‘Literary Springs’ in Libyan Literature: Contributions of Writers to the Country's Emancipation

Abstract

Much of Arab literature can be considered the dīwān (register) of Arab people's history, which records pages both of its past and present. For this reason, the Arab Spring was certainly not an unexpected event but rather was foretold in literary works reflecting the discontent Arab people experienced under dictatorial regimes. In Libya, the seeds of the ‘Arab Spring’ can be found in the literary activity of some poets and writers who, since the beginning of Qadhdhafi's rise, were committed to rebelling against the dictatorship and all its social and political abuses through their writing. Therefore, Libyan literature can be considered as a magnifying glass able to focus on the social and political reality that Libya has experienced in the last century. This article aims at analyzing how Libyan writers have contributed to the country's emancipation before and during Qadhdhafi's regime and to provide an outline of the literary springs that have occurred in Libyan literature since 1951 and which have accompanied the most important developments in Libya's recent history.

Keywords::

• Arab Spring
• exile literature
• Libyan literature
• literary springs
• opposition literature
• prison literature
• Qadhdhafi

Notes

¹ For an overview of the Arab Spring see H. Dabashi (2012) The Arab Spring. The End of Postcolonialism (London and New York: Zed Books); and G. Joffé (2011) The Arab Spring in North Africa: Origins and Prospects, The Journal of North African Studies, Special Issue: North Africa's Arab Spring, 16, 4 (December), pp. 507–532. On the specifics of the Libyan revolution, see M. Capasso (2013) Understanding Libya's ‘Revolution’ through Transformation of the Jamahiriyya into a State of Exception, Middle East Critique, 22(2), pp. 115–128; and A. Brahimi (2011) Libya's Revolution, The Journal of North African Studies, 16(4), pp. 605–624.

² R. Ayadi & C. Sessa (2011) What Scenarios for the Euro-Mediterranean in 2030 in the Wake of the Post-Arab Spring? MEDPRO Policy Papers, 2. Available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id = 2000645, accessed September 18, 2014.

³ E. Diana (2013) Libyan Narrative in the New Millennium: Features of Literature on Change, La rivista di Arablit, III, 5, p. 27. Available at: http://www.arablit.it/rivista_arablit/Numero5_2013/02_diana.pdf, accessed September 18, 2014.

⁴ D. Vandewalle (2012) A History of Modern Libya, 2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press), p. 72.

⁵ K. H. al-Maqhūr (1999) Mukhtārāt min qisas [Selections of short-stories] (Misrātah: Dār al-anīs li ’l-tibā‘ah wa ’l-nashr wa ’l-tawzī‘), pp. 47–59.

⁶ K. al-Tikbālī (1976) al-A‘lām al-kāmilah [Full personalities] (Tūnis-Tarābulus: al-Dār al-‘arabiyyah li ’l-kitāb), pp. 118–124.

⁷ Although Abū Zaqyah wrote this short story in the 1960s, it only was published in 1978. See A. Zaqyah (1978) Farīq najdah [Rescue team] (Tūnis-Tarābulus: al-Dār al-‘arabiyyah li ’l-kitāb), pp. 19–26.

⁸ M. F. Siyālah (1961) I‘tirāfāt insān (al-Iskandariyyah: Dār al-sharq al-awsat li ’l-tibā‘ah wa ’l-nashr). Actually, there are different opinions concerning the date of birth of the novel in Libya; see E. Diana (2008) La letteratura della Libia dall'epoca coloniale ai nostri giorni [Libyan literature from the colonial era to nowadays], pp. 101–106 (Roma: Carocci).

⁹ See A. al-Faytūrī (2011) ‘Itr al-nazwah fī ’l-shi‘r al-nisā'ī al-lībī [Impetus in female Libyan poetry], October 11, 2011. Available at: http://www.tieob.com/2011/10/31, accessed September 18, 2014.

¹⁰ H. Chapin Metz (1987) Libya a Historical and Cultural Overview, in H. C. Metz (ed.) Libya: A Country Study, p. 85 (Washington, DC: Library of Congress). Available at: http://libyadiary.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/libya1.pdf, accessed September 18, 2014.

¹¹ For more about the contributions of female Libyan writers to the country's emancipation, see E. Diana (2008) La letteratura della Libia dall'epoca coloniale ai nostri giorni, pp. 133–152.

¹² al-Sadiq al-Nayhūm (2001) Min Makkah ilà hunā (Tarābulus: Dār tālah li ’l-tibā ‘ah wa ’l-nashr).

¹³ The novel has been translated into Italian. See al-Sadiq al-Nayhum (2007) Da La Mecca a qui, trans. by E. Diana & M. Galiero (Torino: Le Nuove Muse).

