The Iraqi Kurdish Novel, 1970-2011: a Genetic-Structuralist Approach

1 The Iraqi Kurdish Novel, 1970-2011: A Genetic-Structuralist Approach Submitted by Ameen Abdulqader Omar to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Kurdish Studies In March 2016 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature: …………………………………………………………. 2 Acknowledgements First of all, I am truly grateful to the Kurdistan Regional Government for having offered me a scholarship to continue my study abroad. I am also very grateful to my supervisor Professor Christine Allison, for agreeing to supervise me, and for her constant encouragement and efforts on my behalf. Furthermore, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my second supervisor Professor Gerald Maclean who always pushed me to keep going, through his support and guidance throughout this thesis. His feedback has had a remarkable influence on the entire dissertation. I am deeply indebted to my friend Alison Steven who taught me at one time, and then never tired of advising me on the language of my thesis. My gratitude goes to all my friends who extended a helping hand along this path: to Dr Fuad Rashīd, Sebaĥ Rencder, Kakemem Botanî, Dr Beyar Sayf al-ddīn Doskî, Ahmed Kanî, Helîm Yûsiv, Barzan Salih, Ali coqî and Ramadān Haji Qadir for providing me sources and books whenever I needed them; and to Abd al-manaf Ramadān and Dr Shêrzad Sabrī for making administrative arrangements at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and at the University of Duhok, on my behalf. My thanks go to my mother Maryam Muhammad Hussein whose love and patience has been an ongoing source of inspiration. I would like to thank my wife Nishtiman Hameed who has followed me and borne all the hardships of life during this ‘journey’. Finally, I am grateful to my brother Idrees Abdulqader and my nephew Luqman Ali who were with me from the beginning and never stopped supporting me and providing for my needs. 3 Abstract This thesis explores the emergence and development of the Iraqi Kurdish novel between 1970 and 2011, aiming to demonstrate that it engages with political discourses, and that the political situation influenced the themes and structural development of the novel. It will seek to elucidate why, when we examine the history of Kurdish literature over the last fifty years, the first point that may attract our attention is its emergence from the political events. Based on this notion the current study has been divided into three historical phases; 1970-1991, 1991-2003 and 2003-2011. A chapter has been dedicated to each stage, examining two novels from each period, one from the Soranî and one from the Behdînî dialect. Chapter Two discusses the historical background of Iraqi Kurdistan and its influence on the emergence of the novel. Chapter One has been allocated to establishing the methodological background of the textual analysis, which has adopted Lucien Goldmann’s genetic structuralist theory. Such a theory, I will argue, proves helpful in order to discover the link between socio-political conditions and the form of literary works within a society, as Goldmann himself tried to do through his theoretical approach. Chapter Six discusses the results of the study. The thesis demonstrates how the political situation has formed the Iraqi Kurdish novel in terms of both formal and thematic structures, examining the notions of both the ’hero’ and the ‘world vision’ in the novels. It explores the reasons behind the dominant tragic world vision in the first stage, the hopeless worldview in the second, and the self-critical vision in the third phase. In addition, it examines the problematic nature of the hero in the novels, from their emergence until 2011. 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………….. 2 Abstract ………………………………………………………………….......................... 3 Transcription……………………………………………………………………………… 7 Chapter One: Introductory Chapter ……………………………………………………8 Scope of the Study ………………………………………………………………………. 12 Theory and Methodology: 1. Theory: Genetic Structuralism and the Kurdish Novel ………………………….. 17 2. Methodology ………………………………………………………………………... 30 Materials …………………………………………………………………………………... 35 Previous Studies …………………………………………………………………………. 37 Outline …………………………………………………………………………………...... 43 Chapter Two: Iraqi Government Politics against the Kurdish People 1958-2011, and the Rise of the Kurdish Novel Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………….. 44 Part One: General Background of Iraqi Kurdistan Socio-Political Factors Impacting on the Development of Iraqi Kurdish Literature... 45 The Kurdish Revolution of September 1961, Seeking Kurdish Cultural Rights …… 48 Education ………………………………………………………………………….. ..49 Print ………………………………………………………………………………….. 