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ALAWIYA SOBH allusions which, making its way past censorship and national borders, delves deep into the stain of violence that sickens the Arab psyche. The novel is based on a conflict between art, love and life on the one hand, and disease, violence and religious fundamentalism on the other. The battleground on which the conflict plays out is at once the human body and the body of Arab society, where deliverance is found only by those who cling to their passion for life, art and freedom. In this novel, Sobh exemplifies the disease afflicting Arab states that languish beneath the weight of violent religious fundamentalism through the body of her protagonist, Basma. After developing a severe neurological disorder, Basma’s condition deteriorates whenever she witnesses news broadcasts showing the orgies of rape, murder and torture being indulged in by the blind followers of tyrannical, criminal organizations. At one point in the narrative, Sobh compels her heroine to wonder: “Did I make myself ill, or is it my country that’s made me ill?” (p. 20). Sickened by ISIS-like organizations (Sunni and Shia alike), Arab citizens have been robbed of their passion for freedom, culture and beauty. So long as these sightless, brutal entities exist, there will be no well-being, safety or health for anyone. The Arabs who are sick and imprisoned today are the same Arabs who once enjoyed centuries of flourishing creativity, art and culture. Aimless, displaced, and disease-stricken, life is as much a curse to them as death is. Describing her condition, the protagonistnarrator says: “Sometimes I’m lost to myself. I lose track of when I was born, of how old I am. I even lose track of my here and now. I can’t tell where I am: am I in some wrecked, bloodstained room in Syria, or Iraq, or Libya, or Yemen? Or am I in a country where this room is all that’s left?” (p. 10). To Love Life is a narrative cry of rage in the face of alien, absurd religious fundamentalisms. It is a novel in search of the Arab soul, and in search of a way to cleanse it of the stains of blood, violence and obscurantism that have taken it over in recent years. In the following exchange, conducted in Beirut, Katia al-Tawil interviews Alawiya Sobh about her newest novel and the ideas she hopes to convey through its characters and events. 70 BANIPAL 70 – SPRING 2021
page 73
ALAWIYA SOBH KT: How long did it take you to write this novel? And what are the main difficulties you encountered in the writing process? AS:This novel took me around ten years to write. In fact, I started it while I was working on another book. Then I developed a neurological illness, and the only thing I felt able to write about was my body and the spasms and pains I was enduring. The first five years of the process were extremely difficult, as it was hard for me to concentrate. I was determined to write every day, but because of my inability to concentrate, I didn’t produce anything coherent. Some time after that, I came across more than thirty notebooks filled with disjointed words and phrases. The novel had been forming itself in my head during that period, and my imagination had been ignited in a powerful way, but it was only later that I wrote what I did. KT: In his review of your book, literary critic Abdo Wazen refuses to call it an autobiography. Do you agree with him on this point? And to what extent does your heroine Basma resemble you? AS: Abdo is right. It isn’t an autobiography. Everything beyond Basma’s physical suffering is fictional. I used to wonder to myself: if I’d developed this illness as a dancer, what would have happened to me? Consequently, I chose to have Basma be a dancer who suffered from the same health issue that I had. Everything having to do with the Lebanese war and the Arab wars in general, as well as with Basma’s pain and her struggle with illness, is the outcome of my own experience. The ugly, devastating wars that were ravaging the Arab world had shaken me deeply, and I detected a resemblance between my pain-racked body and the cities collapsing around me. KT:The sick body in your novel becomes a battlefield between the passion for life and destructive religious fundamentalisms. In other words, it represents today’s sick, exhausted Arab states. Are you drawing a parallel between betrayal by the body and betrayal by political parties, religions, states and societies? Do you intend for the pain of the body to enter into a struggle with the pain we experience in Arab countries? AS: In this novel, I express my anger at ISIS and Hezbollah equally, since, in my view, these racist, doctrinally bigoted parties BANIPAL 70 – SPRING 2021 71

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ALAWIYA SOBH

allusions which, making its way past censorship and national borders, delves deep into the stain of violence that sickens the Arab psyche. The novel is based on a conflict between art, love and life on the one hand, and disease, violence and religious fundamentalism on the other. The battleground on which the conflict plays out is at once the human body and the body of Arab society, where deliverance is found only by those who cling to their passion for life, art and freedom.

In this novel, Sobh exemplifies the disease afflicting Arab states that languish beneath the weight of violent religious fundamentalism through the body of her protagonist, Basma. After developing a severe neurological disorder, Basma’s condition deteriorates whenever she witnesses news broadcasts showing the orgies of rape, murder and torture being indulged in by the blind followers of tyrannical, criminal organizations. At one point in the narrative, Sobh compels her heroine to wonder: “Did I make myself ill, or is it my country that’s made me ill?” (p. 20).

Sickened by ISIS-like organizations (Sunni and Shia alike), Arab citizens have been robbed of their passion for freedom, culture and beauty. So long as these sightless, brutal entities exist, there will be no well-being, safety or health for anyone. The Arabs who are sick and imprisoned today are the same Arabs who once enjoyed centuries of flourishing creativity, art and culture. Aimless, displaced, and disease-stricken, life is as much a curse to them as death is. Describing her condition, the protagonistnarrator says: “Sometimes I’m lost to myself. I lose track of when I was born, of how old I am. I even lose track of my here and now. I can’t tell where I am: am I in some wrecked, bloodstained room in Syria, or Iraq, or Libya, or Yemen? Or am I in a country where this room is all that’s left?” (p. 10).

To Love Life is a narrative cry of rage in the face of alien, absurd religious fundamentalisms. It is a novel in search of the Arab soul, and in search of a way to cleanse it of the stains of blood, violence and obscurantism that have taken it over in recent years.

In the following exchange, conducted in Beirut, Katia al-Tawil interviews Alawiya Sobh about her newest novel and the ideas she hopes to convey through its characters and events.

70 BANIPAL 70 – SPRING 2021

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