- Ghāzī al-Quṣaybī (1940 – 2010, Saudi Arabia) – Alzhaymīr (‘Alzheimer’, 2010). This relatively short novel is made from daily diary letters of the hero, Yaʿaqūb al-ʿAryān, addressed to his wife, as he receives treatment in a sanatorium in America. Through the letters he describes the history and his Alzheimer, which in Arabic, as he explains, is called ‘al-kharaf’ or ‘al-ʿatah’, and the process of forgetting one’s memory (reference). In his letters he also writes about his own life history and addresses several social, cultural, and philosophical questions (reference).
- ʿAlawiyyah Ṣubḥ (1955-, Lebanon) – Ismuhu al-Gharām (‘It’s called passion’, 2009). Set in the aftermath of the Civil War in Beirut, the heroine of the novel, Nahlā, asks an author, Alawiya, to write about her love-affair with Hānī (reference). However, when she starts to suffer from Alzheimer and disappears on a trip to Southern Lebanon, Suʿād, her best friend, hands over Nahlā’s notes and urges the author to continue writing. What results is a story about Nahlā’s physical lust and passion for Hānī, her lover, companion, and soulmate who she could not marry because of his Christian religion and the civil war (reference). The novel received critical attention for its graphic sexual language (also in L: Love, Lust, and Relationships: Lust and Sex: Female sexuality).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Ḍiyāʾ al-Kaʿbī. 2016. “Tamthilīyāt al-Junūn fī Khiṭāb Ghāzī al-Quṣaybī al-Riwāʾī, ‘al-ʿUṣfūriyyah’ wa ‘ʾAlzhāymar’ Anmūthijan.” Al-Baḥrayn al-Thaqāfiyyah 23(86): 9-19, p. 11
- Jūrj Juḥā. 2010. “Ghāzī al-Quṣaybī .. al-Nisyān al-Naʿamah wa al-Laʿanah wa Jaḥīm Yadʿī alzhaymīr.” www.reuters.com, 14 December, 2010 https://www.reuters.com/article/oegen-qasibi-mn4-idARACAE6BD05U20101214 (last accessed 25 February 2023)
- Anīsah Būʿīsah. 2020. “Riwāyah ‘Ismuhu al-Gharām’ li-Alawiyyah Subḥ: Iḥtifāʾ bil-Nisyān wa al-Jasad al-Unthawī.” Majallah al-Lughah al-ʿArabiyyah wa Ādābiha 8(2): 309-324, p. 314, 316