Between private and collective in new generation Palestinian literature: Akram Musallam as a test case

ABSTRACT

The article examines new generation Palestinian writing in the West Bank, focusing on the ongoing tension between the private and the collective dimensions in literary works there. The works of Palestinian writer of Ramallah, Akram Musallam (b. 1971), serve as test case. The article shows that Musallam's novels preserve a connection to the Palestinian problem and the national-political life on one hand, and create meanings beyond time and place limited by this connection, on the other. The tension between the private and the collective is not only well reflected in Musallam's writings, but in fact constitutes their main pivot and it is embodied in an original and unique inner thematic and stylistic struggle within his writings. Musallam's works serve as an example of the fact that despite recent trends to forsake the collective and focus on the private, Palestinian literature almost always relates, either directly or indirectly, either through creative or less creative means, to collective Palestinian issues.

KEYWORDS:

• Palestinian literature
• Akram Musalam
• Palestinian writers
• Arabic literature

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. A. Musallam, ‘Shahadah-al-hawf: an yamut al-matn’ (Testimony – The Fear: That the Text will Die), Qadita, 22 August 2010, http://www.qadita.net/literature/proze/%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%88%D9%81-%D8%A3%D9%86-%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%86-%D8%A3%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%85-%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%85/ (accessed 21 April 2017).

2. A. Pflitsch, The End of Illusions: On Arab Postmodernism in Arabic Literature: Postmodern Perspectives (London: Saqi, 2010), pp.28–29.

3. Ibid., p.29. For more information on the connection between Arabic literature and politics and engaged writing see A. Shitrit, ‘al-Isharah ila al-siyasah, siyasat al-huwiyyah wa-l-siraʿ fi aʿmal ʿAlaa Hlehel’ (Reference to Politics: The Politics of Identity and Conflict in the Works of ʿAlaa Hlehel), Qadita, 3 October 2017, http://www.qadita.net/featured/ala-politics (accessed 3 October 2017).

4. Pflitsch, ‘The End of Illusions’, pp.29–30.

5. Ibid.

6. See H. Tzamir, Beshem Hanof (In the Name of the Landscape) (Jerusalem: Keter, 2006), pp.34–37, 65–76; D. Lloyd and P. Thomas, Culture and the State (New York and London: Routledge, 1998), pp.47–52.

7. For more information on the Literature of Resistance see G. Kanafani, Adab al-muqawamah fi Falastin al-muhtallah 1948–1966 (Resistance Literature in Occupied Palestine 1948–1966) (Beirut: Dar al-adab, 1970); B. Harlow, Resistance Literature (New York: Methuen, 1987); M. Ghanayim. al-Madar al-sa‘b: rihlat al-qissah al-Falastiniyyah fi Israel (The Hard Route: The Journey of the Palestinian Story in Israel) (Haifa and Kafar Qara‘: al-Karmil wa-Dar al-huda, 1995), pp.44–45; A. El‘ad, ‘ha-Hipus ahar zehut: mipuy sifrutam shel ha-‘aravim be-Israel (The Search for Identity: Mapping of the Arabs’ Literature in Israel)’, Alpayim Vol.11 (1995), pp.181–182.

8. F. Jameson, ‘Third Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism’, Social Text Vol.15 (Autumn 1986), p.69; I. Szeman, ‘Who's Afraid of National Allegory? Jameson, Literary, Criticism. Globalization’, The South Atlantic Quarterly Vol.100.3 (2001), p.803.

9. Ghassan Kanafani's literary works can serve as clear examples of this.

10. Szeman, ‘Who's Afraid of National Allegory’, p.803. However, Jameson's argument has been attacked by critics. See for example A. Ahmed, ‘Jameson's Rhetoric of Otherness and the ‘National Allegory’, Social Text Vol.17 (Fall 1987), pp.3–25.

11. Jameson, ‘Third Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism’, pp.69, 86.

12. See W. Taja, ‘Liqaa maʿa al-adib wa-l-naqid al-falastini Walid Abu Bakr’ (Interview with Palestinian Writer and Critic Walid Abu Bakr), Muassasat Falastin li-l-sahafah, 9 January 2011, http://www.thaqafa.org/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=3937 (accessed 21 April 2017).

13. He has published three novels: Hawajis al-Iskandar (Alexander's Obsessions, 2003), Sirat al-ʿakrab alladhi yatasabab ʿaraq (The Tale of the Scorpion that Dripped with Sweat, 2008) and Iltabasa al-amr ʿala al-laqlaq (Confusing the Stork, 2013).

14. I. Taha, The Palestinian Novel: A Communication Study (New York: Routledge, 2002), p.17. Prominent writers in Israel in this period were Emile Habibi (1922–1996), Zaki Darwish (b. 1944), Tawfiq Fayad (b. 1938) and Muhammad Ali Taha (b. 1941). For more information on this period see S. K. al-Jayyusi (ed.), Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature (Columbia University Press, New York, 1992), pp.48–66.

15. For more information on the writing in Israel during this period see M. ʿAbbasi, Hitpathut ha-roman ve-ha-sipur ha-qatsar ba-sifrut ha-ʿaravit be-Israel ba-shanim 1948–1967 (The Development of the Novel and the Short Story in Arabic Literature in Israel between 1948–1967) (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University, 1983), pp.211–216; Shmuel Moreh, ‘Hitpathut ha-shirah ha-aravit be-Israel’ (The Development of Arabic Poetry in Israel), ha-Mizrah ha-hadash Vol.35 (1993), p.17; Ghanayim, al-Madar al-saʿb, pp.44–45.

