- Ḥassan Awrīd (1962-, Morocco) – Rabāṭ al-Mutanabbī (‘The Mutanabbi Rabat’, 2019). In the aftermath of the Arab spring, the narrator of this novel meets the great classical poet al-Mutanabbi, who has come to Rabat, Morocco (reference). While the narrator hides the poet in his apartment urging him not to leave, al-Mutanabbi does so anyway and is imprisoned by the security forces. The narrator visits him regularly and they discuss the different facets of Arab culture, comparing modern Morocco to the time of al-Mutanabbi (reference). Yet it becomes clear that the narrator is himself suffering from hallucinations (also in D: Disabilities, Illness, and Disorders: Psychological Disorders: Hallucinations and Deliriums).
- Salwā al-Naʿīmī (1950-, Syria) – Burhān al-ʿAsal (2007, English trans. The Proof of the Honey, 2009). When a Syrian scholar working in Paris is invited to contribute to a conference on classical erotic literature in Arabic, she evokes the memories of her own life to exult in her personal liberty, her lovers, and her desires. The narrator’s hobby throughout the novel is reading pre-modern Arabic erotica, which astonishes her because of its integration of the corporal with the religious. When the novel was translated, it was often put in the category of “uncovering” the veiled world of Muslim Arab women, even though it is possibly better placed as relating to the pre-modern Arabic erotic corpus and ẓurafāʾ (literature of entertainment) and mujūn (ribaldry) genre (reference) (also in L: Love, Lust, and Relationships: Lust and Sex: Female sexuality).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Al-ʿArabī Shabābīk, interview. 2019. “‘Rabāṭ al-Mutanabbī’.. Riwāyah ḥayn Awrīd ʿan Wāqiʿa al-ʿĀlim al-ʿArabī.” 20 October 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEbz2mVe5as (last accessed 19 February 2023)
- Hanadi al- Samman. 2012. “Remapping Arab Narrative and Sexual Desire in Salwā al-Naʿīmī’ ‘Burhām al-ʿasal’ (The Proof of the Honey).” JAL 43: 60-79, p. 66