{"id":30421,"date":"2014-01-02T15:04:11","date_gmt":"2014-01-02T11:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=30421"},"modified":"2014-01-02T15:04:12","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T11:04:12","slug":"five-books-get-started-arabic-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-society\/five-books-get-started-arabic-literature\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Books To Get You Started on Arabic Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ibrahim\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Often enough, I hear from new readers that ArabLit is just \u201ctoo much,\u201d and that the site lacks a good entry point for the reader who wants to know: Where do I start?<\/i><\/p>\n

Unless you insist on entering literature by strict chronology (and even there, things are terribly tricksy), there is no natural place to begin. With Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz<\/a>? If so, with\u00a0Miramar,\u00a0The Cairo Trilogy,\u00a0<\/i>or\u00a0Children of the Alley<\/i>? Certainly, prize-winning is one way in. Or perhaps with the others on the \u201cArab Nobel shortlist\u201d:\u00a0Yusuf Idris<\/a>, Tayeb Salih<\/a>, and Adonis<\/a>? Although what of\u00a0the author who would\u2019ve been on the list if he hadn\u2019t died in 1987, the wide-ranging, witty\u00a0Tawfiq al-Hakim<\/a>? How you skip the Dean of Arabic Letters,\u00a0Taha Hussein<\/a>?<\/p>\n

With popular 19th century Lebanese novelist Jurji Zaidan, and his recently translated\u00a0Tree of Pearls<\/i><\/a>?\u00a0<\/i>Or even earlier, with the dazzling\u00a0Ahmed Faris al-Shidyaq\u2019s four-volume\u00a0Leg over Leg<\/i><\/a>? Or for goodness sakes, why are we giving poetry the short shrift? What of\u00a0Mahmoud Darwish<\/a>, Saadi Youssef<\/a>, Sargon Boulus<\/a>? You\u2019re not going to miss Boulus, are you?<\/p>\n

Or: Who\u2019s to say you want the serious stuff? Perhaps you\u2019re looking for a fast-paced political thriller (like Ahmed Mourad\u2019s\u00a0Vertigo<\/i><\/a>) or cartoons (Walid Taher\u2019s\u00a0Bit of Air<\/i><\/a>) or arranged-marriage satire (Ghada Abdel Aal\u2019s\u00a0I Want to Get Married!<\/i><\/a>).<\/i><\/p>\n

Already, I\u2019m afraid, I\u2019m plunging deep into the world of too many choices. So instead I will insist. Start with these five books:<\/p>\n

Sonallah Ibrahim\u2019s\u00a0Stealth<\/i><\/b><\/a>,\u00a0<\/i>trans. Hosam Aboul-ela.<\/b><\/p>\n

New Directions is republishing this in 2014<\/a>, lucky for you, otherwise you\u2019d have to pay $200 for an out-of-print version. Why? Even if his political statements of late<\/a> have shaken some, Sonallah Ibrahim has had a tremendous impact on Arabic literature, and this is the most enjoyable of his ouvre. Well, a certain sort of person might enjoy Zaat\u00a0<\/i>or\u00a0The Committee\u00a0<\/i>more, but this is my list, not theirs.\u00a0Also, for those interested, I have a longer list of \u201cthe best books on Egypt<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hassan Blasim\u2019s\u00a0Madman of Freedom Square<\/i><\/b><\/a>,\u00a0<\/i>trans. Jonathan Wright.<\/b><\/p>\n

There is a new Blasim collection out this year from Penguin,\u00a0The Corpse Exhibition,\u00a0<\/i>but it doesn\u2019t have \u201cA Truck from Berlin\u201d\u00a0<\/i>(for instance). Really, the best thing to do is to get all Blasim\u2019s stories. You could tape\u00a0The Iraqi Christ\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Madman\u00a0<\/i>together and put on a new cover that said\u00a0The Collected Stories of Hassan Blasim.\u00a0<\/i>Or something. Why Blasim? Because he\u2019s out there giving a kick in the teeth to what it means to craft a short story, to the Arabic language, and he\u2019s making something new.<\/p>\n

Mourid Barghouti\u2019s\u00a0I Saw Ramallah<\/i><\/b><\/a>,\u00a0<\/i>trans. Ahdaf Soueif<\/b><\/p>\n

Four put this book on their \u201cfive to read before you die<\/a>\u201d list, and it\u2019s easy to see why: poem, memoir, song, story of exile and of Palestine.<\/p>\n

Ibrahim al-Koni\u2019s\u00a0<\/b>Bleeding of the Stone,<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/i>trans.\u00a0May Jayyusi and Christopher Tingley<\/b><\/p>\n

Al-Koni\u2019s classical style is intertwined with sharply contemporary concerns: the environment \u2014 particularly the desert \u2014 and the relationship between human and human, human and animal. Al-Koni has something to teach all of us about literature, human, and animal.<\/p>\n

Hanan al-Shaykh\u2019s\u00a0Story of Zahra<\/i><\/b><\/a>,\u00a0<\/i>trans. Peter Ford<\/b><\/p>\n

On my \u201cfive-book starter kit<\/a>\u201d for Lebanese literature, this was also one of Sinan Antoon\u2019s selections on the \u201cfive before you die<\/a>\u201d list. One of the many excellent novels of the Lebanese civil war. (Whoever made this Goodreads list<\/a> did a good job. Well, for the most part.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M. LYNX-QUALEY: ‘There’s far too much to choose from. Where do I start is?’ a common complaint. So here are a few primers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":30423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,5],"tags":[18045,18040,16910,16815,18044,18046,16821,16690,18043,18042,5459,18041],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30421"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30425,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30421\/revisions\/30425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}