- Malikah al-Dār Muḥammad ʿAbdallah (1920 – 1969, Sudan) – al-Farāgh al-ʿArīdah (‘The emptiness of the wide hollowness, ’1970). Published posthumously, this novel is considered the first Sudani novel by a woman. It centres Munā who is forced to move to Omdurman with her mother and grandfather to live with her father’s family. The novel is set in Sudan before independence, and sheds light both the role of women in society and within the traditional household. The novel is the first and last by Malikah al-Dār Muḥammad ʿAbdallah (also in S: Social Issues and Societal Change: Patriarchism).
- Leila Aboulela (1964-, Sudan) – Lyrics Alley (2010). This novel is inspired by the life of Sudanese poet Hassan Awad Aboulela and tells the story of a of a promising student named Nur Abuzeid. The novel is set from the 1950s onwards, after Sudan gained its independence but faced socio-economic and political challenges. The developments and identity of Sudan, including vis-a-vis neighbouring Egypt, are reflected in Nur’s life story: a talented young man who becomes paralyzed after an accident (reference). After his accident he rediscovers reading and starts to write poems again using a mix of the Sudanese dialect and classical Arabic and thereby developing his own identity (also in D: Disabilities, Illness and Disorders: Physical Disabilities: Paralysis).
- Abū Bakr Khālid (1934 – 1976, Sudan) – Bidāyat al-Rabīʿ (‘The beginning of spring’, 1958) reflects the different political and religious attitudes in a tumulus Sudan. Hero of the novel, Ṣaddīq, returns to his family during the summer vacation of his secondary school when he goes through psychological turmoil as he grapples with his religiosity and love for his friend’s sister, ʿAzzah. When his sister, Zaynib, is forcefully engaged she goes on a hunger strike in protest of her family’s, especially her father’s, decision, forcing him to revise his choice. The novel describes the changing attitude of Ṣaddīq and his father towards their personal circumstances, as well as the political developments in Sudan, specifically those of the Umma Party (reference).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Yousef Awad. 2016. “Football in Arabic literature in diaspora: Global influences and local manifestations.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport 51(8): 1005-21, p. 1008-9
- Ibrāhīm Shʿarāwī. 1959. “Bidāyat al-Rabīʿa Riwāyah lil-Kātib al-Sūdānī Abū Bakr Khālid.” Al-Ādāb, 1 75-6, p. 76