An Introduction to the History of Modern Arabic Literature in Egypt (Studies in Arabic Literature, 10) 9004071725, 9789004071728

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF MODERN ARABIC LITERATURE IN EGYPT

STUDIES IN ARABIC LITERATURE SUPPLEMENTS TO THE JOURNAL OF ARABIC LITERATURE EDITED BY M. M. BADAWI, University of Oxford P. CACHIA, Columbia University, New York M. C. LYONS, University of Cambridge J. N. MATTOCK, University of Glasgow VOLUME X

LEIDEN

E.J. BRILL 1984

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF MODERN ARABIC LITERATURE IN EGYPT

BY

j. BRUGMAN

LEIDEN

E.J. BRILL 1984

Published with financial support from the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (Z.W.O.)

ISBN 90 04 071725 Copyright 1984 by E.

J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche or a'!Y other means without written permission from the publisher PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

CONTENTS Preface .................................................

IX

List of Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

XVI

I. The beginnings of the Renaissance .................... . 1. The historical background ........................ . 2. Mul:tammad 'Ali's dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. The nah¢ah ...................... , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. al-Waqa't al-mi$rryah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. l;Iasan al-'Attar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. al-Tahtawi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 8 13 15 18

II. Neoclassicists ...................................... 1. Introduction..................................... 2. al-Bariidi ....................................... 3. IsmaIl Sabri. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. Shawqi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. l;Iafi? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6. Other neoclassicists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. Khalil Matran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

26 26 28 33 35 45 51 56

III. The rise of modern prose ............................ 1. Introduction..................................... 2. 'Ali Mubarak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. Mul:tammad al-Muwaylil:ti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4. Other neo-maqamahs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. eAbdallah Fikri .................................. 6. Mul:tammad Tawfiq al-Bakri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. al-Manfaliiti..................................... 8. al-Rafiei ........................................

63 63 65 69 73 77 80 83 88

IV. The Diwan School. ................................. 1. Introduction..................................... 2. The significance of the mahgar ...................... 3. Shukri.......................................... 4. al-eAqqad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5. al-Mazini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6. Rami...........................................

94 94 106 112 121 138 147

VI

CONTENTS

V. Apollo ............................................ 1. Introduction..................................... 2. Abu Shadl ...................................... 3. Nagl ......................... ..... . .......... .. 4. eA11 Mabmud Taha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5. a1-Hamsharl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6. Mabmud !:lasan Ismau .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 7. Prosodic developments ..................... < • • • • • • 8. Literary movements ..............................

151 151 158 167 173 181 184 188 198

VI. The early development of the novel and the short story ... 1. The novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2. The short story .................................. 3. The development of a new prose style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4. Translations..................................... 5. Gurgl Zaydan ................................... 6. Faral) Antun .................................... 7. Yaequb Sarruf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

205 205 212 213 215 218 224 228

VII. The modern novel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1. al-Garzdah and al-Sufiir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2. Haykal ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3. Mul)ammad Taymur ............................. 4. Other writers of the Sufiir group ....................

232 232 234 244 246

VIII. al-Madrasah al-l)adlthah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1. Introduction..................................... 2. Mal)mud Tahir Lashln . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3. Mal)mud Taymur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4. Yal)ya !:laqql . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

249 249 252 254 263

IX. Further developments of the novel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1. Introduction..................................... 2. al-Mazinl and al-eAqqad .......................... 3. Taha !:lusayn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4. Tawfiq al-!:laklm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5. Other Egyptian realists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6. Naglb Mal)fii? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 7. Nationalism and history. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

269 269 270 273 276 289 293 306

X. Early literary criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 321 1. Introduction..................................... 321

CONTENTS

2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

VII

I:Iusayn al-Mar~afi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. The beginnings of literary history ................... Literary theory .................................. The prefaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Practical criticism ................................

