Our World: Table of Contents

Issue 004 January 1997: Arab Fiction-nary

Arab, Arabic, Arabian or Arabesques Editorial

by Osama Abusitta

Language, like paint to a portraitist, is the medium of poets and writers. In fine arts, however, artists are not categorized by their mediums but by their styles. In literature, writers are primarily associated with the language then the style. I feel that language is a medium like any other and strong foundations of literary theory do transcend the language. The twentieth century has witnessed the emergence of many Arab poets and writers who have replaced their traditional medium, the Arabic language, with other languages. Some lived in western countries and have adopted those countries' languages, others remained at home but their education was predominantly western as the case is with Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian writers and poets. In the majority of cases the essence of their work remained Arab despite the use of other languages.

The point can be made also by pointing out that using a specific language does not necessarily make that work a part of the culture normally associated with that language. Consider, for example, contemporary Israeli literature, written in Hebrew, which has remained fundamentally Western in structure and spirit despite the Israelis' drive to coin it as Israeli literature. In fact, the staggeringly disproportional number of translations from the Hebrew to English, as opposed to translations from the Arabic, supports the notion that 'Israeli Literature' is indeed more accessible to western readers because it is essentially western.

This issue of Alamouna is dedicated to presenting Arab literature that exists outside the realm of the Arabic language. Among the poets presented are Samuel Hazo, Haas M. Mroue and Michel Sukkarieh who write in English. In fiction we have a selection from a Anton Shammas's Arabesques, written originally in Hebrew and translated by Vivian Eden. 'Letters to Fawwaz' are from Etel Adnan's 'Of Cities and Women'. Adnan writes in both English and French, besides being a superb visual artist. Amin Malouf, whose outstanding novels (Samarcand, Leo L'Africain and others) were written in French, is interviewed in this issue. The pioneer of this genre is discussed by Suheil Bushrei in an essay entitled: 'Khalil Gibran: Poet of the Ecology of Life'.

In the same breath we present a work of art and a piece of music that generally fall in the context of Arab art outside of its traditional mediums. The painting is by Nawal Abdulla from Jordan, who paints in a style of her own and a clip from Arabian Waltz by Rabih Abou-Khalil. In closing, and out of curiosity, we include a short story by Colonel Mummar Qaddafi from a recent collection published in Cairo to surprising public response. The story was translated from the Arabic by Anton Shammas for Harper's magazine.

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