- Basmah ʿAbd al-ʿAziz (1976-, Egypt) – al-Ṭabbūr (2013, English trans. The Queue, 2016). This novel takes place in a fictional country in which every movement needs the authorization of the government. It reflects on bureaucracy and totalitarianism, while the queue in front of ‘the Gate’, which authorizes the citizen’s requests, itself transforms into its own little society. The Gate, which is closed most of the time, comes to represent “a regime that represses people, determines their behavior, turns them into identical copies of one another, and strips them of their will” (reference). The novel’s hero is a man queueing to get the permission to get a bullet removed that is lodged in his body (also in S: Speculative Fiction: Dystopia).
- Tahar Djaout (1954 – 1993, Algeria) – Les Vigiles (1991, English trans. The Watchers, 2002). Hero of this novel is the young inventor Mahfoud, who spends his nights working on a modernised loom. However, one of his neighbours who spots his lights being on in the nighttime, falsely accuses him of plotting against the government. When he tries to register his invention, he is confronted with an ineffective bureaucratic machine riddled with paranoia. This novel won the Prix Méditerranée in 1991 (also in O: Occupations, Professions and Hobbies: Fabrics).
- Hajī Jābir (1976-, Eritrea) – Luʿbat al-Maʿghzal (‘The Game of the Spindle’, 2015). This novel portrays a picture of a society in which historical facts are rewritten to fit the narrative of the dictator (reference). The hero of the novel, an orphan who graduated from the college of arts, works in a government department dedicated to digital archiving, where she discovers that she is tasked with archiving false historical testimonies, including that of her biological mother (reference). She herself also starts to create fake narratives.
- ʿAbd al-Karīm Jūwayṭī (1962-, Morocco) – Katībat al-Kharrāb (‘Platoon of ruin’, 2007). This novel is set in a Moroccan village, Beni Millal, and portrays the villagers dealing with a government that does not provide them with the basic human necessities. The nameless hero of the novel works in a government institution installed to assist and accommodate the unemployed. But the level of duress faced by the unemployed at the hands of the elitist government, pushes many of them to migrate, where many find their death (reference).
- Aḥmad al-Madīnī (1947-, Morocco) – Mamarr al-Ṣafṣāf (‘Willow alley’, 2014). This novel is about the struggle of the poor residents of a building in a traditional Moroccan town against Mukhzār, who, representing the security and intelligence services, wants to tear it down to build a mosque. The residents are forced out and harassed. The novel is narrated by a dog, Jāk, the most ‘human’ friend of one of the building’s residents. It criticizes phony religion that leads to building mosques, as this assures a place in heaven, rather than providing for the basic needs of the poor (reference) (also in N: Nature: Animals).
- Mīkhāʾīl Rūmān’s (1925 – 1973, Egypt) play al-Wāfid (‘The newcomer’, 1965) is a call for freedom and a portrayal of how the wheels of an inhumane political regime can reduce an individual to merely a subservient to the machine (reference). The story shows the Newcomer, who arrives at a hotel after a long journey. While he prepares to enjoy a nice meal, the Deputy shows up. When the Newcomer refuses his proposition to work in the hotel, he is confronted with a sequence of persons from different levels who ask him if he is ‘on the list’. When he keeps answering this question negatively, he is deprived of food, and he discovers that he is, in fact, under arrest.
- ʿAlī Sālim’s (1936 – 2015, Egypt) play Bīr al-Qamḥ (‘The wheat-pit’, 1968). ʿAmm Ḥusayn works as a bellman at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where he manages to learn the ancient Paranoiac language. One day he discovers on one of the hieroglyphic papyri a directive telling citizens to bury wheat on holidays and special occasions. This makes him believe that he is about to discover millions of tons of wheat in the Egyptian desert, enough to feed the Egyptians for hundreds of years. When he eventually finds the wheat, the dig is taken over by the official academic and governmental bureaucracy, leading to a chaos so overwhelming that Ḥusayn and his original discovery are completely bypassed (reference).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Basma Abdel Aziz. 2017 “Basma Abdel Aziz on Writing ‘The Queue’.” www.arablit.org, 31 August 2023, https://arablit.org/2017/08/31/basma-abdel-aziz-on-writing-the-queue/ (last accessed 1 September 2023)
- Haythem Ḥusayn. 2015. “‘Luʿbat al-Maʿghzal’ Takshif Āliyāt al-Talāʿub bi-l-Tārīkh.” www.aljazeera.net, 11 June 2015, https://www.aljazeera.net/culture/2015/6/11/%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%BA%D8%B2%D9%84-%D8%AA%D9%83%D8%B4%D9%81-%D8%A2%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%A8 (last accessed 12 January 2024)
- Fayyiz ʿAlām. 2016. “Murājiʿat li-Riwāyat ‘Luʿbat al-Maʿghzal’.” www.raseef22.net, 28 May 2016, https://raseef22.net/article/34699-book-review-hajji-jaber (last accessed 12 January 2024)
Aḥmad al-ʿArabī. 2014. “Qirāʾah fī Riwāyat ‘Katībah al-Kharrāb’ lil-kātib ʿAbd al-Karīm Juwaytī.” www.ayyamsyrua.net 24 September 2014 https://ayyamsyria.net/%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A1%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%83%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%A8-%D8%B9%D8%A8/ (last accessed October 26, 2021)
- FayyizʿAlām. 2016. “Murājiʿah li-Riwāyat ‘Mamar al-Ṣafṣāf’.” www.raseef22.net, 27 May 2016 https://raseef22.net/article/7558-book-review-mamar-al-safsaf (last accessed 26 October 2021)
- Ali al-Raʿi. 1992. “Arabic Drama since the thirties.” In Modern Arabic Literature. eds. Muhammad Mustafa Badawi. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 358-404, p. 388
- Roger Allen. 2000. An Introduction to Arabic Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 205