3,206 research outputs found
Dinamiche di ricezione e rilettura di un autore e della sua opera: Alberto Moravia e gli scrittori arabi
No full textAlberto Moravia may well be the most widely known and read Italian author in Arab- ic-speaking countries. At the same time and in spite of that fact, studies of his writings in Arabic are rare. This essay analyzes references to Moravia and discussions of both him and his works written by Arab writers since the Sixties. Those references and discussions have been published in newspapers, periodicals, journals and, in some cases, in autobio- graphies. For the most part, the principal topic of the sources analyzed here has little or nothing to do with Italian literature. Through such very short citations which often leave a great deal to the readers' knowledge and understanding, Moravia is thus listed as being one of world literature’s major representatives: and, on such a basis it can be argued that he has been one of the most formative authors for successive generations of Arab writers. That said however, these literary references appear to be quite standardized, while at the same time the Arab authors who use them seem to be trying to facilitate their own placement in the wider ranks of literary authority(ies). On the other hand, there are other newspaper articles that briefly mention only one aspect of Moravia's production or one of his works or characters; in still other cases Arab writers will talk about their own relationship with Moravia, apparently as a mode of self-reference to be appended to their own intellectual curriculum vitae. At the conclusion of this essay a series of questions is asked as to what kind of influence the Italian writer has actually had on Arab authors
Una detective story anomala: Ṣāʼid al-yarqāt (Il cacciatore di larve) di Amīr Tāğ al-Sīr
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Alla ricerca del figlio combattente in Iraq: Ğunūd Allāh (Soldati di Dio) di Fawwāz Ḥaddād
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Il crimine nell’opera di Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ
No full textThis article offers an analysis of the conception of crime in Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ’s oeuvre. Literary criminals and their stories can, in fact, be seen as part of a counter narrative against the dominant conceptions of law, justice and morality imposed by power and authority. This is even more true when it comes to the fiction of a writer who overtly explores the political realm, just like the Egyptian Nobel Laureate does. Focusing on Bidāyah wa nihāyah, al-Ṭarīq and Yawma qutila al- zaʻīm, this study tries to show how Maḥfūẓ subverts some common criminal stereotypes by crafting his characters so that they can actually be a means for offering a harsh critique against several injustices and problems suffered by Egyptian citizens and contemporary societies on the whole
Ḥusayn Ma ḥmūd, Na ǧīb Ma ḥfū ẓ fī Ī ṭālīa: ṣāḥib al-fa ḍl (Naguib Mahfuz in Italia: onore al merito)
No full textMudhakkirāt Randā al-Trans by Ḥāzem Sāghiyyah: how to handle difficult topics in a biography
No full textThis paper will deal with Hazem Saghieh's recently published, by Dar Al-Saqi, Mudhakkirat Randa Iltrans. It is the biography of Randa Lamri, an Algerian transexual and LGBT rights activist. Told in the first person, it starts from the pre-birth accident that engendered her peculiarity, going through her earliest childhood, when the little Fu'ad realizes that he wants to be a girl, until when, eventually, she flees to Lebanon escaping death menaces. In between develops the story of her progressive gaining consciousness of her gender difference and its real meaning, counter a dark background of any kind of vexation imposed by a traditional and male dominated society, sometimes lightened by glimpses of happiness and discovery.
Above all, the book breaks a taboo: it talks openly about a topic dealing with sexual diversity at its extreme consequences. And it does it, willingly, sympathizing with the portrayed character.
Besides the importance of the subject itself, we find the authorship extremely relevant: Hazim Saghieh is a well known Lebanese writer on politics and society, as well as a reputed politics columnist for the London based daily paper al-Hayat.
Subject and authorship are, thus, the main features that mingle with the inextricable duplicity of the work as genre: the strict cooperation between the author and the protagonist position the text on the boundary between biography and autobiography. The whole gives to the work interesting peculiarities.
Firstly, the story itself is the bulk of the work's value: writing about it is a courageous stand in itself. However, this doesn't mean that this biography is not a work of art: the writing intervenes, here, almost fictionalizing the story, giving to it an aesthetic (and, eventually, marketable) value. Precisely, entire sets of values are engaged and faced through clear and well functioning mechanisms. It is my interest, here, to clarify whether its not being a work of fiction brings not to operate the taboo breaking activity on the aesthetic level: while it is extremely subtly crafted, as a book it doesn't look like it wants to gather attention for its aesthetic value.
To complicate this level of analysis comes the weight of the authorship. In fact, the author, Saghieh, put at stake a lot of his “artistic and professional capital” in this operation. Furthermore he doesn't hesitate in taking position about the topic, at every level. Also considered as a novel, the wok has been seen as a diversion from his habitual production. I will try to show how and through which mechanisms Saghieh exercises the authorial control, keeping strong and visible links with his intellectual activity, and leaving his mark on a story which is not 'his'
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