Novelising the Arab revolutions: The Knights of Assassinated Dreams

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the quest for freedom in Ibrahim Al-Koni's novel The Knights of Assassinated Dreams. I argue that the novel introduces freedom as the main catalyst of the Arab revolutions that have swept the Middle East and North Africa since Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation in December 2010. Through the study of the actions of the main characters in this novel, I illustrate how freedom is achieved in the midst of war and disorder during the Libyan Revolution-turned-civil-war. Moreover, I engage the question of the novelisation of the revolution and how The Knights of Assassinated Dreams is a fresh contribution to the ongoing debate about novelisation and aesthetisation of current events. Ṭāha Ḥussein was probably the first Arab literary critic to have discussed the relationship between literature and the revolution as early as 1954. Ḥussein was writing in the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution and his opinion has come to shape the discussion of the literary depiction of the Arab revolutions. Even though most literary critics agree that the literature of urgency (al-adab al-isti‘jāli) is not ‘real’ literature, I read The Knights of Assassinated Dreams as a novel that portrays and reflects the transformative effect of the current revolutionary events on the style and writing of an established author of Arabic literature. Additionally, I demonstrate how the unfolding events are inscribed into the literary work, and elucidate several risks that the authors run in their endeavour to novelise ongoing events.

Keywords:

• revolution
• Maghreb
• Al-Koni
• novel
• freedom
• novelisation

Notes

1. Unless otherwise indicated, all the translations from Arabic and French sources contained in this paper are the author's.

2. The khil‘a is a robe that symbolises the conferral of power and authority upon the person who receives it. It distinguishes its recipient and brings him [it is always a he] glory. The khil‘a, however, always exposes its temporary owner to its inherent risks. The novel portrays the power that comes with the khil‘a as being mostly like a curse that ended up by destroying Asanay's life. Because Asanay lost himself to the lures of power and authority, he was condemned to lose everything that he held so dearly.

3. Mohamed Bouazizi is the Tunisian street vendor whose self-immolation in the poor hinterland locality of Sidi Bouzid sparked the Tunisian revolution against the former president – Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Even though this first account, widely accepted at the inception of the Tunisian revolution, is being now question and debated, Bouazizi remains, in the eyes of many observers, the immediate catalyst of the popular uprising that overthrew President Ben Ali.

4. Rita Sakr makes a somewhat similar reading of Badiou's theorisation of nonexistence under oppression in her previously cited book ‘Anticipating’ The 2011 Arab Uprisings. Sakr's focus, however, is mostly on the socio-economic oppression. Moreover, Sakr's analysis is broader and is applied to a considerable cluster of Arab writers from North Africa and Syria.

5. The following translation of the most-cited part of Abu al-Qāsim al-Shabbi's famous poem was provided by Elliot Colla to the blog arablit.wordpress.com on 16 January 2011:

If, one day, a people desires to live, then fate will answer their call.

And their night will then begin to fade, and their chains break and fall.

For he who is not embraced by a passion for life will dissipate into thin air,

At least that is what all creation has told me, and what its hidden spirits declare … 

6. Gaddafi pronounced these words in a historic, angry televised speech in which he called his supporters to wage an all-out war on his opponents. These very short sentences inspired many rappers in the Maghreb and the Middle East to include them in their songs. They became proverbial for the subversive use of art and music specifically to undermine the hegemony of the political power.