Литература стран Азии и Африки
307
Guth Stephan (IKOS, University of Oslo, Norway)
Modern Arabic Literature and Crime Fiction — a problematic
relation?
Until recently, there were almost no indigenous detective stories or thrillers in
the Middle East (in spite of a large number of translations fromWestern languages).
This lack — which is all the more striking as crimes certainly are not missing from
the region — has often been explained as the result of an allegedly belated, if not
completely missed, Enlightenment (‘no Enlightenment => no investigative spirit =>
no detectives’) or of widespread despotism (‘lack of freedom => fear of investigating
the truth => no detectives’).
Focusing on the case of Arabic, the lecture will adjust some current
misperceptions and approach the phenomenon from a different angle. After a short
historical introduction and an essay at sketching the contemporary Arabic crime
fiction market, the paper proceeds to the analysis of a collection of fictionalized true
criminal cases fromAsad’s Syria, in order to suggest an alternative explanation that
stresses the impact of the traditional concept of “literature” (
adab
) on the notion of
Arabic crime fiction.
Mikhail N. Suvorov (FAAS, SPbU, St. Petersburg)
Some new novels from Yemen: between revelation and épatage
What characterizes Arabic literary bestsellers of the recent decade is candor in
dealing with subjects that previously used to be a kind of taboo in Arabic literature:
sexual relations, sharp criticism of archaic cultural and religious traditions, corruption
and political oppression in the post-colonial Arab world, etc. The more frankness
in these subjects is demonstrated by the author, the more popularity — always
scandalous — the author himself gains. So, manyArab writers aim now at violating
taboos by any means, sometimes at the expense of the quality of their writings. What
is intended by them to be revelation sometimes turns to be closer to épatage. In this
respect of interest are three recently published Yemeni novels: “The beautiful Jew”
(2009) by Ali al-Muqri, “Submissive wives” (2009) by Nadiya al-Kawkabani and
“The red manuscript” (2010) by Muhammad al-Gharbi Amran. The first of these
novels is an adventure love-story of a young Jew and a Moslem girl, which took
place in Yemen in the 17
th
century. Quite unrealistic as it is, the story is obviously
intended to shock the reader by religiously and culturally inadmissible love-relations
between a Jew and a female Moslem. The second novel presents a mosaic of fates
of Yemeni women, who suffer in their family lives. Here we find a lot of savage
“scandalous” cases that may be attributed exclusively to men’s mental disorders,
not restricted to Moslem society, and therefore the author’s vivid intention to reveal
negative sides of Moslem cultural tradition seems feigned in a way. The third novel
