Imagining the Mediterranean Again and Again: Touristic Imaginaries of the Mediterranean Sea, and How It Appears from a Lebanese Literary Perspective

In this article, I analyze the contemporary literary narratives that capture and (re)construct Lebanese imaginaries of the Mediterranean and compare these imaginaries to the ways in which tourists imagine and describe the Mediterranean and its coasts. My aim is to explore the Lebanese multifaceted local perceptions of the Mediterranean, which is viewed not only as sublime and life-giving but also as perilous and polluted. To this end, I analyze four texts: Lost in Beirut: A True Story (2021) by Ashe and Magdalena Stevens, Between Beirut and the Moon (2020) by A. Naji Bakhti, Spring Rain (2020) by Andy Warner, and “The Sea Closes at 7:00” (2022) by Sabah Ayoub. By juxtaposing these narratives with those constructed from a tourist perspective—or targeted toward tourists—I seek to illustrate how the generalized imaginary of the Mediterranean as a tourist haven fails to align with the Lebanese perspective, and how it is adapted to suit the unique reality of Lebanon. This reality often diverges significantly from the Mediterranean experience as rendered by the tourist industry of the Global North.