324 327 330 332 334

XI. Literary criticism in the twentieth century .............. 1. Introduction..................................... 2. Al;lmad Lutfi al-Sayyid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3. The criticism of the Dzwan School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4. The French inspiration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5. Abmad 1)ayf ............................. . . . . . .. 6. Mubammad I:Iusayn Haykal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 7. Taha I:Iusayn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 8. Abmad al-Shayib ................................

338 338 338 344 354 355 357 360 377

XII. Further developments ............................... 1. Introduction..................................... 2. Abmad al-Zayyat ................................ 3. Abmad Amin ............................. ....... 4. Sal amah Miisa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5. Mubammad Mandiir .............................

380 380 382 387 393 402

General Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1. Arabic works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2. Works in European languages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3. Bibliographies .......................................

411 411

Index........... .. .. ... .......... ........... ............

427

421 425

PREFACE This book has its origin in lectures on modern Arabic literature in Egypt with the aim of providing students at the university of Leiden with an historical background to their reading material. It is, consequently, no more-and no less-than an introduction to the history of this literature. It is, in other words, intended primarily for those who are able to read modern Arabic literature or on their way ·to do so, that is to say, for colleagues and future colleagues. Though I hope naturally that non-Arabists will be able to find some information to their liking in these pages I have on the whole refrained from translating Arabic terms and titles in the text, for colleagues can do without such a translation and students can use a dictionary. I have taken for granted that the reader has a superficial knowledge of classical Arabic literature, although I realize that owing to the way the study of Arabic is organized in many universities this may be wanting in students. Still, I thought it would be irritating to read necessarily superficial expositions of authors or literary terms every time when a classical author of a technical term occurs in the text-equally irritating as pedantic explanatory notes on figures such as, for instance, Victor Hugo or literary movements like European romanticism, whenever these are mentioned. Since my lectures were intended as a background to the reading of certain texts, information about the authors of these texts, about their lives and the genesis of their works, was given in the first place. In this book, naturally, I have tried to do more than simply compile a list of writers, together with their biographies and bibliographies. If anything, historiography is a matter of imposing order on certain phenomena and I have tried to distinguish periods, movements and developments transcending individual writers. But I realize that the origin is still visible and I have not tried to hide it. I have included a short biography of each writer, emphasizing the information which seemed relevant for his work, for it goes without saying that the relevance of biographical information varies for each writer. With a neoclassicist like Isma lJ. SabrI, knowledge of the course of his life is scarcely relevant for an understanding of his poetry, even though it is curious to see how his studies in France are not at all reflected in his work. On the other hand, with neo-romantics like aleAqqad and al-MazinI, their lives and their personal histories are very important for an appreciation of their poetry. This historical approach also means that I have not extensively quoted

x

PREFACE

the works of the authors in question. Only when they were clarifying for other than literary reasons I have given quotations. I was afraid to lapse too easily into the manner of the ancient Arabic critics who often restrict their expositions to lengthy quotations over many pages, interspersed only by statements like "this is an excellent poem" and "this is also an excellent poem". The task of the literary historian being, in my view, a limited one, it does not necessarily include a aesthetic judgment on the literature he is dealing with. This book is meant as no more than a tool for the reader of modern Arabic literature; it assumes in other words that he will indeed read this literature. In such a set-up quotations are mostly superfluous and might even create the illusion that it is not necessary to read the works in question. Naturally, the question will be raised whether it is possible to treat Egyptian literature in isolation from that of other Arab countries. Though I originally intended to write a history of modern Arabic literature as a whole I gradually came to realize that this would be far too ambitiousnot only because of the scope of the subject, and the lack of preparatory studies, but also because modern literature in the individual Arab countries has developed in widely different ways. The beginnings of what may be called modern literature vary widely from country to country, the degree of Western influence is very different from one Arab country to another, the positions of religious minorities in these countries are highly different and their political histories are almost as diverse as their climats. During the period under review (the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century) the ties of Egypt with the other Arab countries were loosened and in many ways the country developed in isolation from the rest of the Arab world. However, although this state of affairs justifies a separate view of the literary history of Egypt, it does not imply a judgment on Arab nationalism. Unlike many nationalist ideologists, I am not inclined to date the Arab national unity, or at any rate Arab nationalism, a little earlier than can historically be justified and the present study will show that Egyptian literature during the nineteenth century in many respects developed in its own way. On the other hand, I think the reader will also come to recognize that from the thirties onwards, Egypt became increasingly aware of the rest of the Arab world, in a literary respect as well-indeed so much so that for the most recent period a separate treatment of Egyptian literary history could hardly be justified. As regards the period discussed here, however, I believe that it can be described in isolation without any major distorting effects. This does not mean that during the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century Egypt remained hermetically closed to her Arab neigh-

