- Wajdī al-Ahdal (1973-, Yemen), Samir ʿAbd al-Fattaḥ (1971-, Yemen), and ʿAbdallah ʿAbbās (?, Yemen) made a Yemeni adaption of Shakespear’s The Merchant of Venice. The play is set in the eastern Yemeni region of the Hadhramawt and the characters have traditional Hadhrami dress and names. Furthermore, the Merchant is not Jewish, but a Muslim like the other characters. Rather than a play about sectarian conflicts, its focus diverted to gender power and calls into question the patriarchal assumptions that underpin a significant subset of male-female interactions in Yemen (reference) (see L: Cultural and Literary Heritage: Philosophical heritage: British authors and philosophers).
- Ṣūnyā Bayrūtī’s (1934 – 2023, Lebanon) novel ‘Hibāl al-Hawaʾ’ (‘Cords of the air’, 1991) addresses the various aspects of being a woman, particularly being a mother and a wife, and how these are intertwined with tradition and customs.
- Assia Djebber (written elsewhere as Assiya Jabbār 1936 – 2015, Algeria) short story collection Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement (1980, English trans. Women of Algiers in Their Apartment, 1992) focuses on the lives of women during pre-colonial, colonial, and post-independence Algerian society as they continuously struggle with both patriarchy and colonialism while their country goes through drastic changes. Its characters include women who fought in the independence war and were imprisoned in the Barberousse Prison in Algiers but did not end up getting the recognition they deserve. But also revolves around the homes and families of the women. The title of the collection is derived from the Orientalist painting by the French artist Eugene Delacroix (also in 1954 – 1962 French Algerian War and Algerian Independence).
- Mūsā Walid Ibindū (1956-, Mauritania) – Al-Ḥubb al-Mustaḥīl (‘The impossible love’, 1999). This novel comments on reproductive technology through a love story. It is set in a world where single-parent families are the norm and there are two societies: one for men, one for women. Love is seen as an illness, and sexual encounters are forbidden. But the protagonists fall in love and are forced into ‘rehabilitation’. Ibindū makes references to Greek philosophy to reflect on gender roles and love. He originally wrote the novel in French as L’amour impossible and himself re-wrote it to Arabic years later (also in S: Speculative Fiction: Science Fiction: On Earth).
- Yūsuf Idrīs’s (1927 – 1991, Egypt) short story ‘Laʿbat al-bayt’ (‘Household Game’) comments on gender roles within families. Fātin, a young girl, leaves upset when Samīḥ, her young playmate, adopts an aggressively male role in their enactment of grown-up marriage (reference). The short story can be found in the collection Ākhir al-Dunyā (‘The End of the World’, 1961).
- Tahir ben Jalloun (1944-, Morocco) – L’enfant de sable (1985, English trans. The Sand Child, 2000) and La nuit sacrée (1987, English trans. The Sacred Night, 2000).
Employing the Arabic tradition of ‘ḥalqa’ storytelling, L’enfant de sable treats the troubled gender identity of its main character. When Hadj Ahmed Suleiman fathers his eighth daughter, he decides to raise her as a son, Ahmed, to save face and salvage his inheritance. While thus being biologically female, she is gendered male (reference). In the novel, different narrators share their view of Ahmed’s story, including her experiments with a feminine identity.
La nuit sacrée continues the story of Ahmed, who is now calling herself Zahra. In this novel, the discourse of the other narrators falls apart, and Ahmed/Zahra remains to tell her own life story (reference). After her father’s death, Zahra is ‘reborn’ as a woman and “recounts her sexual awakening as a journey through violence, rape, perversion, and murder” (reference).
The two novels question the construction of gender in Moroccan society, including the problems that surround it, such as physical and mental violence.
- Salim Maṭar (1956-, Iraq) – Imrāʾah al-Qārūrah (1990, English trans. The Woman of the Flask, 2005). This novel is a reflection on (imaginary) women and their different roles. Its first part revolves around a statue of a woman inside an ancient building on the border between Iraq and Iran which was inhabited by Iraqi soldiers during the war and which the hero of the novel, Adām, hangs around during his time as a soldier (reference). Later, Adām flees to Switzerland and discovers that the flask which belonged to his deceased father has for centuries housed an enchanting woman. The novel also reflects on the hero’s ideas and philosophy as he experiences different political developments.
- Leïla Marouane (1960-, Algeria) – La Vie sexuelle d’un islamiste à Paris (2007, English trans. The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris, 2010). Mohamed, a narcissistic and wealthy Algerian French banker coming from a devout Islamic family, moves away from his mother’s house in the Parisian suburbs, to a sumptuous apartment in the old and exclusive French neighborhood of the sixth arrondissement. He then changes his name to Basile and experiences a personal crisis as he becomes torn between “his mother’s traditional role expectations, his cousin’s hedonistic behavior and his own desire for experiencing sexuality free from cultural and social norms” (reference) (also in W: Outside the Arab World: Europe: France).
