- Ḥaydar Ḥaydar (1936 – 2023, Syria) – al-Fahd (‘The leopard’, 1968). This novel is set in the mountain villages of Syria and depicts the plight of peasants who fought for Syrian independence but encounter worse oppression from local landlords than under colonial administration (reference)
- Ḥannā Mīnah (1924 – 2018, Syria) – al-Shams fī Yawm Ghāʾim (1973, English trans. Sun on a Cloudy Day, 1997). This novel describes the Syrian independence struggle against French colonial rule during World War II (reference). The story centers on an aristocratic young man, a poet, musician, and a dancer, who lives on his family’s past glory and starts to engage with the Syrian underworld of prostitutes, gypsies, and more in the poor part of the city. But then, he falls in love with a poor girl. The young man ends up rebelling against his own class background and the way in which the poor are exploited (also in S: Social Issues and Societal Changes: Class and Social Change).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Sabry Hafez. 2000. “The Novel, Politics and Islam: Haydar Haydar’s ‘Banquet for Seaweed’.” New Left Review 5, p. 127