¹⁴ Incident recorded in F. Adly (2012) La rivoluzione libica. Dall'insurrezione di Bengasi alla morte di Gheddafi [the Libyan revolution: From the insurrection in Benghazi to the death of Qadhdhafi], p. 43 (Milano: il Saggiatore).

¹⁵ Metz, Libya a Historical and Cultural Overview, p. 40.

¹⁶ Ibid. pp. 40–41.

¹⁷ See K. Darwīsh (2011), Rāshid al-Sanūsī… amīr al-thawrah al-lībīyyah [Rāshid al-Sanūsī… prince of Libyan revolution], p. 10. al-Quds al-‘arabī, March 24, 2011.

¹⁸ For more on adab al-manfà in Libya, see E. Diana (2013) Libyan Narrative in the New Millenium: Features of Literature on Change, pp. 28–39.

¹⁹ Actually, prison literature is a literary genre that involves the entire Arab world. See L. Haddād (2006) Zinzānah bi-lā ğudrān, mukhtārāt min al-adab al-‘arabī al-maktūb dākhil al-suğūn [Prison cell without walls, selections of Arabic literature written in prison] (Bayrūt: al-Dār al-‘arabiyyah li ’l-‘ulūm); S. Ma‘ūsh (2003) Ši‘r al-suğūn fī al-adab al-‘arabī al-hadīth wa ’l-mu‘āsir [Prison poetry in modern and contemporary Arabic literature] (Bayrūt: Dār al-nahdah al-‘arabiyyah li ’l-tibā‘ah wa ’l-našr); and R. Allen (1995) Arabic Fiction and the Quest for freedom, Journal of Arabic Literature, 26(1–2), pp. 37–49.

²⁰ Metz, Libya, A Historical and Cultural Overview, pp. 40–41.

²¹Libya al-Mustaqbal (2012) ‘Shā‘ir lībī: al-Qadhdhāfī hāsara al-shi‘r wa ’l-ibdā‘ wa naktub qasā'idanā bi-asmā’ musta‘ārah’ [Libyan Poet: Qadhdhafi Besieged Poetry and Creativity, and we write our poems under Pseudonyms], January 31, 2012. Available at: http://libya-al-mostakbal.org/news/clicked/18400, accessed September 18, 2014.

²² Ibid.

²³ Rāshid al-Zubayr al-Sanūsī was born in Marsā Matrūh, Egypt, where his family had fled to escape the Italian colonization. He has published much of his poetry in the Libyan and Arab press. His poetry was influenced by such important Arab poets such as the Libyan Ahmad Rafīq al-Mahdawī (1898–1961) and the Egyptian Ahmad Shawqī (1868–1932), besides the representatives of the mahjar Arabic school, such as Ilīyā Abū Mādī (1889–1957). About the poetry genre, he has said: ‘I think that the qasidah is a group of sensations that stem from the self and expresses both a general and a particular interest related to the people or reveals a particular issue. Poetry represents great value for the Arabs and therefore it always has occupied the first place in Arabic literature from Jāhiliyyah's time until now.’ cited in ‘Abd al-Rahmān Salāmah (2009) al-Shā'ir al-lībī Rāshid al-Zubayr [Libyan poet Rāshid al-Zubayr], April 16, 2009. Available at: www.libyan-national-movement.org, accessed September 18, 2014.

²⁴ See Darwīsh (2011) Rāshid al-Sanūsī… amīr al-thawrah al-lībīyyah.

²⁵ Ibid.

²⁶ See S. Thompson (2013) Rebuilding Libya: Sam Thompson interview Salah Al Haddad, August 1, 2013. Available at: http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/rebuilding-libya/, accessed September 18, 2014.

²⁷ See U. al-Kikli (2011) The Short Story in Libya, Banipal: Libyan Fiction, 40, p. 45.

²⁸ ‘U. al-Kiklī (2000) Sinā‘ah mahalliyyah (Tarābulus: al-Dār al-Jamāhīriyyah).

²⁹ ‘U. al-Kiklī (2012) Sijniyyāt (Tarābulus: Dār al-firjānī).

³⁰ See S. al-Faytūrī (2008) Hiwār ma‘a al-qāss al-lībī ‘Umar Abū al-Qāsim al-Kiklī [Conversation with Libyan writer ‘Umar Abū al-Qāsim al-Kiklī], April 2, 2008. Available at: http://www.grenc.com/show_article_main.cfm?id = 11988, accessed September 18, 2014.

³¹ Jum'ah Bū Kalīb (2008) Hikāyāt min al-bar al-inglīzī (al-Qāhirah: Dār Lībiyā li ’l-nashr). Two short stories from this collection are available in English: see G. Bukleb, Tarzan of Palmers Green and The Good Woman of Turnpike Lane, trans. by S. Vasalou, Banipal:Libyan Fiction, 40, pp. 130–136.