- Rachid Mimouni (1945 – 1955, Algeria) – Tombéza (‘Tombeza’, 2000). Although not blind, the young adult hero of this novel, Tombéza, is ousted because of his visual disability and his effeminate appearance, which in his society is considered a disability, and the fact that his birth stems from rape (he is thus illegitimate) (reference). The novel narrates Tombéza’s experiences of exclusion, as well as the polarizing impact that the presence of French settlers had on Algerian society. The novel also sheds light on the abuse of disabled women in Algeria (also on D: Disabilities, Illness, and Disorders: Blindness).
- Luṭfiyyah al-Qabāʾilī’s (1948 – 2021, Libya) collections short stories Amānī Maʿalabah (‘Packaged wishes’, 1983) and focuses on the position of women in Libyan society.
- Muʾnis al-Razzāz (1951 – 2002, Jordan) – Muthakkirāt Dīnāṣūr (‘Memories of a dinosaur’, 1994). ʿAbd Allah al-Dīnāṣūr (Abd Allah the Dinosaur) is an intellectual, party-member and supporter of Nasser, Lenin, and Sayyid Qutb alike. He stubbornly holds on to his opinion, which is why his friends call him ‘Dinosaur’. His wife, with her critical reflection on what goes on in the Arab world, from the two World Wars to the Camp David Accords, tries to change his mind, but in vain (reference). The novel thus describes an example of someone who lives in the past without accepting any change, including in the gender role of his wife.
- Ghādah al-Sammān (1942-, Syria) – al-Riwāya al-Mustaḥīla: Fusayfusaʾ Dimashqiyyah (‘The impossible novel: Damascene mosaic’, 1997). This novel chronicles Damascene life and society in mid-19th century through the story of a cheerful teenager by the name of Zayn (reference). It contains autobiographical elements and describes the death of her mother during childbirth, the single parenthood of her father, and her family ties to her grandmother, aunts and uncles, and cousins, all of whom visit her old Damascene house (reference). It also describes Zayn defining and negotiating her gender identity within the context of her traditional environment and her single father who desperately desired a son (reference) (also in F: Children and Family Life: Parent and Child: Father and Child).
- Rajāʾ al-Ṣanaʿ (1981-, Saudi Arabia) – Banāt al-Riyāḍ (2005, English trans. Girls of Riyadh, 2007). Four Saudi Arabian girls exchange emails describing their daily lives. Though the e-mails the reader learns about the relationship between men and women in connection to ideas of freedom and tradition. The novel is written in both fuṣḥa and the Gulf dialect. It was first banned in Saudi Arabia (reference).
- Nawāl al-Saʿadāwī (1931 – 2021, Egypt) – Mawt al-Rajul al-Waḥīd ʿalā al-Arḍ (1976, God dies by the Nile, 1985). In this novel, the author aims to “explore the interaction of religion as an ideology and patriarchy as a social system” (reference). It looks, among others, at how the interplay between politics, religion, and sex affect the lives of women in a quasi-feudal and rural Egyptian setting through the female character of Zakiyyah (reference).
- Ḥanān al-Shaykh (1945-, Lebanon) – Misk al-Ghazāl (1988, English Translation Women of Sand and Myrrh, 1992). Banned from many Arab-majority countries for years, this novel centers four women from different social classes and cultural backgrounds living in an unnamed conservative Gulf country (reference). While Suhā is an educated Lebanese who goes on a journey of self-discovery after moving with her husband, Nūrā is in fierce pursuit of lovers, both men and female. And while Sūzān is captivated by the men and mystery of the Arab desert, Tamr fights male dominance to get an education (reference). What all voices have in common is their struggle in the male-dominated society where sex, due to its constraints, becomes an obsession (also in L: Love, Lust, and Relationships: LGBTQ+: Lesbian relationships).
- Aḥmad al-Subāʿī (1905 – 1984, Saudi Arabia) – Fikrah (‘Idea’, 1947). This early Saudi novel portrays the story of a Bedouin girl, Fikrah, without a family who is raised by an old teacher in the region of Tai’f, from whom she learns language, poetry mythology, history and more (reference). Fikrah also travels extensively before eventually meeting Salīm, a businessman from Mekkah who lost his way in Ta’if, and offers him shelter. Salīm falls in love with her because of her audacity and strong intellect, but his love is not returned. He returns to Mekka, and they meet once again when she performs the pilgrimage. The novel aims to address the balance of traditional male and female roles (reference).