PREFACE

XI

bours. The influence of for example the Lebanese immigrants around the turn of the century is sufficiently known. I have also found it necessary to insert a paragraph about the impact of the writings of the Arab immigrants to North America. Other Arabs, too, played a part in Egyptian literary life, but were, more or less, absorbed in Egyptian culture. Thus the Lebanese Gurgi Zaydan and the Hadrami 'Ali Bakathir fit completely within the Egyptian context. I have not tried to choose a necessarily fictitious starting point for modern literature in Egypt, however tempting it was to select 1850 since I end around 1950. After a short survey of the historical background I have included a fairly detailed account of neoclassicism, starting with al-Barudi. But this should not be taken to mean that I consider the work of al-Barudi as the beginning of modern literature. The reader will notice that alTahtawi, too, has been discussed in some detail though he has little to do with neoclassicism and indeed precedes al-Barudi by one generation. My story ends around the end of the first half of the twentieth century for various reasons. In the first place one cannot very well write a history of events that are too recent. I do not regard contemporary history as a contradictio in terminis but I do believe that the contemporary and the modern each have their own requirements. This is why I wanted to end well before the present time. Secondly, the fifties saw indeed a revolutionary development in Egyptian literature, especially in poetry, because free verse seems to have carried the day in Egypt since then. This makes the year 1950 an obvious conclusion, at least for poetry. Thirdly, the fifties were a period of great political and social change in Egypt. The revolution of 1952, which originally seemed not much more than a military coup, in the course of the fifties developed into a revolution-if this term is permissible for something to gradual-which brought about drastic changes in the socio-economic structure ofthe country. The state began to playa predominant role in the field of publishing and of journalism. The regime soon manifested itself as Arab-nationalist, with the short-lived union between Egypt and Syria (1958-1961) as its culminating point. In 1961 a form of socialism was introduced. More importantly, perhaps, the men of letters were not able to escape from the slightly forced optimism which characterized public life in Egypt between the revolution of 1952 and the defeat against Israel in 1967. These changes in the social background and the intellectual climate since 1952 make the choice of this year as the closing one less arbitrary. This does not mean, however, that I have dropped the curtain precisely on July 22, 1952. Wherever it has seemed useful I have supplied information on the careers of the writers under review also after this year. But on the whole I have restricted myself to writers whose most important work was published before the revolution,

XII

PREFACE

with the exception of N aglb Ma.bfiiz, in this respect a typical mukhar/ram, who produced important work both before and after 1952. The present study is restricted to poetry and prose in standard Arabic. The reason why I have not included works in the vernacular is not that these are of less significance in themselves, but that literature in the vernacular functions at a different level than that of works in standard Arabic, and therefore requires separate treatment. The applies to other forms of literature than the customary ones, such as children's books, detective novels and the like, which also arose during the period under review. Finally, although many writers included in this survey also wrote plays, drama too deserves a separate discussion, in which not only published plays but also the unpublished ones should be included. The heaviest decision, especially in a survey which is based upon individual writers, is to leave out certain writers and, in a sense, thus relegate them into oblivion. However, in order not to expand the book even more than I already have done, I sometimes have had to make a choice. In doing so, I have let myself be guided as much as possible by the views of the contemporaries-however difficult these views might be to ascertainas well as by those oftoday's critics. In other words: I have included those writers who were considered important by their contemporaries or are valued, in retrospect, by present-day Arabic critics, rather than those whom I prefer myself. Thus, I discussed Isma'il Sabri, who played a certain role in his day, although in retrospect his importance is not very great, as well as the 'Ubayd brothers, who were quickly forgotten but who have found appreciation in recent years. Although I realize that some degree of subjectivity remains inevitable in these matters, I do hope that my own prejudices may have had a positive effect only and that I shall be blamed for having discussed too many rather than too few modern writers. At the same time I realize that the present book ultimately reflects the views and tastes of a reader educated in Europe and not in an Arabic speaking country, even though I believe that my point of view does not differ radically from that of modern Egyptian critics. Some Egyptian readers may be irritated by too great an emphasis on Western literary influences and may find the amount of information on translations from Western languages out of proportion. On the other hand, I hope that my Arab readers may be interested precisely in the views of a Western student of their literature. I have tried to see my task in the widest possible perspective. This means, among other things, that I have not only consulted books but also, as systematically as possible, magazines and newspapers. Fortunately, lately more and more scholars are beginning to realize that it is impossible to get to know Egyptian literature from books only, and that much of the

