The Modern Arabic Short Story: Shahrazad Returns

162 Pages·1989·14.05 MB·English

by  Mohammad Shaheen (auth.)

THEMODERNARABIC SHORTSTORY
Bythesameauthor
GEORGE MEREDITH:AReappraisal ofthe Novels
The Modern Arabic
Short Story
Shahrazad Returns
Mohammad Shaheen
ProfessorofEnglish
University ofJordan
© Mohammad Shaheen 1989
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1989 978-0-333-38584-5
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DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-07768-7
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Contents
Preface vii
Introduction 1
PART ONE:A Critical Study 9
IThe Situation of the Short Story 11
IISindbad:The Other Voyage 26
1. TheOldSindbad:AnImageofFellowshipandSettlement 26
2. The Modern Sindbad:A Portrait of a Bleak House 32
3. The Sindbad Poetry of the Short Story 34
4. Towards a Modern Sensibility 39
5. Sindbad the Porter:A House with a View 43
6. The Facesof Sindbad:A House in Exile 48
7. Sindbad on his Eighth Voyage:A House Restored 51
8. The Seven Voyages of Sindbad:A Nightmare Voyage 56
9. Abdullah Samsa in Waqwaq Island:Sindbad Persecuted 62
10. Sindbad from Old Sorrows: FiveTales from the Arabian 64
Nights: Sindbad on Sale
IIIShahrazad:The Eternal Perspective 71
1. Spring in the Ashes:Hope and Regeneration 71
2. TheBlueCharmand theReturnofJubaynah:TheVisionof 74
Return
3. Abu-Zaid al-Ghazzi, the School Teacher: The Dream of 76
Contingency
IV The Fallah's Long Journey 79
1. The Orphans' Cow:Alienation and Dream 79
2. Abu-Zaid Surrenders:Struggle for Survival 81
vi Contents
3. Shatir Hassan and the Season of Drought: Surviving the 83
Struggle
V Conclusion 88
PART TWO:A Selection of Texts 93
The Death of Sindbad by Michael Aflaq 95
Sindbad the Porter by Najib Surur 99
Sindbad on his Eighth Voyage by Khalil Hawi 104
Abdullah Samsa in Waqwaq Island by Mustafa al-Masannawi 114
Sindbad (fromOld Sorrows:Five Tales from the ArabianNights) 119
by Mohammad al-Mansi Qindil
Spring in the Ashes by lakariyya Tamir 122
The BlueCharm and the Return of [ubaynah by Emile Habiby 126
Abu laid al-Ghazzi, the School Teacher by Ibrahim al-Alam 130
The Orphans' Cow by Mahmud Shukair 134
Abu-Zaid Surrenders by Sa'd Makkawi 138
Shatir Hassan and the Season of Drought by Akram Haniyyah 145
The Beastby Natiq Khulusi 148
Glossary 152
Select Bibliography 154
Index 156
Preface
The translation of any material here from Arabic into English is, unless stated
otherwise, my own.With the exception of The BlueCharm and the Return of
[ubaynah',the textofthe storiesaswellasofthe poetryand theSindoadone-ad
play is published in English for the first time.
Iamgrateful to allindividualauthorsforallowingmeto translate and publish
their stories. Also I am indebted to E.J.Brill. who have given permission for
reprinting 'The BlueCharmand the Return oflubaynah'andarevisededitionof
the commentary on it which first appeared in the JournalofArabicLiterature in
1984.
Iam most grateful to Michael Macdonald for hispenetrating comments on
earlier drafts of this book,particularlyofChapterI.Ishould liketo thank Patrick
Collard for reading the translation of 'Sindbad on his Eighth Voyage'.
Mohammad Asfour kindly drew my attention to [abra's contribution to the
modern scene in Arabic writing, and his comments on Arabic poetry were
invaluable. I would like to mention with great appreciation the stimulating
conversations Ihave had over the yearswith EidDahiyat.To Adnan Bakhitgo
my sincere thanks for his unfailing enthusiasm and active support.
Angela Morgan typed allthe script;her efficiencyisspeciallyacknowledged,
and herpatienceisdeeplyappreciatedbytheauthor.Specialthanksareexpressed
to EileenMohrofStentonAssociatesforherskillineditingthetextofthebook.
Lastly,it isapleasure to recognise the constructiveadvice ofFrancesArnoldat
Macmillan.
The publishersand myselfexpress our thanks to the University ofJordan for
making available research funds towards the publication of this book.
Introduction
This book offers a critical study and translation of some short stories which
appeared in the 1960s and 1970s;and the poems included here have aspecific
relevance which willbe discussed later. The selection isby nomeans exclusive,
nor isit representative of any particulartrend ofmodem short-story writing.It
rather aspires to demonstrate that some authors have been able to survive the
restrictions imposed on the Arab writer and follow their artistic bent without
drifting into aimless experiments in technique.
Itisnotausualpracticeto put the text ofastudyanditsanalysissidebysidein
one volume.Yet the attempt isprompted by more than asheerenthusiasm for
practical criticism. For various reasons inherent in the present state of Arabic
publishingand the inadequateprovisionofbibliographicalinformation,itisoften
quite difficult for the Western reader, even an Arabist, to obtain published