- Laylā al-ʿUthmān’s (1943-, Kuwait) short story ‘al-Ishāra al-ḥamra’ (the Red Light) concerns a woman and her husband, Rashād, and his brother, Firās. When Rashād is on a visit to London, the pregnant heroine of the story reveals to Firās how much she loves Rashād. Firās however, loves her and hides a love letter in her purse. When Rashād finds this letter after his return, he assumes she had an affair and beats her brutally, even though he knows that it is his brother who wrote the letter he does not punish him. Furthermore, Rashād openly boasts about his own flirtations in England (reference). The short story is to be found in the author’s collection Imraʾa fī Inā ʾ (‘Woman in a vase’, 1976).
- Yūsuf Zaydān (1958-, Egypt) – Dhil al-Afʿā (‘The shadow of the serpent’, 2006). This novel reflects on the changing role and status of women throughout the history: from being considered sacred in early civilisations to being inferior in many modern societies (reference). Set in modern times, the first part of the novel focuses on a man whose wife left him and who, not knowing why she did so, attempts to find her. The second part of the novel consists of the letters a mother, the woman of the first half, writes to her daughter describing to her the way women have culturally, and socially been perceived throughout history and comparing that to women’s status in patriarchal societies.
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Katherine Hennessey. 2014.“Now I will believe that there are unicorns: The Improbable History of Shakespeare in Yemen.” Arab Stages 1(1), p. 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 78
- Rebecca Saunders. 2006. “Decolonizing the Body: Gender, Nation, and Narration in Tahar Ben Jalloun’s ‘L’enfant de sable’.” Research in African Literatures 37(4): 137- 160, p. 137
- Katarzyna Pieprzak. 2003. “Ben Jelloun, Tahar”, in in Encyclopaedia of African Literature. eds. Simon Gikandi, Routledge: New York, p. 79
- Wadīʿa al-ʿAbīdī. 2009. “Salīm Maṭar fī ‘Imrāʾah al-Qārūrah’.” www.ahewar.org, 6 December 2009, https://www.ahewar.org/debat/show.art.asp?aid=174756 (last accessed 7 January, 2023)
- Birgit Mertz-Baumgartner. 2017. “Masculinités en crise. ‘Ravisseur’ et ‘La Vie sexuelle d’un islamiste à Paris’ de Leïla Marouane” in Masculinités maghrébines: Nouvelles perspectives sur la culture, la littérature et le cinéma, eds. Michael Gebhard and Claudia Gronemann, pp 210-222, p. 210
- Mājid al-Sāmrāʾī. 1997. “Muthakkirāt Dīnāṣūr: Maʾzaq al-Baṭal al-Maʾzūm.” al-Ādāb 45: 66-69, p. 66
- EAL, p. 686
- Hanadi al-Samman. 2015. Anxiety of erasure: trauma, authorship, and the diaspora in Arab women’s writing. Syracuse University Press: Syracuse, p. 66, 74
- Marilyn Booth. 2010. “The Muslim Woman as Celebrity Author and the Politics of Translating Arabic: Girls of Riyadh Go on the Road” Journal of Middle Eastern Women’s Studies 6 (3): 149-182
- Alamin M. Mazrui and Judith I. Abala. “Sex and Patriarchy: Gender Relations in ‘Mawt al-Rajul al-Wahid ‘ala al-ard’ (God dies by the Nile).” Research in African Literatures 28(3) Arabic Writing in Africa: 17-32, p. 17, 18
- Miriam Mounir El Batran. 2019. An Unsilenced Text: The Literature of the Female Voice in Hanan Al-Shaykh’s Women of Sand and Myrrh and Leila Abouzeid’s Year of the Elephant. (Master’s Thesis, the American University in Cairo. AUC Knowledge Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjjpr30tKKAAxVS2QIHHZptDE0QFnoECBUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffount.aucegypt.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D1801%26context%3Detds&usg=AOvVaw0N4lNYj27YLfJ2ju-CyoT6&opi=89978449) p. 25, 47 (last accessed 22 July 2023)
- 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. 48, 49 (last accessed May 4, 2021)
- Angelika Rahmer. 1995. “The Development of Women’s Political Consciousness in the Short Stories of Laylā al-ʿUthmān” in Love and Sexuality in Modern Arabic Literature, eds. Roger Allen, Hilary Kilpatrick, and Ed de Moor. London: Saqi Books, 175-184, p. 176
- al-Kabīr al-Dādīsī. 2018. Masārāt al-riwāyah al-ʿarabiyyah al-muʿāṣirah, Muʾassah al-raḥāb al-ḥadīthah: Bayrūt, p. 137