THE SHORT STORIES OF ZAKARIA TAMER
ABDO WAZEN
Hammering a new style into the Arabic short story
Zakaria Tamer spent his life writing the story, forsaking any other type of literature. The story was his one domain, which he took up with courage and skill. He created a previously unknown story world, using language immersed in intensity and poetry, fabricating characters most original and human if at times joining the ranks of “butchers”. Tamer brought to bear harsh reality – of which he was a victim in his youth – together with a vast imagination that cast a magical quality on people and events.
Zakaria Tamer joined the writing world through the door of the blacksmith’s trade, which he began practising at 13 years of age. This forced him to leave school, like many children in his poor Damascus neighbourhood. When Tamer moved to the “profession” of writing, he did not abandon the hammer with which he had struck metal, “rather, he remained a violent blacksmith, but in a country of clay,” as his friend Mohammad al-Maghut once said about him. The young writer rose quickly in the field of writing, through his stories and satirical essays. He began working for magazines and was appointed editor of Al-Mawqif al-Adabi, published monthly by the Syrian Ministry of Culture. When Tamer published his first collection of stories, The Neighing of the White Horse (1960), he captured the attention of critics, writers and readers. With these first stories, he was able to find his place in the Arabic short story movement, whose pioneers included Yusuf Idris, Naguib Mahfouz, Tawfiiq Yusuf Awwad, Youssef al-Sharouni,
78 BANIPAL 53 – SUMMER 2015