- Sinān Antūn (1967-, Iraq) – Yā Miryām (2012, English trans. The Baghdad Eucharist, 2017). Iraq is described through the voices of the elderly Yūsuf and his niece, the young medical student Mahā. While that of the former wanders through Iraq’s history, fondly reminiscing his memories while referring to the Arabic literary heritage, the latter sees the country from a darker perspective and is unable to find a place for herself in it (reference). The novel is set in a timespan of one day, and while both characters are Christians living in a turbulent Iraq, their experiences in the city are completely different. The novel asks how the two views can continue to shape Iraq’s future together (also in C: Cities: Iraq: Baghdad).
- Luwīs ʿAwaḍ’s (1915 – 1991, Egypt) play al-Rāhib (‘The monk’, 1961). This play makes of the monk Abānūfar (Panofer) who lived in Egypt in the third century, a mouthpiece for Egyptian patriotism (reference). The monk revolts against his Patriarch who attempts to ban marriage between Christians and ‘pagans’, stating that everybody should instead work for a common loyalty to Egypt.
- Ḥalīm Barakāt (1952-, Lebanon) – ʿAwdat al-Ṭāʾir ilā al-Baḥr (1969 English trans. Days of Dust, 1990). This novel depicts the speed with which the 1967 defeat overwhelmed the Arabs through the story of Ramzī, a teacher in Beirut (reference). It portrays Beirut “as a complex space that simultaneously liberates its free-spirited intellectuals and reaffirms their despair facing the gravity of political and military defeat” (reference). Barakāt alludes in the opening and closing of his novel to the Genesis story of the six days of the creation of the earth and uses biblical vocabulary such as al-takwīn (Genesis) and al-jalad (the firmament) (also in C: Cities: Lebanon: Beirut and 1967 al-Naksah: Lebanon).
- Muʿīn Basīsū’s (1927 – 1984, Palestine) play Shamshūn wa Dalīlah (‘Samson and Delilah’, 1971) depicts the tragedy of Palestinians losing their homes in face of an ever so strong Israel though the story of a Palestinian family. The members of this family have different views on what must be done: while one of the sons, Māzin, flees because he can no longer tolerate life under Israelis. ʿAṣīm, the second son maintains that armed revolution is the only way out. The second part of the play deals with the 1967 defeat. Rīm the sister, is in the hands of the Israelis and pressured by a present-day Samson to join them. However, she refuses and is seen as the new Delilah (reference) (also in 1967 al-Naksah: Palestine).
- Tawfīq al-Ḥakīm’s (1898 – 1987, Egypt) short story ‘Muʿjizāt’ in Arinī Allāh (‘Show me God’, 1953). In this story, a naïve monk thinks he can perform miracles while wily villagers celebrate his cures and exact a ransom from his monastery for his safe return (reference). The short story is translated to English as ‘Miracles for Sale’ in Modern Arabic Short Stories by Denys Johnson-Davies (1967).
- Muḥammad Kāmil Ḥusayn (1901 – 1977, Egypt) – Qarya Ẓālima (1957, English trans. City of Wrong) on the trail of Jesus in Jerusalem and his death at the hands of the Jews. The novel also portrays Jesus’ life before crucifixion, such as the discussions and disagreements between him and his Apostles (reference).
- Najīb Maḥfūẓ (1911 – 2006, Egypt) – Awlād Ḥāratinā (1959 English trans. Children of the Alley, 1996). The main theme of this novel is the role of religion in a world dominated by science. It uses certain religious stories (such as the Fall and the lives of Moses, Christ, and Muhammad) to reflect on the search for social justice and the problem of existence of God (reference). Maḥfūẓ concentrates on the psychological make-up of the alienated individual within the newly emerging post-revolutionary society (see also 1954 Nasser comes to power in Egypt) and a more terse and symbolic representation of the external realities within which such characters functioned (reference).
- Kātiyyā al-Ṭawīl (1990-, Lebanon) – al-Samāʾ Tahrub Kul Yawm (‘The sky is fleeing every day’, 2015). The characters of this novel do not have a name nor religion, but what they all have in common is finding refuge in a church, each on another one of its benches (reference). The novel narrates their stories in chapters with each their own title describing why and what they came to confess. One of the women on her wedding day fled from of her village to avoid being subjected to its traditions that limit her freedom and became a famous theatre actress in Beirut. A young man came to the church to blow himself up but when he faces the image of Jesus at the cross, he sits down and starts to confess.
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Marcia Lynx Qualey. 2017. “Book Review: Sinan Antoon’s ‘The Baghdad Eucharist’.” www.qantara.de, 7 June 2017, https://qantara.de/en/article/book-review-sinan-antoon%E2%80%B2s-%E2%80%B3-baghdad-eucharist%E2%80%B3-fading-under-fire (last accessed 12 July 2024)
- Pierre Cachia. 1955. “Freedom from Clerical Control: The Portrayal of Men of Religion in Modern Arabic Literature.” JAL 26: 175-85, p. 176, 180
- Roger Allen. 1992. “The Mature Arabic Novel Outside Egypt.” In Modern Arabic Literature. eds. Muhammad Mustafa Badawi. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 193-223, p. 201
- Zeina G. Halabi. 2013. “The Unbearable Heaviness of Being: Suicide of the Intellectual in RabīʿJābir’sRālfRizqallāh through the Looking Glass.” JAL 44, pp. 53-82
- Ali al-Raʿi. 1992. “Arabic Drama since the thirties.” In Modern Arabic Literature. eds. Muhammad Mustafa Badawi. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 358-404, p. 367
- Ibrāhīm ʿĀdil. 2017. “‘Qariyah Ẓālimah’: al-Tārīkh la Yuʿīd Nafsuhu, Nahnu min Nukarir Ikhṭāʾanah.” www.ida2at.com, 4 January 2017, https://www.ida2at.com/unjust-village-history-does-not-repeat-itself-we-repeat-our-mistakes/ (last accessed 18 November 2023)
- Hilary Kilpatrick. 1992. “The Egyptian novel from Zaynab to 1980.” In Modern Arabic Literature. eds. Muhammad Mustafa Badawi. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 223-270, p. 254
- Māyā al-Ḥājj. 2016. “‘Al-Samāʾ Tahrub Kull Yawm’ Riwāyah Awalī Kātiyyā al-Ṭawīl Tarsum Anṣāf Abṭāl bi-Aḥlām la Taktamil.” www.lahamag.com, 12 March 2016, https://www.lahamag.com/article/63905-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D9%83%D9%84-%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%85-%D8%A3%D9%86%D8%B5%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A3%D8%A8%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A8%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%84%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D9%83%D8%AA%D9%85%D9%84 (last accessed 18 November 2023)