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The very short story in the time of revolution. al-Mihmāz (the Spur) and the Syrian author Zakariyā Tāmir
No full textThe mass protests swept through the Middle East in early 2011 underlined the role of modern information-communication technologies (ICT). From a literary point of view, the “Arab Spring” inevitably marked the birth of a new model of writing, characterised by a more participatory, global and immediate manner of expression that could be defined as Humanism 2.0. In this context, we may insert the experimental writing by the famous Syrian author Zakariyā Tāmir: on the al-Mihmāz (The Spur) Facebook page the writer begins a literary journey publishing daily posts and explicitly supporting the Syrian revolution. This contribution intends to analyse a few of Tāmir’s most significant posts published on Facebook. The time span is 2012, just one year after the Syrian revolution: thanks to aphorisms, posts and short stories, a new literary pact with potential readers is inaugurated, within a phenomenon that we can call al-adab al-raqmī (digital literature
al-Qārūrah (La bottiglia, 2004) dello scrittore saudita Yūsuf al-Muḥaymīd. Quale “genere” di lettura?
No full textal-Qārūrah (The Bottle, 2004) is one of the best-known novels written by the Saudi author Yūsuf al-Muḥaymīd (1964). Set in the timeline of the Gulf War (1990-91), the novel mainly reconstructs the life of Munīrah al-Sāhī, the female protagonist. Symbol of the general climate of violence towards women in her country, she decides to record women’s stories on pieces of paper that she places in the bottle given to her by her grandmother. Feminism, struggles for women empowerment and historical critique are – as one would expect – the central aspects of this novel. This article will try to introduce a different key reading, by assuming that the originality of the work probably lies in its unusual act of re-writing History. The single pieces of paper are single stories able to re-construct the collective History. So Munīrah becomes a particular ḥakawātiyyah, collecting stories in order to offer an historical narration
‘Izzat al-Qamḥāwī, Madīnat al-laḏḏah (La città del piacere), Hay’at Quṣūr al-Ṯaqāfah, al-Qāhirah 1997.
No full textLost or found in translation? La traduzione come atto sovversivo nel romanzo al-Mutarğim al-ḫā’in di Fawwāz Ḥaddād
No full textEvery translator is, in a such way, consciously or not, an “unfaithful” missionary between two cultures. Both among the Arab scholars and Western academics, translation has always had an important role: between similarities and differences the literary world has produced a lot of theories about the techniques and the tasks connected to the translator’s work. What happens if an unfaithful translation becomes a metaphor to express the writer’s will to criticize the society where
he lives? In al-Mutarğim al-ḫā’in (The Unfaithful Translator, 2008) by the Syrian writer Fawwāz Ḥaddād, the protagonist, Ḥāmid Salīm, voluntarily alters the final of the book he’s translating. From this moment on, he will be victim of persecution by an Organization that deals with literature just in appearance. In this way Fawwāz Ḥaddād proposes a perspective on the political and literary scene of the contemporary Syrian society. The act of betrayal of Ḥāmid Salīm becomes an unusual act of subversion towards the autocratic political system of his country
R. Ashour, F.J. Ghazoul, H. Reda-Mekhdashi (eds.), Arab Women Writers. A Critical reference Guide 1873-1999, translated by M. McClure, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo-New York, 2008.
No full text«There is no end to fascinating things»: A sentimental journey through Virginia Vacca De Bosis’ (1891-1988) papers
No full textVirginia Vacca, born De Bosis (1891-1988), was a prominent representative of the Oriental School of Rome. The article aims to describe her human and scientifc traits in terms of her research activity – rather than academic, as she never taught. The following pages seek to trace heroutline: from her frst experience of the Arab world to the human and scientifc aspects that can be inferred from her papers. In addition to her correspondence, there are also the memories of those who knew her – especially Francesco Gabrieli, another prominent member of the Oriental School of Rome – and, of course, her multifaceted scientifc production. Through these sources, we will try to shed a modicum of light on the portrait of this distinguished Orientalist
La fantascienza nella letteratura araba
No full textLa fantascienza nel mondo arabo appare con sorpresa a partire dalla seconda metà del XX secolo, svelando specificità riconducibili alla società araba, alla sua storia politica, alle sue caratteristiche linguistiche e religiose. Recuperati dal patrimonio classico elementi proto fantascientifici, la loro commistione - e successiva rielaborazione - con tematiche comuni al più affermato modello in lingua inglese ha segnato l’inizio di una nuova stagione per la narrativa araba.
Il testo propone una rassegna, per la prima volta in lingua occidentale, dei maggiori autori che afferiscono a questo genere letterario: automi e extraterrestri, umani in fuga dalla realtà e catapultati in società distopiche, vengono presentati attraverso una panoramica che spazia dall’area nord-africana, passando attraverso la Mauritania, sino ad arrivare al Mashreq e alle “insospettabili” terre dello Yemen
De-composing “human” bodies in the mirror of Iraqi “Monsters”: How to manipulate the present and re-compose the future
No full textIn a literary milieu characterized by the progress of new and increasingly varied genres
whose combination partakes in a reformulation of the concept of Adab itself, some Arab writers are
proposing an anatomy, or perhaps an “autopsy”, of what remains of Arab societies, especially after
the collapse of the previous regimes (as in the case of Iraq). This paper will focus on narrative works
by Iraqi writers who, like skilful surgeons, are currently trying to decompose reality, by de-constructing
the human being itself, thus presenting contemporary or futuristic visions of their society. The
literary Iraqi scene offers works that occasionally propose a reinterpretation of what al-Ariss (2016)
refers to as the emergence of the so-called tawaḥḥush (becoming wild, beastly). The present study
therefore aims at exploring the paths of recent Iraqi literature in search of works that can provide
a taxonomy of the “monstrous”
al-‘Ankabūt (Il ragno) di Muṣṭafà Maḥmūd: un esempio tra fantascienza e romanzo gotico alla ricerca dell’immortalità
Get PDFWhere does the gothic novel end and where does science fiction begin? According to many critics, in the Anglo-Saxon world this transition is represented by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818); whereas in Arabic literature the bond between these two genres of fiction was probably built by the Egyptian writer Muṣṭafà Maḥmūd, who published al-‘Ankabūt(The spider) in 1965. Focused on the quest for immortality, this work is, in fact, one of the first Arabic science fiction novels. The elixir vitae obtained by the experiments performed in the plot of al-‘Ankabūtbecomes the symbol of yet another battle of man against time
Questioning the future a hundred years later: A temporal paradigm for Arab speculative fction?
No full textIn recent times, we have witnessed a gradual accreditation of “alternative narrative
forms” (al-riwāyāt al-ukhrà) within the Arab literary landscape. Among these narrative forms, speculative fction (al-khayāl al-ta ̓milī) undoubtedly holds a prominent position: it is typically defned as a macro-genre that encompasses various narrative forms which, in diferent ways, challenge the representation of reality, to retell and/or contest it. It is within this context that London-based CommaPress has positioned itself with a distinctive publishing project started in 2016. Since that time, three collections on the Arab context – Iraq, Palestine, and Egypt, respectively – have been brought to print: in each of the collections, writers have imagined the future of their country 100 years after the traumatic event that afected its history in contemporary times. This brief note aims to provide a glimpse into this publishing project
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