Literature

odern Literature in the Near and Middle East 7 850- 7 970

Robin Ostle, editor

New York and London: Routledge, 1991.248 pages. Routledge/SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) Contemporary Politics and Culture in the Middle East Series. LC 90-44715. ISBN 0-415-05822-8 $59.95.

Review by Marilyn Booth, D. Phil. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Incredible but true: this hasn’t been done before. While several ~

survey-type volumes in English on modem Arabic literature have appeared in the last few years, and similar works exist for other Middle East-based literatures, to my knowledge this volume repre- sents the first attempt to bring together the modem histories of Ara- bic, Turkish, Persian, and Hebrew literary expression for an Eng- lish-speaking audience (although the joumal Edebiyat deserves mention for attempting a similarly inclusive linguistic-regional scope). The endeavor in itself implies an agenda for further compara- tive work, and the essays collected here suggest some lines of inquiry that could usefully be explored in comparative terms, an approach that has hardly been tapped by scholars of these literatures.

Modern Literature in the Near and Middle East is not itself a work of comparative literary study but rather one structured on a series of parallels. Twelve essays by literary specialists each treat one litera- ture in one of a succession of periods; the only sustained comparative

Spring 1993

element is provided by a further three essays on the region’s political and social history that open each chronological section: 1850-1914, “The Age of Translation and Adaptation”; 1914-50, “From Romantic Nationalism to Social Criticism”; and “The Age of Ideology and Po- larization since 1950.”

The overall lack of dialogue amongst the essays makes an im- portant point: these literatures do not appear to have had much of an impact on each other. In each case, interaction with European literary traditions was far more important. But there are some intriguing ex- ceptions. Julie Meisami’s mention of the Turkish influence on early Persian drama, and of Persian translations of early Arabic novels, made this reviewer wonder how many more such examples of re- gional literary interaction there might be, and whether they might hold some significance for conceptualizing the literary histories of the area-the sort of question that this volume nicely raises.

The periodization and attendant thematic foci that organize the collection of essays do not go unquestioned by its contributors. Help- ful in outlining the modem history of creative expression in Arabic, this scheme seems less appropriate to the other literatures, especially Hebrew literature before the founding of Israel. But Tudor Parfitt and David Patterson do weave their discussions of early modem Hebrew literature’s complicated linguistic and geographical trajec- tory successfully around the volume’s outline, using the organiza- tional scheme to highlight this literature’s rather different path. Simi- larly, Saliha Paker’s and Geoffrey Lewis’s essays on Turkish litera- ture in the two earlier periods interrogate the primacy given to trans- lation by the first section’s title, and the prevalence of romanticism sounded by the second section’s heading. At its best, the organiza- tional scheme serves as a focus for acknowledging the complexity of the region’s recent cultural histories, interwoven as they are with a multitude of local expressive traditions and linguistic heritages, and with political and social changes, partly ushered in by sustained co- lonial encounters as well as by less-formal kinds of European domi- nance in the region.

Local expressive traditions-”high,” “low,” and in-between- receive much attention, perhaps culminating in Egyptian writer Edwar al-Kharrat’s forthright and utterly engaging ”insider’s” essay on Arabic literature in the Mashriq since 1950, when he links mod- emist writing to “a whole legacy of Arab culture”:

My claim is that the Arab literary mind was nurtured on the epic, the frankly phantasmagorical, the communal and the non-realist, ranging from ancient self-renovating folklore, to

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Literature

the tales of one thousand and one nights; from the august challenge of mere mundane reality, in temples, churches and mosques that deliberately broke the human- scale per- spective rules, to the abstract, non-figurative calligraphic and ornamental designs-infinite by their very nature, and only in decadence merely ornate; from the old maqama, as purist, formalist, and abstract a work of art as any, to . . . mystical incantations . . . near-inarticulate but immensely communicative. The modernist Arab fiction- writer or poet, therefore, draws on a rich heritage of his own, while dubi- ously reaping the benefits of the modernist achievements of the West. (p. 187)

The interaction with Western literatures, dubious or not, is of course also a major issue throughout-as is ”Europeanization” as both a literary theme and a formal principle. But while several con- tributors probe the shifting meanings of cross-cultural exchange, a question this volume leaves to future works is that of the possible ways in which postcolonial existence in some of these societies, and in others an awareness of European dominance and self-interest, has helped to shape literary expression. Another question alluded to but fleetingly is that of the impact of changing gender roles and emer- gent feminisms on these literatures. More fully treated is the immedi- ate environment, sociological and material, in which textual produc- tion occurs-matters of reception, state and private patronage, cen- sorship, periodical circulation and book production-and here, too, contributors raise further questions that should stimulate compara- tive research.

It is likely that this volume will be read mostly by those study- ing or teaching one of the literatures or linguistic areas that it covers. For such an audience, it would have been useful to include a select bibliography of works in translation for each literature, in addition to the volume’s single bibliography of cited works. Geoffrey Lewis and Cevat Capan risk offering a few lengthy passages of translated prose and poetry in their essays on Turkish literature, and the gamble pays off: the texts bring an immediacy to these particular essays, and this reviewer wanted easily accessible suggestions for further reading. Perhaps this is one small sign of Modern Literature in the Near and MiddZe East’s success in beginning to open up lines of communica- tion, both scholarly and avocational, between some literatures that live in close proximity.

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