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Abdelrahman Munif Peter Clark The English-reading world is beginning to have access to a major genre of Arabic literature, the literary autobiography Autobiography is often transmuted into stories and novels, as in the works (available in English) of alTayyib Salih and Hanan al-Shaykh. But two recently translated and published memoirs of childhood give us great insight and understanding of the colossal changes that have affected the Middle East during this century Both autobiographies are by masters of Arabic. One is I11e First Well: Bethlehem Boyhood by the late Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, translated by Issa J. Boullata and published by Arkansas University Press, Lafayette, in 1995. The second, which will be discussed here, is Abdelrahman Munif's Story of a City, A Childhood in Amman. Abdelrahman recalls Amman from the late 1930s to the late 1940s. On his fatl1er's side, Abdelrahman (like the Hashirnite ruling family of Jordan) is from the Arabian Peninsula. His mother, however, is from Baghdad. Like Julius Caesar and Munif's childhood in A1n1nan Henry Adams before him, he tells his story in the third person. This gives detachment to the narrative but removes some of the intimacy of a human document. Amman. The siting of the Islamic College beyond was seen as rash and foolhardy Who would send their sons into the middle of the desert? In the 1930s, Amman was a small town nestling around the wadis that led to the Roman theatre and on the lower slopes of some of the hills around. Apart from the modem schools and some technological innovations, the values and way of life must have changed little over the previous half century Population doubled But the Second World War, even more than the First, emphasised the interconnectedness of things. Consumer shortages, radio transmission of news about the successes and reverses of "Abu Ali", known to the rest of the world as Adolf Hitler, and the shadowy appearance of the head of Jordan's army, the Englishman, Glubb Pasha, were reminders that Amman's innocent isolation was over. But what transformed Amman was the arrival in the late forties of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had fled or who had been driven from their homes on the foundation of the State of Israel. Amman's population doubled and urbanisation started to creep over all the surrounding hills. Before 1948 ilie First Circle was the limit of Amman's development on Jabal Traditional values Abd al-Rahman describes his schools and his teachers. Some were martinets, others were inspired mentors of the young. There was a camaraderie among students in the barrack-like and military-style institutions of learning. Secondary education was for a minority, a male minority The females who appear in the book are the transmitters of folk remedies, stories, games and traditional values. Samira Kawar has elegantly translated a compelling tale. The cover of the English edition has one photograph of old Amman. The Arabic edition has a number of photographs that convey something of that different world, Arrunan without satellite television, high-rise buildings or traffic lights (they did not arrive until the 1970s) but where most people knew each other and shared in joys and sorrows, friendships and feuds. Story of a City - A Childhood in Amman by Abdelrahman Munif translated by Samira Kawar Quartet Books, London 1996 by drowning in a Sufi atmosphere, as happened at a certain period? Well, if neither of iliese solutions is adequate, how can we find one to link heritage with the necessities of modernism? How can ilie Arab novel find itself and arrive at modernity? Context of world culture The world in which we live now is connected togeilier in such a complex way that it is difficult for anybody, no matter how much he tries, to function alone or act in solitude. Therefore it's not possible for any culture to separate itself from oilier cultures, or fend iliem off. The difference between any given culture and anoilier lies in its ability to enter the context of world culture on the one hand, and to influence it, on the oilier. Imitating Western techniques and forms alone does not necessarily lead to modernism. Our efforts should be directed toward ilie development of ilie national culture, making use of its specific elements, local and historical, to prove itself ilirough its own remarkable qualities. There are so many dangerous, forbidden subjects to be written about which the Arab novel is too timid to deal with, out of fear in ilie first place from the authorities, or from ilie society at large. Women characters Modernism, then, in the sphere of ilie novel especially, is a clash with society at gut level, a rejection of all constants, a continuous search going 12 19\~u~ 1 ~ October 1998
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beyond what is there, rebelling against restrictions and conventions for the sake of something more human, more just and free. All the women characters in my novels have a political standpoint. Maybe these characters are not as involved in politics as much as the men, but I think some of the women I introduce were -within the frame of age, social status and awareness more politically oriented than men who were actively involved in politics. Let's take, for instance, the character of the mother in East of the Mediterranean: She doesn't belong to a political party, and doesn't claim a political inclination, but every one of her gestures, every standpoint is political because the express a certain conviction, a certain persistence and doggedness in reaching her goal. This is the real political work, whereas belonging to a party might not constitute a real political condition., it might mean be no more than having an identity card, a piece of paper. By the same token, Shireen, in T7w Long-Distance Race is immersed in politics. It is not correct to say they were treating her like a doll, for the simple reason that everybody surrounding Shireen, the men and politicians who were convinced that they were acting independently, were also tools in the hands of others. I don't like to decorate my novels with women just to amuse the reader. Whether woman or man, their political role, for me, is determined by the various considerations that form within a particular situation, within the pattern of relationships that is being developed in the novel. Two kinds of censorship There are two kinds of censorship that stand in the way of the novel: the state's censorship and society's restrictions. If the state's censure is understandable, albeit unacceptable, then what about society's suppressed and incarcerated a it is, and yet wallowing secretl and lavishly in every kind of taboo and scandal that daily life can offer? Meanwhile, the novelist is pre ented from peaking out. Arab society is one of the strangest in the world; it indulges itself secretly in everything and yet is scared of even one word that could be said, directly or indirectly, about this secret life. The novelist's vocation is to go directly there; the novel's mission is to tackle these subjects before everything else, not just for the thrill, but to reveal these matters and bring them into the open as an act of bravery Whatever its subject, the braver the novel, the more it becomes a tool of discovery and revelation, of knowing life and enjoying the positive aspects of it; only in this way can the novel light up the darkness in which such a society dwells. The condition of exile The problem of exile, which becomes more complicated year by year, deserves serious study because it is one of the most distinctive phenomena of the age, especially now when we are more aware of human rights and the electronic revolution has made communication easier between different cultures and peoples, reducing the world, as they say, to a global village. To be exiled means, to begin with, that you stand accused. It's not important what the accusation is, or who is the accuser - that's all irrelevant. What's important is that you have acquired a condition so undeclared and unspecific that the results affect not just the exile but extend to his family, children included, and to his acquaintances and friends most of whom are also exiles, driven by necessity or chance, or various other reasons. If we overlook public exile and scrutinise the situation of writers and artists, if we try to understand the problems and dilemmas and challenges they face in exile, we'll find that the issue becomes more difficult and severe. If writing, and art in general, is fraught with worry and hardship in the first place, then, in exile, it becomes more so, and even dangerous because the adversary can concentrate on his chosen target, and how easy it is to silence the pen with a bullet, to smash the camera with a gun. Cultural enrichment However, we cannot deal negatively with Western culture, which is one of the main sources, if not the most important one, of thought and style and creativity that is dominant today; we cannot deny its influence nor ignore its magnitude. But what could be rejected is not the culture itself, but certain positions and matters of judgement. Just as we reject the fundamental position and its stiff, reactionary stance within our own culture, likewise we have to reject the Orientalist position adopted by some Western writers. Cultural enrichment is born out of variety and enhancement: this means opening up to the other's culture, and dealing with it in a positive way on the condition that each cultural tradition retains its own specific features and distinctions. The history of culture has always been comprised of this exchange and cross-fertilisation which should continue, however, without overbearing fanaticism or compromise. Human knowledge will become a lot poorer if one culture should dominate and reduce all the others to mere echoes of itself. A true mirror Translating Arabic literature is at an increase, and this is something !Pl~"J~~f' b October 1998 13