PREFACE

XIII

literary life of the country is to be found in the magazines and newspapers. I have systematically read through the major magazines, such as al-Hilal, al-Muqtataf and al-Risalah, as well as less widely distributed ones, like Raw4at al-Madaris and al-Bayan. Of course, I have paid special attention to the publications connected with literary schools or movements, such as alSufir and Apollo. These periodicals, and many others, were not always easy to consult in the first place because of the lack of reliable indices--alMuqtataf is the only one with a usable index-but also because of the inaccessibility of many of these magazines. Monographs on separate periodicals are sadly lacking: the book by eAbd aI-Ghani I;Iasan and al-Dasuqi on Raw¢at al-Madaris is an exception. Similar difficulties have thwarted my ambitions regarding the bibliographies. Initially I planned to supply detailed information not only on the first editions of the works enumerated in the various bibliographies but also the re-impressions and the re-editions. However, soon I discovered that this was not feasible. I have, therefore, only listed the first editions (which were not always easy to ascertain either) only occasionally adding some information on further editions. A book created in the way described above is what German scholars used to call a Versuch and I do not wish to regard at as more than an introduction. It does not claim to be the final word on the history of modern Egyptian literature up to 1952. But it will, I hope, show that Egyptian literature is a living literature indeed, a fascinating part of the culture of a people which, upon achieving its independence, had to come to terms with many problems, among which the modernization of its literary heritage. Looking back upon this period of Egyptian literary history, I now see it as one of great expectations and of a firm belief in progress, a belief which perhaps occasionally went together with a tendency to ignore the problems which the great mass of the population were confronting. Egyptian authors of today are more aware of what goes on around them but their work, with all its sophistication, no longer has the charm of their predecessors' optimism. In concluding this preface I wish to thank the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Pure Research (ZWO), which through generous financial contributions had made it possible for this book to appear in the form in which it is now presented to the reader. I also owe a great debt of gratitude to the Netherlands Institute for Archaeology and Arabic Studies in Cairo, where I have often been able to stay and work, and which has always been most helpful in providing information. I thank Mr Yusuf al-Sharuni for reading the manuscript and for generously advising me. Needless to say, the responsibility for the views expressed in this book is entirely mine.

XIV

PREFACE

My special thanks are due to Christine Oberman, who performed the ungrateful task of translating the book into English, and to Ethel Portnoy, who was willing to further polish the English, thus protecting me from many a pitfall. I am grateful to the secretaries of my department in the university, Mrs A. Rosheuvel and Mrs M. van Die, for their painstaking work in typing out the manuscript with its numerous transliterations. Finally I thank my wife, without whose patient forbearance and critical but loving eye this work would probably never have seen print.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS A H M

Apollo al-Hilal al-Muqtataf

AI EO BEO BSOS IC JA JAL JAOS JRAS MEA MEJ MES MIDEO MO OM REI WI

Annales de l'Institut d'Etudes Orientales d'Alger Bulletin des Etudes Orientales de l'Institut Fran