- Tawfīq Bin Brīk (1961-, Tunisia) – Kalb bin Kalb (‘Dog, son of a dog’, 2013). Written entirely in the Tunisian dialect and using harsh language, this book tells in a detailed manner the story of the marginalized sections of society (reference). Its hero is the outlaw Sʿad Kawbawī, a man who works in various professions, from smuggling and currency exchange to journalistic and literary writing. Through his story, the reader gets a picture of the violence and abuse that takes place in Sʿad’s environment (also in S: Social Issues and Societal Change: The Marginalized).
- Fātin al-Fāzʿa (?, Tunisia) – Asrār ʿĀʾiliyyah (‘Family secrets’, 2018) was the first novel in the Tunisian dialect written by a woman. The novel centres Ghāliyyah, a young mother of two, who leaves her restrictive husband but faces many difficulties as she tries to vie for herself. The novel reflects on the difficulties of divorce in Tunisia, including social attitudes towards divorced women. It won the Ali Douagi Prize in 2018 (also in F: Children and Family Life: Marriage: Divorce and Separation).
- ʿAliyyaʾ al-Tābaʿī (1961-, Tunisia) – Zahrat al-Ṣubbār (‘Cactus flowers’, 1991). This novel uses the Tunisian dialect in its dialogues, which it sometimes explains in its footnotes (reference). It centers three friends from different backgrounds, ʿĀdil, Rijāʾ and Aḥmad, who graduated from university in the 1970s. Two of them, Rijāʾ and Aḥmad, meet again nine years later, and as they reflect on their past in the 1970s and 1980s, and the faith of ʿĀdil who was imprisoned due to his political activities, they reflect on the political and social past of Tunisia.
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Kamāl al-Riyāḥī. 2013. “Al-Tūnisī Tawfīq Bin Brīk wa ‘al-Adab al-Sharīr’.” www.aljazeera.net, 11 November 2013 https://www.aljazeera.net/news/cultureandart/2013/11/11/التونسي-توفيق-بن-بريك-و-الأدب-الشرّير (last accessed 5 May 2022)
- Maḥī al-Dīn Ḥamdī. 2010. “al-Hawiyah fī al-Riwāyah al-Nisāʾiyyah al-Tūnisiyyah: Zahrah al-Ṣabbār – li- ʿAliyyaʾ al-Tābaʿī Mithālan.” al-Ḥayāh al-Thaqāfiyah 213, 34-41, p. 36