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Abdelrahman Munif

Peter Clark

The English-reading world is beginning to have access to a major genre of Arabic literature, the literary autobiography Autobiography is often transmuted into stories and novels, as in the works (available in English) of alTayyib Salih and Hanan al-Shaykh. But two recently translated and published memoirs of childhood give us great insight and understanding of the colossal changes that have affected the Middle East during this century

Both autobiographies are by masters of Arabic. One is I11e First Well: Bethlehem Boyhood by the late Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, translated by Issa J. Boullata and published by Arkansas University Press, Lafayette, in 1995. The second, which will be discussed here, is Abdelrahman Munif's Story of a City, A Childhood in Amman.

Abdelrahman recalls Amman from the late 1930s to the late 1940s. On his fatl1er's side, Abdelrahman (like the Hashirnite ruling family of Jordan) is from the Arabian Peninsula. His mother, however, is from Baghdad. Like Julius Caesar and

Munif's childhood in A1n1nan Henry Adams before him, he tells his story in the third person. This gives detachment to the narrative but removes some of the intimacy of a human document.

Amman. The siting of the Islamic College beyond was seen as rash and foolhardy Who would send their sons into the middle of the desert?

In the 1930s, Amman was a small town nestling around the wadis that led to the Roman theatre and on the lower slopes of some of the hills around. Apart from the modem schools and some technological innovations, the values and way of life must have changed little over the previous half century

Population doubled

But the Second World War, even more than the First, emphasised the interconnectedness of things. Consumer shortages, radio transmission of news about the successes and reverses of "Abu Ali", known to the rest of the world as Adolf Hitler, and the shadowy appearance of the head of Jordan's army, the Englishman, Glubb Pasha, were reminders that Amman's innocent isolation was over. But what transformed Amman was the arrival in the late forties of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had fled or who had been driven from their homes on the foundation of the State of Israel. Amman's population doubled and urbanisation started to creep over all the surrounding hills. Before 1948 ilie First Circle was the limit of Amman's development on Jabal

Traditional values

Abd al-Rahman describes his schools and his teachers. Some were martinets, others were inspired mentors of the young. There was a camaraderie among students in the barrack-like and military-style institutions of learning. Secondary education was for a minority, a male minority The females who appear in the book are the transmitters of folk remedies, stories, games and traditional values.

Samira Kawar has elegantly translated a compelling tale. The cover of the English edition has one photograph of old Amman. The Arabic edition has a number of photographs that convey something of that different world, Arrunan without satellite television, high-rise buildings or traffic lights (they did not arrive until the 1970s) but where most people knew each other and shared in joys and sorrows, friendships and feuds.

Story of a City - A Childhood in Amman by Abdelrahman Munif translated by Samira Kawar Quartet Books, London 1996

by drowning in a Sufi atmosphere, as happened at a certain period? Well, if neither of iliese solutions is adequate, how can we find one to link heritage with the necessities of modernism? How can ilie Arab novel find itself and arrive at modernity?

Context of world culture

The world in which we live now is connected togeilier in such a complex way that it is difficult for anybody, no matter how much he tries,

to function alone or act in solitude. Therefore it's not possible for any culture to separate itself from oilier cultures, or fend iliem off. The difference between any given culture and anoilier lies in its ability to enter the context of world culture on the one hand, and to influence it, on the oilier. Imitating Western techniques and forms alone does not necessarily lead to modernism.

Our efforts should be directed toward ilie development of ilie national culture, making use of its specific elements, local and historical, to prove itself ilirough its own remarkable qualities.

There are so many dangerous, forbidden subjects to be written about which the Arab novel is too timid to deal with, out of fear in ilie first place from the authorities, or from ilie society at large.

Women characters

Modernism, then, in the sphere of ilie novel especially, is a clash with society at gut level, a rejection of all constants, a continuous search going

12 19\~u~ 1 ~ October 1998

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