LITERATURE AND NATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

jeff shalanintellectual can work to silence the expression of other, perhaps conflicting,needs and desires – especially those of women and the peasantry, who togetherare assigned, or consigned to, a central symbolic role in that vision.If Zainab marks the literary inauguration of Egypt’s first phase of culturalnationalism, Tawq al-Hakim’s ÆAwdat al-ruh represents its culminating artisticachievement. Written in 1927, ÆAwdat al-ruh met with immediate popularacclaim when it was finally published six years later; and, according to severalcritics, it was the first Arabic novel to warrant comparison with the best of theEuropean tradition (Brugman 1984: 281; Moosa 1983: 179; Sakkut 1971: 89).Although al-Hakim is better known as a prolific playwright, and perhaps themost renowned dramatist in modern Arabic literature, 27 ÆAwdat al-ruh remainshis most influential work. Gamal ÆAbd al-Nasser himself read it as a boy, andwas said to have been not only moved but purportedly influenced by its populistdepiction of the 1919 revolution. 28 And al-Risala, the leading magazine of theday, even proclaimed it to be the first genuine Egyptian novel (Brugman 1984:281). Given the appearance of Zainab twenty years earlier, however, and severalother novels in between, such a claim cannot be substantiated. But ÆAwdat alruhand its author do bear other striking parallels with their respective forebearshere.Like Haykal before him, al-Hakim was the son of a wealthy landowningfamily who passed his early years in the rural environs of the peasantry. Al-Hakim also studied law in Cairo and later in Paris, which is where both writerswrote their respective works. And from what can be inferred concerningHaykal’s decision to republish Zainab, al-Hakim’s decision to publish ÆAwdat alruhwas motivated by similar considerations. In his own words, ‘the countryneeded the novel form to give shape to new subjects which were necessary inthis important phase of our development’ (quoted in Brugman 1984: 281).ÆAwdat al-ruh is, likewise, an autobiographical text that recounts the author’scoming of age, in this case during the year or two leading up to the events of1919. And though al-Hakim never championed a particular political party orbecame actively involved in politics himself, ÆAwdat al-ruh bears the imprint ofHaykal’s own profound influence on al-Hakim’s intellectual development andhis nationalist orientation. Indeed, ÆAwdat al-ruh picks up on and developsmany of the same thematic concerns that we find in Zainab – relationshipsbetween the classes and sexes in a modern setting, the concomitant need forsocial reform, and, most importantly, the role of the peasantry and women inthe construction of a national community.But the two novels also differ from one another in notable ways. In its highlyrealistic and comically endearing treatment of character, if not necessarily inthe symbolic content of its subject matter, ÆAwdat al-ruh departs from its romanticpredecessor. And al-Hakim’s rich and witty use of dialogue, evidence of his— 144 —www.taq.ir