EGX ends in red on August 20    Egyptian pound weakens against US dollar on August 20    Contact Reports Strong 1H-2025 on Financing, Insurance Gains    Egypt expresses 'deep dissatisfaction' to Netherlands over embassy attack    Global pressure mounts as Gaza fighting intensifies and death toll surges    Egypt, India's BDR Group in talks to establish biologics, cancer drug facility    AUC graduates first cohort of film industry business certificate    At TICAD, Egypt's education minister signs pacts with Casio, SAPIX    Madbouly invites Japanese firms to establish industrial zone in SCZONE    Cairo, Tokyo sign LOI to expand educational cooperation, support for persons with disabilities    Egypt to tighten waste rules, cut rice straw fees to curb pollution    Al-Sisi meets Qatar PM, Bahrain security adviser to discuss Gaza crisis, regional stability    Egypt's FM, Palestinian PM visit Rafah crossing to review Gaza aid    Egypt prepares unified stance ahead of COP30 in Brazil    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Egypt, Namibia explore closer pharmaceutical cooperation    Fitch Ratings: ASEAN Islamic finance set to surpass $1t by 2026-end    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Tributes and outrage: Behind the ''Booker''
Published in Almasry Alyoum on 08 - 06 - 2009

Fifty-year-old scholar Youssef Zidan's controversial novel Azazeel (The Devil) clinched the Arabic world's top literary prize – the Arabic Booker - in March, the second year an Egyptian author has walked away with the award.
Last year, the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction, which aims to boost the international profile of literary fiction in Arabic, went to Egyptian author Baha Taher for his novel Sunset Oasis, described by the prize's website as "a journey that crystallizes the existential crisis of a defeated man."
In Azazeel, the latest victor Youssef Zidan tells the fictional story of Hiba, a Coptic monk in the fifth century.
Hiba witnesses troubled times in the Church's history, as it faces a fresh wave of heresy spearheaded by Nestorius, the Archbishop of Constantinople.
The title, Azazeel, is an ancient Hebrew name for the devil, who remains the monk's companion and philosophical debater throughout his journey.
The devil continues to urge Hiba to narrate his story throughout the book, resulting in a novel brimming with accurate historical details collated from decades of research.
However, the main story of Hiba, faced with two sexual temptations and won over by the devil each time, is part of historical narrative, Al-Masry Al-Youm discovers.
Al-Masry Al-Youm: How do you feel about the attacks on the novel?
Youssef Zidan: I feel bad. On my way back from the ceremony in Abu Dhabi, only two days after the award was announced, I was surprised by the large number of articles in Arabic newspapers, many of which were attacking me.
This was the first shock. I dealt with it as the Sufi teacher Abd El Kader El Jailani recommends: "endurance at the first shocks."
Now, after so many weeks of this media fuss, I am dealing with it as if it concerns somebody else, not me. I usually take time to think, meditate and contemplate about things.
I realized something strange: Azazeel, with all the popularity it gained, with its thousands of printed copies and downloads over the internet, with the criticism it received, is very provoking to a certain type of priest.
I am referring to the Middle Age definition of a priest. Those who think they have the keys for this life and the life after. Their anger was deceiving and almost comic. But there is another kind of priest – the literary kind – who liked the novel. Pope Shenouda declared that he hasn't even read the novel. So those who attacked the novel in the name of the church, they don't really represent the church or the pope.
The same applies for those who attack the novel from within the literary community. Some people have authority by virtue of the fact that they are present – physically - within these communities. Because I live in Alexandria, and I am busy with my job and research, I don't frequent these circles. That is why, according to some critics, my novel is not good.
Al-Masry: But was the media fuss beneficial in terms of the sales of the novel?
Zidan: The sales of the novel are only important to the publisher, not me. A year has passed and my novel has not discussed properly – with the exception of a few articles.
However, I am happy that the readership continues to increase. I am also happy that my readers gave me the award. In Abu Dhabi, they announced the results of two competitions. One is from the international committee and the second is voted by the readers.
I was undertaking the last edit for my most recent book Arab Theology and they told me I won in both. This made me very happy, and gave me a boost to focus on my next books.
Al-Masry: How about your upcoming novel El Nabaty?
Zidan: It is a different novel. The narrator is a woman. And the novel takes place in a forgotten period of our modern consciousness - 25 years prior to the Arab invasion of Egypt. I have not slept in three days visualizing some scenes for the novel.
Al-Masry: How do you usually write? According to a schedule or not?
Zidan: I let the river take its path. The scenes are written in my mind first, and then it becomes very persistent, very concentrated that it has to use its own language and come out on paper. I think that's why my novels are different. Critics have been comparing it to Dr Faustus and the Da Vinci Code, as if the human brain has to be that lazy and that imitative. I think comparing a novel to another makes you read it with a lazy eye.
I write every day. I get up very early in the morning and I write a lot in different themes. I have my work at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which requires that I produce academic papers for publication and conferences.
As for novels, I write when the novel is written in my mind. Before I wrote Azazeel, the main character Hiba, the monk, was always present in my mind. This is what is happening now with the heroine of my new novel El Nabaty, she is here in my head. I see things with her eyes.
Al-Masry: Who is Azazeel?
Zidan: It is the human being; the deepest part of every one of us. We are grateful for the existence of Azazeel because we can blame our mistakes on him especially if they are found out.
Al-Masry: But in your novel the devil is a woman. This becomes very clear in the last scene.
Zidan: No, in the last scene Azazeel has a lot of faces first, it is his mother, then his beloved, then it is himself, then it is a sound with no face, and after many trials, the incarnation process failed.
Al-Masry: How did you find the courage to portray a monk like this, especially as in Egypt we have great respect for the monastic tradition?
Zidan: Monks are human beings. And in the novel, these are monks from the fifth century. The first monks in Egypt are very different from those of today. In the age of Azazeel, some of the priests were married and then they were baptized, and this sounds very strange for contemporary scholars. In the novel, Hiba is only a human being.


Clic here to read the story from its source.