- Hudā Barakāt (1952-, Lebanon) – Rasāʾil al- Gharībah (‘Letter from a far, strange place’, 2004) and Barīd al-Layl (2018, English trans. Voices of the Lost, 2020).
The first of these two contains a set of biographical short stories, or letters, each describing the writer’s experiences when dealing with other Lebanese exiles in Paris, or Lebanese citizens when visiting her home country which she migrated from following the Lebanese Civil War (see 1975 – 1988 Lebanese Civil War).
Barīd al-Layl is made up of five letters with titles such as ‘to my brother’ and ‘to my sweet mother’, each of them unaddressed and functioning as a white sheet for the deep emotions the senders do not want anyone to hear. The senders themselves, Arabs who travel to escape or seek refuge, struggle to find a new start coming from a world of violence. It is the postman’s chapter in the novel where all the voiced meet, but he does not know what to do with the letters that do not belong anywhere or to anyone. The novel won the 2019 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
- Rashīd al-Ḍaʿīf (1945-, Lebanon) – Azīzī al-Sayyid Kawābātā (English trans. Dear Mr. Kawabata, 1999). Having no one to discuss the hardships of his youth with, the young narrator of this novel, Rashīd, turns to imagination as he describes his anguish to the Japanese short story writer and winner of the 1968 Nobel Prize for Literature, Yansurani Kawabata, through a series of letters. Rashīd describes war-torn Lebanon, his personal developments, such as his relationship to his father, and social issues, such as the position of the Lebanese intellectuals during the Civil War (also in W: Outside the Arab World: Asia).
- Shakīb al-Jābirī (1922 – 1996, Syria) – Qaws Quzaḥ (‘Rainbow’, 1946). This novel portrays the life of a Syrian student living in Germany as he tries to balance his affection for a German woman with feelings of nostalgia for his homeland and support for the cause of Arab nationalism (reference). The novel consists of written letters, which was a new style of writing in the mid 20th century (reference) (also in W: Outside the Arab World: Europe: Germany).
- Abdelkebir Khatibi (1938 – 2009, Morocco) and Jacques Hassoun (1936 – 1999, Egypt / France) – Le même livre (‘The same book’, 1985). The letter exchange between literary critic, novelist, philosopher, playwright, poet, and sociologist, Abdelkebir Khatibi, and the psychoanalyst Jacques Hassoun is a probe into different question that confront the two authors, including those of the Jewish-Arab identity, the wars raging through the Arab world, and questions of language and identity, and friendships.
- Ghādah al-Sammān (1942-. Syria) published two books of letters: Rasāʾil Ghassān Kanafānī ilā Ghadā al-Sammān (‘Ghassan Kanafani’s letters to Ghādah al- Sammān’, ?1990) and Rasāʾil Zaman al-Ḥamāqāt al-Jamīl (‘Messages of old foolishness’, ?). The first contains the love letters that Palestinian writer Ghassān Kanafānī (1936 – 1972, Palestine / Israel) sent to her. The collection was published after his death and thus did not receive his permission, something that spiked much criticism. Rasāʾil Zaman al-Ḥamāqāt al-Jamīl includes letters sent to Ghādah in 1963 by the Lebanese poet Ansī al-Ḥājj,
- ʿAbd al-Ḥakīm Qāsim’s (1934 – 1990, Egypt) – Kitābāt Nūbah al-Ḥirāsah (‘Guard shift writings’, 2010), is a collection of letters the author wrote to his family and friends during his years of exile in Berlin from the 1970s to 1980s, such has his experience working as a nightguard, and the philosophical and personal questions he was dealing with (reference). He describes his life in exile as lonely, while at the same time he reflects on the political developments that were ongoing in the Arab world in the same time period, that had an effect on his generation (reference).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- EAL, p. 405
- Fayṣal Khartash. 2019. “Shakīb al-Jābirī… Rāʾid al-Riwāyah al-Faniyyah al-Uwlā fī Sūriyyah.” www.diffah.alaraby.co.uk, 15 November 2019, https://diffah.alaraby.co.uk/diffah/revisions/2019/11/16/%D8%B4%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9 (last accessed 14 December 2023)
- Sharīf ʿAbd al-Ṣamad. 2018. “ʿAbd al-Ḥakīm Qāsim… ‘al-Kitābah al-Jayyidah Faqat Ilā Ākhir ʿUmrī’.” www.madamasr.com, 1 June 2018 https://www.madamasr.com/ar/2018/06/01/feature/%D8%AB%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9/%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%85-%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%82%D8%B7-%D8%A5%D9%84/ (last accessed 27 October 2021)
- Muḥammad Saʿīr. 2007. “Kitābāt Nūbah al-Ḥirāsah: Rasāʾil ʿAbd al-Ḥakīm Qāsim: Al-Kitābah bi-la Makiyāj.” Al-Kalimah (2) retrieved from www.alkalimah.net/Articles/Read/319 (last accessed 22 June, 2022)