- ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Bahīr (1953-, Morocco) – Ṭuqūs al-ʿAbathah (‘Rituals of futility’, 2015). Born into a traditional and religious family living near Casablanca, Morocco, Aḥmad follows the life-path laid out for him by his family which he narrates in a diary / memoir style. He describes being married off to an older lady and, still being of a young age, finds himself incapable of performing the tasks that are required by a husband, one example being carrying his wife on the wedding day, which is impossible because of her large size (reference). After the death of his wife he starts a new romance with Khadīja. But his relationship with her is troublesome and the novel ends with Aḥmad being imprisoned for her murder.
- ʿAbd al-Ḥāmid ibn Haduqah (1929-, Algeria) – Rīh al-Janūb (‘Southern wind’, 1971). This novel centres the struggle of a young woman called Nafīsah, who studies in Algeria. The story is set in the aftermath of the agricultural revolution in 1970, and Nafīsah’s father, who owns extensive lands, tries to arrange for his daughter’s marriage to the village sheikh, to avoid the state nationalizing his lands. Nafīsah does her best to find a way out of the marriage.
- Ṣaqr al-Rashūd’s (1941 – 1978, Kuwait) play al-Tīn (‘The mud’, 1965) in which an old man forces a young woman into marriage. However, a different man attracts the young wife’s attention and the two start an affair. The old man eventually dies, and his wife leaves the house and her lover.
- Khayriyyah Ibrāhīm al-Saqqāf’s (1951-, Saudi Arabia) short story ‘Ightiyāl al-nūr fī majrā al-nahr’ (English trans. ‘Assassination of light at the river’s flow’), shows a girl who is called home from boarding school by her parents in the middle of the term because they arranged her marriage, destroying the girls aspirations for any further education and a possible career (reference). The story is part of the collection An Tubḥir Naḥwa al-Abʿād (‘Let her take off into the blue’, 1982) and the English translation can be found in The Assassination of Light: Modern Saudi Short Stories (1990).
- Laylā al-ʿUthmān’s (1943-, Kuwait) short story ‘Min Milaff Imraʾa’ (‘From a Women’s File’) portrays a 17-year-old girl who must stand trial for murdering her 70-year-old husband to whom she was married against her will by her father. The story can be found in the collection al-Raḥīl (‘The departure’, 1979).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- al-Kabīr al-Dādīsī. 2018. Masārāt al-riwāyah al-ʿarabiyyah al-muʿāṣirah, Muʾassah al-raḥāb al-ḥadīthah: Bayrūt, p. 45-9
- Roger Allen. 1995. “The Arabic Short Story and the Status of Women.” in Love and Sexuality in Modern Arabic Literature, eds. Roger Allen, Hilary Kilpatrick, and Ed de Moor. London: Saqi Books, 77-90, p. 85