris in 1977, won the France-Pays Arabes award and has been translated into more than ten languages.
In 1977, Adnan re-established herself in California, making Sausalito her home, with frequent stays in Paris. Adnan is the author of more than a dozen books in English, including Journey to Mount Tamalpais (1986), The Arab Apocalypse (1989), In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country (2005), and Sea and Fog (2012), winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry and the California Book Award for Poetry. Her most recent books are Night (2016) and Surge (2018). In 2014, she was awarded one of France’s highest cultural honors: l’Ordre de Chevalier des Arts et Lettres. Numerous museums have presented solo exhibitions of Adnan’s work, including SFMoMA; Zentrum Paul Klee; Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris; Serpentine Galleries; and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar.
In solidarity with the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962), Adnan began to resist the political implications of writing in French and became a painter. Then, through her participation in the movement against the Vietnam War (1959–1975), she began to write poetry and became, in her words, “an American poet.” In 1972, she returned to Beirut and worked as cultural editor for two daily newspapers—first for Al Safa, then for L’Orient le Jour. Her novel Sitt Marie-Rose, published in Paris in 1977, won the France-Pays Arabes award and has been translated into more than ten languages.
In 1977, Adnan re-established herself in California, making Sausalito her home, with frequent stays in Paris. Adnan is the author of more than a dozen books in English, including Journey to Mount Tamalpais (1986), The Arab Apocalypse (1989), In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country (2005), and Sea and Fog (2012), winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry and the California Book Award for Poetry. Her most recent books are Night (2016) and Surge (2018). In 2014, she was awarded one of France’s highest cultural honors: l’Ordre de Chevalier des Arts et Lettres. Numerous museums have presented solo exhibitions of Adnan’s work, including SFMoMA; Zentrum Paul Klee; Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris; Serpentine Galleries; and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 26, 2025
An experiment that mostly worked, to mesmerize me while reading, deconstructing my previous notions of language and sound. Every once in a while, a phrase—its place on the page, its repetition or fragmentation—would resonate among the hurried abstractions washing over me. While interesting, it’s probably not a good introduction to this poet.
Etel Adnan was a Lebanese-American writer and visual artist who passed in 2021. It seems she left no stone unturned with regard to her art. At the very least, this intrigued me and I’d like to check out her other books.
Etel Adnan was a Lebanese-American writer and visual artist who passed in 2021. It seems she left no stone unturned with regard to her art. At the very least, this intrigued me and I’d like to check out her other books.
December 19, 2011
I enjoyed these poems quite a bit--especially the way that Adnan plays with language and sound and the lay out of the images on the page, often reminding me of e.e. cummings. Here is one stanza as an example:
"5-stars prisons for
Af(ter)ghanistan. bullish
bullet bulletins --
bulldozing blood of
curling l.i.b.e.r.a.t.o.r.s." (31)
Her poems alternate between abstract and concrete. They are imagistic and powerful, responding to multiple layers of environment and global events, like the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. She uses powerful consonance, enjambment, and puns to accentuate the effect of war in Afghanistan, for example as in the above stanza, that highlights the stark reality of American occupation troops.
I like Adnan's poetry from time to time, but I think in the end I still prefer her prose.
"5-stars prisons for
Af(ter)ghanistan. bullish
bullet bulletins --
bulldozing blood of
curling l.i.b.e.r.a.t.o.r.s." (31)
Her poems alternate between abstract and concrete. They are imagistic and powerful, responding to multiple layers of environment and global events, like the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. She uses powerful consonance, enjambment, and puns to accentuate the effect of war in Afghanistan, for example as in the above stanza, that highlights the stark reality of American occupation troops.
I like Adnan's poetry from time to time, but I think in the end I still prefer her prose.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews