[ad_1]
When asked earlier this year why so few Egyptians write crime novels, Egyptian novelist and photographer Ahmed Murad said that the genre is new and that “new It usually comes with a lot of attacks and criticism.” Murad then stopped and corrected himself by saying that, in fact, the genre is not new at all.
In fact, what is surprising is not that Murad’s book is a bestseller and that detective fiction is suddenly popular in Cairo and elsewhere, but that the genre has been relatively dormant for the past few decades. That’s true.
Detective fiction has had a long relationship with Arab readers. The early pioneers of crime fiction first appear in The Thousand and One Nights. In “The Three Apples,” a fisherman discovers a locked treasure chest near the Tigris River and sells it to Caliph Harun al-Rashid. Inside, the Abbasid ruler discovered the dismembered body of a young woman and ordered the vizier to solve the case within three days. If he fails, the prime minister will be executed.
The genre was fully born several centuries later, when European states were intensifying their criminalization procedures, and these detective novels received great welcome in Arab-majority countries. Schoolboys in the region, particularly in Beirut and Cairo, snatched Arsène Lupin’s novels from bookshelves. Leading authors such as Tawfiq Al Hakim and Sonallah Ibrahim have written about devouring the Lupine series during their school days.
Arsène Lupin touches the heartstrings
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels and the British version of the detective novel “To Find the Impostor” were also popular. But Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman and thief Lupine evoked the deepest sympathy and was one of the most famous popular fiction figures in the Egyptian literary imagination of the 20th century.
The first Arabic translation of Arsène Lupin’s adventure novels was published in 1910, followed by thousands of crime novels. Commentator Jonathan Geyer has called the period from the 1890s to the 1960s “the golden age of illegal crime fiction translation.” These translations were not only widely read but also highly influential.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels and the British version of the detective novel “To Find the Impostor” were also popular. But Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman and thief Lupine evoked the deepest sympathy and was one of the most famous popular fiction figures in the Egyptian literary imagination of the 20th century. |
In fact, in an interview, paris reviews, Egypt’s Nobel Prize in Literature winner Naguib Mahfouz said his first literary influence was Hafiz Najib, another popular thief and prison inmate who wrote 22 detective novels. Mahfouz said his experience reading Najib’s Johnson’s Son as a boy changed his life. Elements of this influence can be seen by Mahfouz in his 1961 novel The Thief and the Dogs.
But mystery novels were not only popular in Cairo and Alexandria. These were widely read throughout the Levant and became a popular genre in Algeria, where they were taken up by Francophone authors such as Yasmina Khadra, Mohamed Benayat, and Boualem Sansal. This is not surprising, as Adam Schatz writes, “Algeria’s civil war was, in a sense, one great murder mystery.”
The Algerian scene is particularly dominated by Yasmina Khadra, who has kept her true identity (Mohamed Moureshoul) a secret for a long time. The books of Inspector Robb of Kadra were popular not only in French-speaking Algeria, but also in translation. Like the Algerian civil war, Khadra’s writings were marked by extreme violence. Other Algerian crime novels that followed, such as Anouar Brahem’s fascinating Abduction, depict similar extreme violence.
Lebanese novelists have also viewed the detective genre through their own lenses. In The White Mask, Elias Khoury creates a detective story of sorts, telling the story of an unknown journalist trying to track down the murderer of civil servant Khalil Ahmad Jaber. What differs from Cooley’s novel, translated into English by Maia Tabet, is that the murderer is never found and, in fact, his identity is said to be unimportant. What matters is the culture of violence that made his murder possible. In this respect, it is similar to other murder mysteries in Lebanese literature, such as Rabih Jaber’s Mehris Report, translated by Kareem James Abu-Zayed in 2013.
Serious literature?
But it is the Egyptian scene that has been in the spotlight lately, especially after Ahmed Murad’s The Blue Elephant was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF). Murad’s inclusion on the list was controversial, as some observers said that a thriller could not be serious literature.
In any case, Murad’s work sells well in Egypt and the region, with “The Blue Elephant” being an Egyptian bestseller. Unfortunately, Robin Mauger’s translation of Murad’s debut novel Vertigo has not received much attention in English. In this book, Murad’s protagonist, as in many French detective novels, acts in conflict with those in power. In fact, his hero is even harassed by the police for taking a walk with a young woman.
Murad is not alone in rediscovering crime fiction as a way to talk about contemporary Egyptian issues. Crime novels have become central to his burgeoning graphic novel scene. Metro, Magdy Al Shafi’s first Egyptian full-length graphic novel, is about a bank robbery, with a gentleman thief at the center of the story. This depiction of modern Egypt must have struck an authoritarian nerve, as the book was censored and both author and publisher were fined. English and Italian translations are currently available, with a limited Arabic version being sold in Cairo.
Many of the graphic novel short stories included in the collection Autostrade were inspired by crime novels. This also applies to the graphic novel “The Apartment of Bab al-Rouk”. Ganjia, one of the artists involved in the project, told commentator Jonathan Guyer that he was inspired by Al Shafi’s Metro, which played the role of criminals rather than the government.
“Of course, you could relate to someone who is against the government and the police more than the idea of a noble police officer who has to solve crimes for the greater good,” Ganzer said.
The return to Arabic detective fiction is great. Hopefully, wider acceptance of the genre will attract a wider Arab readership and also lead to new aesthetics and new social critiques.
Marcia Lynx Qualey writes about Arabic literature and literary translation for many publications. She writes her daily blog at her arablit.org.
[ad_2]
Source link