Asia here is defined as works that relate to the non-Arab, non-Caucasus eastern and southern part of the Asian continent. See also M: (E)Migration: Non-Arab Migrants in Arab Countries.
- Rashīd al-Ḍaʿīf (1945-, Lebanon) – Azīzī al-Sayyid Kawābātā (English trans. Dear Mr. Kawabata, 1999). Having no one to discuss the hardships of his youth with, the young narrator of this novel, Rashīd, turns to imagination as he describes his anguish to the Japanese short story writer and winner of the 1968 Nobel Prize for Literature Yansurani Kawabata, through a series of letters. Rashīd describes war-torn Lebanon, his personal developments, such as his relationship to his father, and social issues, such as the position of the Lebanese intellectuals during the Civil War (also in L: Languages and Dialects: Letters).
- Ḥasan Kamāl (?, Egypt) – Nasiytu Kalima al-Sir! (‘I forgot my password’, 2017). This novel is inspired by the Egyptian taekwondion Amr Khairi. It describes the physical and psychological road the protagonist had to take to become a Teakwondo champion, among others training in Korea. Furthermore, the narrator of the novel describes the political and social developments he witnessed in Egypt during the last ten years, as well as what he witnessed when traveling to other parts of the world such as the partition of Korea into north and south Korea (reference) (also in O: Occupations, Professions, and Hobbies: Sports).
- Muḥammad ʿAlī Maghribī (1915 – 1996, Saudi Arabia) – al–Baʿth (‘Resurrection’, 1948) an early Saudi novel, this story describes the journey of Usāmah, a young man who is sent to India to be treated for tuberculosis (reference). He boards a ship from the port of Jeddah, and the novel continues to describe his journey, including meetings on the ship with European passengers and going ashore at Aden and Zanzibar before reaching Mumbai, where he is struck by the modernity of the city which he compares to those of Saudi Arabia (reference). He eventually returns to Saudi Arabia (also in D: Disabilities, Illness and Disorders: Illnesses: Tuberculosis).
- Saʿūd al-Sanʿūsī (1981-, Kuwait) – Sāq al-Bāmbū (2012, English trans. The Bamboo Stalk, 2015). This novel, which won the International Prize for Arabic Literature in 2013, talks about the Philippian Jūzāfīn who moves to Kuwait to work as a maid, falls in love with the intellectual Rashīd, and is sent back to the Philippines when pregnant. Back in Manilla she then gives birth to ʿĪsā (José), who grows up leading a poor life in the capital until he turns 18 when he embarks on a journey to his father’s home country. However, at arrival he is confronted with an identity crisis when Kuwait turns out to be different than expected (reference) (also in L: Love, Lust and Relationships: Inter- religious and ethnic relationships: Between Arabs and Asians and M: Movement: (E)Migration, Refugees and Return: (E) Migration: Non-Arab Migrants in Arab Countries).
- Amal Shaṭā (?, Saudi Arabia) – Ghadan Ansā (‘Tomorrow I shall forget’, 1980). The wealthy Saudi ʿAbd al-Majīd falls in love with the daughter of a poor family he meets in Java, Indonesia, on one of his trips. They marry, but he leaves her behind while she is pregnant, only to return two years later to take his daughter, Islām, to Saudi Arabia (reference). His daughter grows up alone with him. Fifteen years later, her mother travels to Mecca after going through lengths to reunite with her daughter. And although Islām initially doesn’t believe her mother’s claims, she is convinced when her father acknowledges the truth and asks the mother to look after him while his health deteriorates (reference) (also in F: Family Life: Parent and Child: Mother and Child).
- Kateb Yacine’s (1929 – 1989, Algeria) play L’homme aux sandales de caoutchouc (‘The man in rubber sandals’, 1970) links the struggle of Vietnamese people and the defeat they inflicted on the French in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 with the struggle of all oppressed peoples, especially those of his homeland Algeria (reference). The play consists of 8 parts each representing different phases and stories of Vietnam’s history stopping at the death of Ho Chi Min in 1969. Yacine wrote the novel during his stay in Vietnam in the 1960s deriving inspiration from the Vietnamese popular theatrical genre, Chèo, which includes folktales, traditional dances, history, and moral lessons (reference).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- ShīmāʾShanāwī. 2017. “Ḥasan Kamāl: ‘Nasiytu Kalimah al-Sir’ Riwāyah ʿĀliqah bi-al-ʿĀlim al-Iftirāḍī.” www.shorouknews.com, 19 December 2017, https://www.shorouknews.com/news/view.aspx?cdate=19122017&id=69c9f2eb-b797-4330-8e18-aa35783b72f6 (last accessed 24 November 2021)
- Sultan S.M. Al-Qahtani. 1994. The novel in Saudi Arabia: emergence and development 1930-1989: an historical and critical study. (doctoral dissertation University of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom) Retrieved from http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8131/ p. 51, 52, 133, 134 (last accessed 4 May 2021)
- al-Kabīr al-Dādīsī. 2018. Masārāt al-riwāyah al-ʿarabiyyah al-muʿāṣirah, Muʾassah al-raḥāb al-ḥadīthah: Bayrūt, p. 156
- Pamela A. Pears. 2003. “Kateb Yacine’s Journey beyond Algeria and Back.” Research in African Literatures 34(3): 100-114, p. 100, 101, 110