52 Journalism …………………………………………………………………………... 53 The Kurdish 11 March 1970 Manifesto and the Emergence of the First Iraqi Kurdish Novel ……………………………………………………………………………………… 55 The Kurdish Opposition of 26 May 1976 and the Development of the Iraqi Kurdish Novel....................................................................................................................... 59 The Iraqi Kurdish Uprising 1991-2003, and its Socio-political and Economic Consequences …………………………………………………………………………... 62 Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, and its Impact on Socio-political and Economic Conditions of Iraqi Kurdistan 2003-2011 …………………………………………….... 67 Part Two: History of the Kurdish Novel The Dominance of Kurdish Poetry over the Novel …………………………….…….. 71 5 Social Structure of Iraqi Kurds and its Reflections in Literature ……………….…… 72 The Kurdish Novel and the Fragmented Kurdish Culture, Society and Literature.…75 The History of the Rise of the Kurdish Novel ………………………….…………….... 78 Chapter Three: The Kurdish Novel from 1970-1991, Tragic Vision Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………. 90 The Themes of the Novels: 1. In Segwerr ………………………………………………………………………… 98 2. In Bohjîn …………………………………………………………………………… 99 The Formal Structure of the Novels: Hero …………………………………………………………………………………… 101 Time …………………………………………………………………………………... 111 Place …………………………………………………………………………………. 117 The Significant Structure of the Novels ………………………………………...…..... 125 World Vision between the Texts, Reality and the Authors ……………………….… 130 Chapter Four: The Kurdish Novel from 1991-2003, Hopeless Vision Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………… 142 The Themes of the Novels: 1. In Dirz ……………………………………………………………………………. 149 2. In Geryan li Babê Berze ………………………………………………………. 152 The Formal Structure of the Novels: Hero ………………………………………………………………………………… 155 Time ………………………………………………………………………………… 165 Place ……………………………………………………………………………….. 168 Significant Structure of the Novels ……………………………………………………. 171 World Vision between the Texts, Reality and the Authors …………………………. 178 Chapter Five: The Kurdish Novel from 2003-2011, Self-Critical Vision Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………… 187 The Themes of the Novels: 1. In Silȇkuk Hoklȇr ………………………………………………………………. 191 2. In Meryema: Kiçe Jinek ji Zemanek dî ……………………………………… 194 6 The Formal Structure of the Novels: Hero ………………………………………………………………………………… 196 Time ………………………………………………………………………………… 205 Place …………………………………………………………………………….….. 207 Significant Structure of the Novels ……………………………………………….…… 209 World Vision between the Texts, Reality and the Authors …………………………. 214 Chapter Six: Concluding Chapter ………………………………………………….. 222 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………...…………. 230 7 Transcription Kurdish Alphabets Roman Arabic Roman Arabic q ق - ﺋـ k ک a ا g گ i - l ل b ب ļ ڵ p پ m م t ت n ن c ج -u, w (semi و ç چ (consonant ۆ ĥ ح o وو x خ û ھ d د h ە r ر e ی rr ڕ -Î, y (semi ێ z ز (j consonant ژ s ê س ş ش ´ ع ẋ غ f ف v ڤ 8 Chapter One Introductory Chapter The current study belongs to the branch of the sociology of literature, particularly the sociology of the novel. It tackles the development of the Kurdish novel in Iraqi Kurdistan from 1970-2011, under the impact of political conditions. Although this critical approach has emerged over the past several decades in European and American literary criticism, it is still new in Kurdish literary criticism. The current study will be the first academic study of the Iraqi Kurdish novel in this field, and it will show that there is a relationship between the development of the Kurdish novel and Kurdish society itself. Kurdish literature, as is the case with the literature of other nations, reflects social, economic, cultural and political conditions. However, the division of Kurdistan into four different countries, led to the division of Kurdish literature (Ahmadzadeh, 2003, p.135), such that each part of Kurdistan has founded and developed its own literature according to its social and political conditions. Thus, Hashem Ahmadzadeh (ibid, p. 176) concludes that “[i]n studying the Kurdish novel, the divided character of Kurdistan must be taken into consideration”. The present study explores how socio- political changes have shaped the Kurdish novel in Iraqi Kurdistan in terms of both thematic and formal structures. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of the political situation on the economic conditions, and then to examine the influence of both the political and economic conditions on the

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