16. A. al-Usta, al-Qissah al-qasirah fil-daffah al-gharbiyyah wa-qutaʿ Ghazzah 1967–1981 (The Short Story in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip 1967–1981) (n.p., 1993), p.159; M. Cooke, Women and the War Story (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996): p.167. Prominent writers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in this period were Fadl al-Rimawi, Jamal Banura and Muhammad Ayub.

17. S. K. al-Jayusi, al-Adab al-falastini al-muʿasir (Contemporary Palestinian Literature) (Beirut: al-Muassasah al-ʿarabiyyah lil-dirasat wa-l-nashr, 1997), p.71. Prominent writers were Ghassan Kanafani (1936–1972) and Jabra Ibrahim Jabra (1920–1994).

18. Cooke, Women and the War Story, p.167; J. T. Zeidan, Arab Women Novelists: The Formative Years and Beyond (Albany: State of New York, 1995), p.170; Yasin Faʿur, al-Qissah al-qasirah al-falastiniyyah: miladuha wa-tatawwuruha (1924--1990) (The Palestinian Short Story: Its Birth and Development) (Damascus: Ittihad al-kuttab al-ʿarab, 2001), pp.205, 214.

19. A. Elad-Bouskila, Modern Palestinian Literature and Culture (Portland, Or.: Frank Cass, 1999), pp.85, 86, 105.

20. For more information on new generation Palestinian writers see al-Jayyusi (ed.), Anthology of Modern Palestinian Literature, pp.66–80; Elad-Bouskila, ‘ha-Hipus ahar zehut’, p.175; Elad-Bouskila, Modern Palestinian Literature and Culture; Taha, The Palestinian Novel; M. Ghanayim, ‘al-ʿAbr-nawʿiyyah fi al-adab al-ʿarabi al-hadith: suqut al-ʿismah wa-l-qadasah ʿan al-fann al-qissasi’ (Inter-Genre in Modern Arabic Literature: The Fall of Infallibility and Sanctity of the Narrative Art), al-Karmil Vol.23–24 (2002/2003), pp.193, 197; F. Darraj (2007), Transformations in Palestinian Literature in Words Without Borders – Online Magazine for International Literature translated by Michael K. Scott. http://wordswithoutborders.org/article/transformations-in-palestinian-literature (accessed 21 April 2017); M. ʿUbayd Allah, Maʿalim al-qissah al-qasirah fi Falastin wa-l-Urdunn fi-l-qarn al-ʿishrin (The Short Story Features in Palestine and Jordan) (Amman: Muassasat Abd al-Hamid Shuman, 2010), pp.89–91; Pflitsch, ‘The End of Illusions’, pp.29–30; A. Abu Zinah, Aswat min al-hisar: riwayat al-daffah al-gharbiyyah wa-qutaʿ Ghazzah (Voices from the Siege: The Novel of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) (London: E-kutub, 2011), pp.32–34; M. Ghanayim, The Lure of the Title: Text and Context in Palestinian Fiction 1948–2012 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015).

21. Prominent new Generation Palestinian writers are Ziyad Hadash (b. 1964), Majed Atef, Alaa Hlehel (b. 1974).

22. This approach of Barthes was conceived in an article he published in 1967. According to it, the reader can interpret the text to the best of his/her understanding or belief, even if this was not the intention of the author. According to this approach, the reader replaces the author, and the latter becomes unimportant. See D. Gurevich, Postmodernism: tarbut ve-sifrut be-sof ha-meha ha-ʿesrim (Culture and Literature at the End of the 20th Century) (Tel-Aviv: Dvir, 1998), pp.185–239; Ghanayim, ‘al-ʿAbr-nawʿiyyah’, p.199; R. Barthes, The Death of the Author in Image, Music, Text (New York: Hill and Wang, 1977).

23. A. Musallam, Hawajis al-Iskandar (Ramallah: Ogarit, 2003).

24. For more information on metafiction in contemporary Arab fiction see, for example, F. Caiani, Contemporary Arab Fiction: Innovation from Rama to Yalu (London and New York: Routledge, 2007), pp.96–119.

25. A. Musallam, Sirat al-ʿakrab alladhi yatasabab ʿaraq (Beirut: Dar al-Aadab, 2008).

26. A. Musallam, Iltabasa al-amr ʿala al-laqlaq (Amman: al-Ahliyyah li-l-Nashr wa-l-Tawziʿ, 2013).

27. Musallam, Sirat al-ʿakrab, pp.20–21.

28. Ibid., p.19.

29. Ibid., p.19.

30. See for example the impotence of Abu Khaizuran during the 1948 war in Men in the Sun (1962) of Ghassan Kanafani.

31. Musallam, Hawajis al-Iskandar, p.9.

32. The word Taʿmirah is a common term in Palestinian dialect, which means a plot of land, usually made up of stone terraces; it serves mainly for growing olive trees.

33. Musallam, Iltabasa al-amr, p.14.

34. Ibid.

35. Musallam, Sirat al-ʿakrab, pp.51–52.

36. Musallam, Hawajis al-Iskandar, p.22.

37. Ibid., p.38.

38. Ibid., p.79.

39. Ibid., p.19.

40. Musallam, Sirat al-ʿAkrab, pp.9–10.

41. Ibid., p.39.

42. Ibid., pp.77–78.

43. Musallam, Hawajis al-Iskandar, p.42.

44. Ibid., pp.75–86.

45. Ibid., p.94.

46. See Surat, al-kahf, p.83–98. This Surah tells of Alexander who imprisoned Gog and Magog in the walls, which they will break through in a far distant future.

47. Musallam, Iltabasa al-amr, p.8.

48. Ibid., p.47.

49. Ibid., p.56.

50. Ibid., p.81.

51. Ibid., p.70.