Modern Arabic Literature

Modern Arabic literature

Expressions of Arabic culture - 5ARAB001W.1

al-Nahda - النهضة

Period of great political, cultural and literary renaissance in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon in the 19th century

• the product of internal and external factors
• it involved the translation of European and Russian classic into Arabic
• it laid the foundations for the emergence of modern genres in Arabic literature
• works of fiction published during the Nahda are usually not considered mature novels, but relevant attempts, such as those by Ahmad F. al-Shidyaq and Muhammad al-Muwailihi

الساق على الساق فيما هو الفارياق

al-Shidyaq's Leg over Leg, published in Paris in 1855, is one the first examples of original prose fiction

• This book recounts his travels through Malta, Europe and North Africa
• Worked in Malta as a translator and in Cambridge where he contributed towards the translation of the Bible in Arabic
• Converted to Islam in Tunis
• Essential source to understand the Nahda pioneers view of modernity and the West
• This and other works by Shidyaq represent a fundamental critique of modernity and civilisation as understood by 19th century Europe

رواد النهضة العربية

Other pioneers include authors who first experimented new genres such as the autobiography or the novel

Rifa' al-Tahtawi

Jurji Zaidan

Muhammad al-Muwaylihi

Egyptian student to travel to Europe sent by his government to study in France and bring home the relevant skills to modernise the country. Editor of the first Egyptian newspaper.

Lebanese, came up with the term "nahda", published numerous historical novels set at different times in Islam's history

Author of the last maqama published in Egypt in 1907, important document of changes taking place in end-of-century Egypt

The modern Egyptian novel

In the first half of the 20th century Egypt consolidates its position as the main centre of cultural production and innovation in the Arab World, the first mature novels and short stories in Arabic emerge exclusively in Egypt

• Muhammad Haykal's Zaynab is widely considered the first novel in Arabic, published in 1914
• Other writers such as Yahiya Haqqi and Tawfiq al-Hakim, published their novels in the first half of the 20th century
• In this period Egypt is almost the only Arab country with a mature literary corpus of novels and short stories
• The Mahjar is the only exception to this

• Egyptian authors and thinkers animated vital debates about the relationship with the West and with modernity
• In this context the towering figure of Taha Hussein stands alone as the dean of modern Arabic literature
• He is representative of a group of intellectuals who further innovated Arabic literature particularly in its thems

• Experimented a vast variety of styles and themes, historical, realist, transgressive, romantic. Many are a vivid portrayal of Egypt's middle class transition between the traditional and modern life.
• With him the Arabic novel reaches the stage of ultimate maturity already in the 1940s with Midaq Alley, New Cairo, The thief and the dogs, and the Cairo Trilogy, are some of the most popular titles.
• A must read for Arabic students!

• Born in Cairo in 1911, Mahfuz is widely considered the most popular and influential modern Arab novelist
• Published 34 novels, some widely translated into several languages.
• Literature Nobel Prize awardee in 1988
• His works addressed an incredibly broad range of subjects and characters, though most novels are set in Cairo, or at least in Egypt

Najib Mahfuz - نجيب محفوظ

The modern Arabic novel outside Egypt

Prolific novelists emerged in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Palestine only after the 1940's when most countries gained their independence from European colonialism

• Novelistic production in these countries was immediately intertwined with local political and social developments
• Social realism gained great popularity as a genre in Syria together with the spread of socialist and existentialist ideas
• After 1948 the Middle East would never be the same again, and so would literature
• Palestinian authors began to emerge and to leave a mark on the future of Arabic literature bringing their experience of expulsion and disposession on the pages
• Arab authors outside Palestine became increasingly concerned, and the figure of the "committed" writer began to emerge

The short story - القصّة القصيرة

• The short story enjoys great popularity in the Arab literary market
• Unlike the novel the short story has more affinity with the traditional Arabic literary forms such as hikayaat (The Arabian Nights)
• The modern short story emerged prominently in Egypt in the late 19th and early 20th century, mediating between tradition and European / Russian influence
• Modernisation, the press, the emergence of a wider reading public, as well as the emergence of distinct national identities gave rise to the modern short story in most countries in the first half of 20th century
• Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese and Iraqi writers all played a major role in the evolution and progress of the modern Arabic short story in this period

غسان كنفاني - Ghassan Kanafani

• Born in Acre in 1936 Kanafani experience expulsion and exile first hand and lived in Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon like many Palestinians
• His novels and short stories aren't simply accounts of the Palestinians' experience of exile and disposession, they also examine deeper fundamental issues in Palestinian and Arab societies after World War II
• He was also the most talented of Palestinian short-story writers
• Spokesman for the PFLP - the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
• Was assassinated in Beirut in 1972

Ghassan Kanafani - غسان كنفاني

• Kanafani's works are both a product of the Palestinian Nakba and an exceptional medium to interpret what being Palestinian came to mean after 1948
• Unlike other Palestinian novelists and short-story writers he never romanticised the identity of his people, instead he successfully changed the Palestinians awareness of themeselves
• In particular, his works portray the disillusion and helplessness of his own generation of Palestinians born before the Nakba who then became refugees in neighbouring Arab countries
• Amongst his most popular works عائد إلى حيفا، عالم ليس لنا، ما تبقى لكم، رجال في الشمس

رجال في الشمس - Men in the Sun

• Published in 1962 in Beirut
• 1963 Men in the sun is a vivid portrayal of the hardships visited upon Palestinian men specifically. Disposesison as emasculation.
• The plot masterfully intertwines issues of masculinity, national belonging and individual hope making it another must read.
• 1972 film "al-Makhdu'un" is based on the same novel and is available on YouTube
• This remains one of the most powerful expressions in the whole of modern literature of the hapless fate of the Palestinian people, not only oppressed by the Israelis but exploited by their fellow Arabs

Arabic Literature and committment

• From the early 1950s Arabic literature became increasingly more involved in the socio-political developments
• The Lebanese Suhayl Idris - himself and accomplished novelist - was the editor-in-chief of the al-Adaab magazine, which played a pivotal role in shaping the course of Arabic literature in the 1950s and 1960s.
• al-Adaab also promoted the idea of committed literature - in Arabic iltizam - i.e. literature produced in support of a cause such as as socialism, national liberation and individual freedom
• Shortly after their independence most countries of the Middle East witnessed the rise of authoritarian and military regimes. This had a significant impact on Arabic literature for the following decades.