³² Jum'ah Bū Kalīb (2013) Khutūt saghīrah fī daftar al-ghiyāb (al-Qāhirah: Mu'assasat dār al-hilāl al-misriyyah).

³³ The word indicates the mood of alienation and loneliness experienced outside homeland.

³⁴ I. Mhhammad ibn al-Tayyib al-Amīn (2010) Murāfa‘at al-suyūf (Banghāzī: Majlis al-thaqāfah al-‘āmm).

³⁵ Darwīsh (2011) Rāshid al-Sanūsī… amīr al-thawrah al-lībīyyah.

³⁶ Ibid.

³⁷ al-U. ‘Umar (1967) al-Bulbul wa ’l-wakr [The nightingale and the nest], in ‘Abd al-Bāsit Sulaymān al-Dalāl and ‘Abd al-Latīf Muhammad Shāhīn (eds.) (al-Iskandariyyah: Ifranjī), pp. 57–59. On the specifics of Ibrāhīm al-Ustà ‘Umar and other poets-fighters under the Italian colonization, see E. Diana (2011) L'immagine degli italiani nella letteratura libica dall'epoca coloniale alla caduta di Gheddafi [The image of Italians in Libyan literature from colonial era to Qadhdhafi's fall], pp. 29–52 (Roma: IPOCAN).

³⁸ The three books, all published by Dār Riyād al-rayyis li ’l-kutub wa ’l-nashr (Lundūn-Bayrūt), are: (1987) Sawt al-nās, mihnat taqāfah muzawwarah [The Voice of the People, the Affliction of a Forged Culture]; (1991) al-Islām fī'l-asr: man saraqa al-jāmi‘ wa ayna dhahaba yawm al-jum‘ah? [Islam in Prison: Who has stolen the Mosque and where did it end on Friday?]; and (1994) Islām didda Islām: sharī‘ah min waraq [Islam versus Islam, a law of paper]. For more see S. Taji al-Farouki (2004) Modern intellectuals, Islam and the Qur'an: The example of Sadiq Nayhum, in: Suha Taji al-Farouki (ed.), Modern Muslim Intellectuals and the Qur'an, pp. 297–325 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

³⁹ M. al-Asfar (2008) ‘Ilkah Būshanāf yata'allam fī afwāhinā, December 15, 2008. Available at: http://www.middle-east-online.com/?id = 71173, accessed September 18, 2014.

⁴⁰ Gh. al-Faytūrī (2012) al-Adīb Mansūr Abū Shanāf fī diyāfat ‘al-Watan al-lībiyah’ [the Writer Mansūr Abū Shanāf guest of al-Watan al-lībiyah newspaper], March 23, 2012; Available at: http://www.alwatan-libya.net/more.php?newsid = 20874&catid = 1, accessed September 18, 2014.

⁴¹Mu'assasat al-raqīb li-huqūq al-insān [Human Rights Foundation] & Libya Watch (2006) Daif al-Ghazal: The Biography of a Journalist Who Stood Up To Corruption. Available at: http://www.libya-watanona.com/hrights/lhrs/lh10066c.htm, accessed September 18, 2014. See also F. Senauth (2013) The Making and The Revolution of Libya, p. 52 (Bloomington: Xlibris Corporation).

⁴² See E. Diana (forthcoming) The Exposé Novel of the Libyan Writer Muhammad al-Asfar: Milh [Salt], Proceedings of the 10th EURAMAL Conference on ‘Literature and the Arab Spring – Analyses and Perspectives,’ Paris, May 9–12, 2012.

⁴³ Qadhdhafi, as writer, also published Tahyā dawlat al-huqarā’ [Long Live the Country of the Idlers] (1996) (Tarābulus: al-Sharikah al-‘āmmah li ’l-waraq), a collection of short essays and political reflections with a provocative subtitle Manshūrāt didda al-qanūn [Illegal Publications].

⁴⁴ Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhafi (1993) al-Qaryah al-qaryah, al-ard al-ardwa ’l-intihār rā'id al-fadā’ma‘a qisas ukhrah (Tarābulus: al-Dār al-Jamāhīriyyah). For more about this collection, see M. ‘Abd al-Shāfī (2007) Dirāsāt al-qissah wa ’l-riwāyah al-lībiyyah [Studies about Libyan short-story and novel] (al-Iskandariyyah: Dār al-wafā’ li-dunyā al-tibā‘ah wa ’l-nashr), pp. 34–53.

⁴⁵ M. Qaddafi (1998) Escape to Hell and Other Stories, p. 63 (Toronto: Hushion House).