Taha Hussein (1889-1973), the Dean of Arabic Literature, died 46 years ago this week, on 28 October 1973. His most controversial book, On Pre-Islamic Poetry, was first published in October 1926. Applying Cartesian doubt for the first time to Arabic literature, in that book Hussein he made the astounding claim that pre-Islamic poetry in the form in which it is known was actually written after Islam. In the course of his argument Hussein referred to the story of the Prophet Ibrahim as mythology, which prompted a Dar Al-Uloum (traditional Arabic college) professor to publish an article in the 2 May 1926 issue of Al-Ahram accusing him of apostasy. As a result the university bought all available copies of the book to prevent it from circulation, a court case was filed against Hussein, and he was expelled from the university. In a triumph for freedom of speech and secularism, the prosecution absolved Hussein, however, with chief prosecutor Mohamed Nour arguing that the argument in the course of which Hussein's statements were made had no bearing on religious precepts. Hussein is one of the most influential and progressive Egyptian writers and a significant figure for the literary renaissance and liberalism. He was nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature, and wrote over 60 books in his lifetime. These include Ibn Khaldoun's Philosophy (1925), Pioneers of Thought (1925), Wednesday Talk (1925), The Days (1933), Nightingale's Prayer (1934), Literary Life in the Arabian Peninsula (1935), Together with Al-Motanabi (1937) and Al-Fitna Al-Kubra (The Great Sedition, 1947). 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Bothaina Al-Issa, Haris Sateh Al-Allam (The Guard of the World's Top), Tanmia Publishing House, 2019, pp247 This is a dystopian novel set in a future without books or novels, where fiction no longer exists. In five chapters that focus on five major literary works — Zorba the Greek, Alice in Wonderland, 1984, Pinocchio and finally Fahrenheit 451 — the argument against censorship is articulated by describing what the world would look like without art and literature. The novelist moves with her protagonist, a girl who knows and tells all those stories while chasing white rabbits, through those other fictions and their incidents, creating a new world between the old and the new. Bothaina Al-Issa is a Kuwaiti novelist who has published, among other novels, Kharaet Al-Tieh (The Exodus Maps, 2015) and Arous Al-Mattar (Bride of the Rain, 2006). 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Ashraf Al-Ashmawi, Beit Al-Qebtiya (The Copt's House), The Egyptian-Lebanese Publishing House, 2019, pp239 A thriller set in a village named Al-Tayaah in Upper Egypt, this book depicts sectarian violence under Hosni Mubarak, with the protagonist, inspector Nader Fayez Kamal recently transferred to the village asked to help solve a strange crime that is the first in a series of killings, suicides and robberies. Ramses, the guard of the rest house where he lives in at this village, is a weird character with a seemingly devilish role at this village. He is corrupt and fakes contracts to sell imaginary plots of land, and seems to be behind the sectarian hate crimes committed. A parallel storyline involves another newcomer to the village, Hoda Habib. Ramses manages to break her marriage to Khedr in order to have her marry a man named Rizk. “I no longer see Copts and Muslims,” the inspector says. “I saw obsessive people and extremists from both sides, living in hell all their lives in order to prove to their followers that the others won't reach heaven in the afterlife.” Ashraf Al-Ashmawi is an Egyptian judge and a legal scholar who found his passion in fiction. His novels include The Time and the Hyenas, Informant and Toya (long-listed for the Arabic Booker in 2013), The Barman, An Only Ticket for Cairo and The Lady of Zamalek. 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Hammour Ziada, Al-Nawm ind Qadamai Al-Gabal (Sleeping at the Feet of the Mountain), Al-Ain Publishing House, 2019, pp155 A new edition of the Sudanese novel that was previously published in 2017 and adapted into a significant Sudanese feature film You Will Die at Twenty directed by Amjad abu Alala, which won several prestigious awards like the Luigi De Laurentiis Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Star of El Gouna Film Festival 2019. It was the success of the film that prompted this new edition with a cover that cites the two awards. The novel's protagonist, Muzamil is a baby who is expected to die at 20 because the dancer fell over while he was being blessed — such is the Sudanese belief. His mother Sekina, in addition, is abandoned by her husband. Hammour Ziada is a Cairo-based Sudanese writer and a journalist, born in 1979. His novels include Al-Kunj (2010), The Longing of the Dervish (2014, which won the Naguib Mahfouz Prize in 2014 and was shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Award in 2015). 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Alexander Kitroeff, The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt, AUC Press, 2019, pp256 The Greek writer Alexander Kitroeff goes on a documentary journey, tracing the Greek presence in Egypt since the beginning of the 19th century and until the 1960s all the way through the Mohamed Ali era till the rule of Nasser. They formed the widest social presence as well as the largest and most powerful economy of the European communities in Egypt at the time. They benefited from the privileges that were extended to foreigners but enjoyed a special relationship with the Egyptians and saw themselves as key players in Egypt's modernisation. The book investigates the Greeks' legal status, their relations with the country's rulers, their interactions with both elite and ordinary Egyptians, their economic activities, their contacts with foreign communities, their ties to their Greek homeland, and their community life and rich literary culture. Alexander Kitroeff argues that, even though the Greeks' self-image as contributors to Egypt's development might be exaggerated, there were ways in which they functioned as agents of modernity, albeit from a privileged and protected position. While they never gained the acceptance they sought, the Greeks developed an intense and nostalgic love for Egypt after their forced departure in the 1950s and 1960s. 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Amr Afia, Manzil Bila Asatir (A House without Legends), Al-Kotob Khan Publishing House, 2019, pp512 Shadi Erfan is a man whose world revolves around the Arabic language and its dictionaries. He abruptly meets a woman named Kheir at one of his relatives' wedding. Kheir, who was his late father's lover, takes him away from his familiar life into a journey through where he uncovers all kinds of family secrets. Amr Afia is an Egyptian writer based in Alexandria. His novels include Hadd Al-Ghewaya (The Seduction, 2004), Qeset Hob Octoboriya (An October Love Story, 2006), Raqasat Al-Roaa Al-Moshawasha (The Dance of the Blurry Sights, 2007) and Horiyet Suleiman (Suleiman's Freedom, 2014). 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Tarek Imam, Taam Al-Noum (The Taste of Sleep), The Egyptian-Lebanese Publishing House, 2019, pp342
Set in Alexandria in 2011-14, this novel weaves into its fabric both the Japanese Yasunari Kawabata's The House of Sleeping Beauties (1961) and the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez's Memories of My Melancholy Whores (2004). Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous politics of the period, the novel attempts a third and definitive version of the same story about an old man contemplating female beauty in his final days. Tarek Imam is an increasingly prolific Egyptian novelist. Born in 1977, he studied at Alexandria University and started publishing in 1995. His novels include Hedou Al-Qattala (Killers' Serenity) and The Second Life of Constantine Cavafy. 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Serag Mounir, Rabei Al-Shatat (Diaspora Spring), Al-Kotob Khan Publishing House, 2019, pp312 This novel traces a number of distinct post-Arab Spring human stories that share the same central despair and lost dreams. After the collapse of revolutionary dreams, a group of young Arabs gather in one of the Gulf countries in an attempt to find more suitable jobs and more money; they hail from Egypt, Libya and other Arab countries, and share the same sense of disillusion. Back home, Hassan, an Egyptian, lost his job while his Libyan friend lost his wife in the violence. Serag Mounir is an Egyptian novelist and poet born in 1977. He studied medicine at Al-Azhar University and published his first novel, Seven Zero, in 2015. Spring Diaspora is his second novel. *A version of this article appears in print in the 31 October, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
