- Ṣidqī Ismāʿīl (1924 – 1972, Syria) – al-ʿUṣāh (‘The rebels’, 1964). This novel portrays the effects of political corruption in Syria from the 1900 until 1948 through three generations of a prominent family in Aleppo. The first generation is subservient to the Turkish regime, the second is drawn to the nationalist cause against the French, and the third combats corruption and disillusion among fellow Syrians (reference) (also in F: Family Life: Genealogies and inter-generational stories).
- Walīd Ikhlāṣī (1935 – 2022, Syria) has several novels based in Aleppo. An example is al-Ḥanẓal al-Alīf (‘The domestic colocynth’, 1980), which looks at the divide between the ruling family living in the palace, and the underground world of Aleppo made up of peasants, workers, and intellectuals (reference). The short-story collection Mā Ḥadath li-ʿAntarah (1992, English trans. Whatever Happened to Antara and Other Stories, 2004) centers Aleppo and its chancing socio-political context during the French mandate of the 1940s and 1950s (see also 1920 – 1930: 1920: Partitioning of the Arab World into mandates). It’s characters fight oppression and corruption.
- Khālid Khalīfah (1963 – 2023, Syria) – La Sakākīn fī Maṭābikh Hadhahi al-Madīnah (2013, English trans. No Knives in the Kitchens of This City, 2016). This novel portrays the life of an abandoned Syrian mother and her children. The narrator is the youngest of these four and describes the downfall of the family that is symbolic for changing Aleppo between 1960 and 2005, under years of an undefined dictatorial regime. Each family member deals differently with the Syrian reality: such as the rebellious Sawsan who starts working as an informant for the regime after the death of her disabled sister Suʿād and the increasing dementia of her mother, or Rashīd the talented musician, whose belief in Islam radicalizes and who travels to Iraq to fight Americans (reference). This novel was awarded the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2013 (also in 1970: Hafez al-Assad Syria).
- Muḥammad Abū Maʿtūq (1950-, Syria) – al-Qamqam wa al-Jinnī (‘The bottle and the genie’, 2008). Set in Aleppo from the 1950s to the 1980s, this novel depicts the social and political unrest in the microcosm of Syria that is one of Aleppo’s old neighbourhoods, al-Mughāyirah. It focusses on three main characters: Ḥamīdah al-Hilālī, her husband Ḥamīd, and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Sayyūfī, who embodies the changes that take place in the neighbourhood as he transitions from being a storywriter, to writing investigative reports for the intelligence services.
- Nihād Sīrīs (1950-, Syria) – Ḥālat Shaghaf (‘A case of infatuation’, 1998). This novel portrays the romantic relationships between famous female wedding singers of the 1930s Aleppo, and their young dancers and the elite women of Aleppo society (see for further description in L: Love, Lust and Relationships: LGBTQ: Lesbian relationships).
Refrences:
- Roger Allen. 1992. “The Mature Arabic Novel Outside Egypt.” In Modern Arabic Literature. eds. Muhammad Mustafa Badawi. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 193-223, p. 207
- Admer Gouryh. 1984. “The Fictional World of Walid Ikhlasi.” World Literature Today 58(1): 23-27, p. 26
Laura Fererri. 2016. “Book Reviews: No Knives in the Kitchens of this City by Khaled Khalifa.” Banipal 57, https://www.banipal.co.uk/book_reviews/135/%20no-knives-in-the-kitchens-of-this-city–by-khaled-khalifa/ (last accessed 27 November, 2018)
al-Kabīr al-Dādīsī. 2018. Masārāt al-riwāyah al-ʿarabiyyah al-muʿāṣirah, , Muʾassah al-raḥāb al-ḥadīthah: Bayrūt p. 202