material inArabic withoutconsiderabledelays anddetectivework.Inareviewof
a publication on Arabic fiction, Robin Ostle remarks that 'the wider Western
readingpublicwilldevotemoreattentiontoArabicliteratureonly whenwehave
moretranslationswhich reflectthe powerandintensityoftheoriginal creations."
Assuming that the translation Ihavedonehassome of'the powerand intensity'
ofthe originalsIfeelitmay behelpful tobring thesestoriestotheattentionofthe
reader who for various reasons may have no easy access to them even in their
original or translated forms.
The selection presented here is based neither on the easy availability of the
texts nor on the popularity of the authors; forIhave dug upsome ofthe stories
from backissuesofjournals(some ofwhichareimportant)andlocalpublications
which arealreadyobscure.Some ofthestories Ihaveselectedherearewritten by
authorswho are not wellknown, eveninliterary circles,afactthat ismainlydue
to the stateofpublishinginthe Arab world,and isnoreflectionon the quality of
theirfiction.Indeedtheabsenceofrealpublishersandresponsiblecritics,addedto
the oppressive effects of censorship, make popularity an extremely dubious
criterion by which to judge an Arab author.
The criticalanalysishere isessentiallyintendedtoprovidesomeelucidationof
the text rather than to supplementit;foruntil there are sufficienttranslationsof
Arabic literarymaterial.criticism on itsown would appearrathersuperfluous.Ifa
justificationof any critical evaluationbe required,Iwould seek itinareview of
modernArabic poetrywhichcanequallyapplyto theshortstory:'Muchmodern
Arabic poetry isinexorably linked to a peculiar and painfulsearch for cultural.
religious and national identity in aworld marked by uncertainty,upheaval and
change.Withoutanunderstandingofthebackgroundand termsofthat search it
is extremely difficult to appreciate the poetry.'!
1
2 Introduction
Chapter Ipresents the dilemma (a word which has particular urgency to Arab
writers)of the short story and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the
genre ata time which was supposed to be the high season of its growth and
development. Writers evaded the crisis either by looking at it always in
retrospect,asSabriHafezdid,forexample, or engulfingit ingeneralisationsand
rhetoricasmany otherwriters did.PerhapsYusuf Idriswas the only writerwho
took theriskofexposing thesham ofcensorship-theorigin of the dilemma
with courage and frankness. He also blamed critics and commentators for
maintaining silence over the tyranny of the censor.
Thischapterdiscussesaswellthestrangephenomenonofliteracyasembodied
inal-Qissah (the journal sponsored by the censor) which, instead of publishing
short stories.published tales and anecdotes. One can presumably say that the
level of its narrative dated three decades back in the century.
Anotherunfortunateexample discussedinthischapterinterms ofitsnegative
effectonthe development of the short story isRashad Rushdi's criticism of the
short story whichwon popularityinthelate fiftiesand early sixties.Rushdi turns
to the romanceofMaupassant which established the reputation of the Taimurs
earlier inthe century in the same way al-Qissah adopted the romance of Kamel
Hussein (al-Mohami) whose fantasies dominated the early part of the century.
Being always favoured by the censor in his literary career, Rushdi was in a
position to promote what looked like a canon of the short story at the time.
Yetcensorshipwould not extendits territorybeyonditsown. Thanksare due
to al-Adab of Beirut,which was the haven for free thinking and expression for
writers fromalloverthe Arab world.Yahya Haqql,for example, turned to it, as
we see inChapterI.to say what he could not say inal-Maiallah,or elsewhere.
Evenwhenwriterswere unabletosay allthattheycould they lookedto Beirutas
weseeinthecaseofSabriHafez,who turned to Hiwarto publish adiscussionof
thedilemmaoftheshortstory. Butal-Adab, more than any otherliterary journal
in the Arab world. took the initiative of publishing Arab writers with serious
concernforpoliticalandsocialissuesofthe time,and no studyofmodemfiction
iscomplete without heavily drawing upon the short stories it published.
Inthisstudy Ihave deliberately avoided the critical surveysand anthologies
which usuallybegin with the Taimurs and proceed to include Tawfiq ai-Hakim
and probably Taha Hussein upto YahyaHaqqi. Adisruption oftoneiscertainly
anticipated inastudyorananthologywhich bringstogetherthe early writersof
thecenturywho fantasisedaboutfictionand the laterwriterswhoactuallywrote
short storiesanddeveloped the genre.Forthis reason Ilimited my discussion in
ChapterIto theexisting problemswhich the short-story writerhad to face.Yet
the rest of the study willdemonstrate, Ihope, how some writers were able to
write outside the difficultconditions of their time and achieve positive results.
The storiesIhave discussed here show that the modern Arabic short story is