- Fawwāz Ḥaddād (1947-, Syria) – ʿĀzif Munfarid ʿalā al-Biyānū (‘Solo piano music’, 2009). This novel is set in a Syria dominated by a police state, where the individual is constantly watched by the secret services, and tensions are rising between secularists and Islamists. The professor and amateur music connoisseur Fātiḥ, known for his strong opposition to Islam, is regularly visited by an investigator, Salīm, who seeks his cooperation on matters of terrorism. After giving a lecture against teaching religion in schools, Fātiḥ comes to believe he is being targeted by the state for his anti-religious view (also in O: Occupations, Professions and Hobbies: Music).
- Yūsuf al-Shārūnī’s short story ‘Al-Qayẓ’ (‘The Heatwave’, 1950) comically depicts Egypt’s intellectuals against the background of a heatwave, which is a symbol of a more widespread crushing atmosphere. Heroes of the story are two Maḥmūd’s, one a cigarette-vendor, and the other and intellectual, both with a girlfriend named Ilhām. When both are confronted with the possibility of a third world war, the cigarette-vendor fears for his life although he is not liable to conscription because he has one eye. The intellectual treats the possible conscription more ‘philosophically’ and sees welcome escape from his boring daily routine (reference).
- Amīr Tāj al-Sirr (1960-, Sudan) – Ṣāʾid al-Yarqāt (‘Hunter of Chrysalises’, 2010). This satirical novel describes the story of a secret service agent, ʿAbdallah Farār, who is forced to retire due to an accident. Suffering from loneliness, he decides to write a novel on his work experiences. After all, he does have experience writing reports. But just as he was instructed to keep an eye on writers during his years in office, he soon discovers that he is himself a topic of police scrutiny. The title of the novel refers to the fact that writers and intellectuals in general are both the hunter and the prey, with the chrysalises symbolizing a writer’s ability to bring something beautiful to life on paper (reference) (also in: O: Occupations, Professions and Hobbies: Writing).
- Yūsuf Rakhā (1976-, Egypt) – Kitāb al-Ṭughrā: Gharāʾib al-Tārīkh fī Madīnat al-Mirrīkh (2011, English trans. The Book of the Sultan’s Seal: Strange Incidents from History in the City of Mars, 2015). This novel gives expression to the mounting fear of many Egyptians in the years leading up to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. Hero is the thirty-year old Muṣṭafā, a newspaper man who divorces his pregnant wife after one year of marriage, moves back to his mother’s house, and starts writing letters to his friend who lives in exile in London, describing his life-altering adventures. These adventures are both extraordinary, like meeting an Ottoman Sultan, and earthly, like quarrelling with his mother. The book also contains struggles with the hero’s sexual identity (reference) (also in 1981 Mubarak President of Egypt).
- Nihād Sīrīs (1950-, Syria) – al-Ṣamt wa al-Ṣakhab (2004, English trans. The Silence and the Roar, 2013). Set in an unnamed Middle Eastern police state, this satirical novel describes the moody and rude writer-journalist Fatḥī, who has been backlisted for refusing to write in favour of the regime. He narrates the many protests that unfold around him, and that resemblance the political and social context of Syria after the transfer of power from Hafez al-Assad to his son Bashar in 2000. In this period many intellectuals hoped for change but ended up disillusioned (reference) (also in O: Occupations, Professions and Hobbies: Writing and 2000 Bashar al-Asad Syria).
- Ṣunʿallāh Ibrāhīm (1937 – 2025, Egypt) – al-Lajnah (1981, English trans. The Committee, 2001). When the protagonist of this novel applies for something, his submitted to a long and degrading examination by a committee. They ask him what the most important inventions are of the modern age, to which the man answers: Coca Cola. They also request him to investigate who the greatest contemporary Arab luminary is. By following the evolution of the research and the ways in which it is obstructed by invisible forces, the reader learns about the impact of consumerism and Western companies on Egyptian society as well as the errors of Sadat’s Infitāḥ politics (see also in 1970: Death of Nasser, Sadat President of Egypt) which suffocated the middle class, created a gap between the rich and poor, and allowed for destructive foreign companies (reference). The committee is not satisfied with his answer and sentences him the most severe punishment, namely self-consumption, which he does.
- Muḥammad al-Mansī Qandīl (1946-, Egypt) – Qamr ʿalā Samarqand (2005, English trans. Moon over Samarqand, 2009). ʿAlī travels to Uzbekistan in search of a general who was his father’s best friend when he was a Soviet advisor in Egypt, to ask him about his father’s (a military man with whom he had a love-hate relationship) suspicious death following the Camp David Accords (reference) . During his trip he meets an Uzbek taxi driver with whom he travels the country drawing historical parallels between Egypt and Uzbekistan, including the rise of Islamism and autocratic governments (reference). The novel also reflects on Egypt’s destructive military dictatorship (reference) (also in W: Outside the Arab World: Central Asia).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Sabry Hafez and Catherine Cobham ed. 2011. A Reader of Modern Arabic Short Storis. Saqi: London, p. 46-7
- Mūsā Ibrāhīm Abū Riyāsh. 2017. “al-Farīsah wa al-Ṣiyād fī Riwāyat ‘Ṣāʾid al-Yarqāt’ li-Amīr Tāj al-Sir” www.alquds.co.uk, 11 January 2017 https://www.alquds.co.uk/%EF%BB%BF%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%82/ (last accessed 14 November 2021)
- Mūsā Ibrāhīm Abū Riyāsh. 2017. “al-Farīsah wa al-Ṣiyād fī Riwāyat ‘Ṣāʾid al-Yarqāt’ li-Amīr Tāj al-Sir” www.alquds.co.uk, 11 January 2017 https://www.alquds.co.uk/%EF%BB%BF%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%82/ (last accessed 14 November 2021)
- Benjamin Koerber. 2015. “Reading the Plot: The Psychology and Poetics of Pārānūyā in Yūsuf Rakhā’sKitāb al-ṭughrā.” JAL 46: 296-325
- Anne-Marie McManus. 2014. “The Contemporary Syrian Novel in Translation.” Arab Studies Journal 22(1): 322-333, p. 328
Māzin, Amīn. 2017. “‘Al-Lijna’ li-Ṣunʿallah Ibrāhīm: Ikhrāj al-Wāqiʿa al-Ḥayy bi al-Kārīkātīr al-Sākhir.” www.alriwaya.net, 11 June 2017 https://alriwaya.net/post/reviews/5556 (last accessed 21 November 2021)
- Susannah Tarbush. 2010. “Book Reviews: Moon over Samarqand by Mohamed Mansi Qandil.” Banipal 39, https://www.banipal.co.uk/book_reviews/72/%20moon-over-samarqand-by-mohamed-mansi-qandil/ (last accessed 8 February 2019)
- Margaret Litvin. 2011. “Egypt’s Uzbek Mirror: Muḥammad al-Mansī Qandīl’s Post-Soviet Islamic Humanism.” JAL 42: 101-119, p. 109, 112