TREATMENT OF THEME AND CHARACTERISATION IN THE WORKS OF YUSUF ID rTs by Theodore Prochazka, Jr. Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies August 1972 ProQuest Number: 10672815 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10672815 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT Yusuf Idris Is a short story writer, novelist and playwright. On the whole, he uses each genre for different purposes. In his short stories he is the subjective writer concerned with a minute analysis of mental states and moods. In his novels he is the socially aware and politically committed writer, while in his plays he tackles social problems on an abstract level* While he has succeeded to a great extent as a short story writer and fM a playwright Yusuf Idris has {bGJed as a novelist. His novels appsear to be a string of short stories held together tenuously by a main theme or else they M * mm are overblown short stories. Yusuf Idris then is to be seen primarily as a short story writer and a playwright. In the short stories the author treats his characters as lonely Indi­ viduals who suffer by being isolated from other human beings, and the solution to their problem lies in a return to the fold of the corporate entity. Here 0m m Yusuf Idris contradicts himself, as If is precisely this corporate entity, supposedly ensuring the happiness of the individual which is the source of his unhappiness. The characters are depicted as living either in the city or the country. For Yusuf Idris if is the latter that promises harmonious human relationships while the former is the source of unhappiness. By idealising the country the author distorts the quality of urban living when contrasting town life and cily life. 3 The characters are constantly faced with defeat, mainly through poverty. Sex occupies a central position in his writing and It is treated in terms of Its Influence on behaviour. Physical and mental suffering are treated in detail and the author's training as a medical man is readily apparent. The author's major contribution, however, lies in his analysis of the obsession, which underlies many of his short stories, and influences his technique of characterisation. His plays are diametrically opposed to the rest of his work. In them the psychological element is lacking and issues are discussed on an abstract level. It is as if the short stories and the plays had been written by two different men. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am Indebted to Professor T .M . Johnstone who supervised me and guided me throughout the composition of my thesis, and had to listen patiently to my comments, S should also like to express my appreciation to Professor P .J. Vatikiotis 'for giving me a copy of the plays Malik al-Qutn and Jumhuriyyat Fajbat, and to D r. Martin Hinds from Cambridge University for bringing me from Cairo the novel Rijai wa-Thiran and the play al-Mukhattafin. X should like to thank D r. Derek Hopwood for giving me library privileges at St. Antony’s College, Oxford. Furthermore I should like to thank Miss Jean Crompton for typing the thesis and correcting my style in two chapters. X am particularly grateful to Miss Helen Gibson with whom I discussed my ideas in great detail and who read the whole thesis and corrected most of it. Above all ! want to thank her for her moral support which { so often needed • 5 CONTENTS Pago ABSTRACT 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 6 CHAPTER II LIFE IN THE COUNTRY AND IN THE CITY 29 CHAPTER III THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE: DEFEAT AND LONELINESS 60 CHAPTER IV THE INFLUENCE OF SEX O N BEHAVIOUR 92 CHAPTER V PHYSICAL AND MENTAL SUFFERING 168 CHAPTER V I OBSESSION 191 CHAPTER VII POLITICAL COMMITMENT 260 CHAPTER V III THE EGYPTIAN NATIONAL CHARACTER 294 CHAPTER IX SOCIAL THEMES 309 CHAPTER X CONCLUSION 339 BIBLIOGRAPHY 347 6 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION This study has been written by a non-native speaker of Arabic, and an outsider to the traditions of Arabic culture and literature* During his contact with that literature he has had the opportunity of hearing various views on that field, and they have been to a great degree negative: firstly from Europeans and Americans who would generally put their views in the form of a question, legitimate and innocent enough on the surface: "Can one really understand a literature, such as Arabic, which is the product of a tradition so different from our own?11 Secondly the view of the Arabs themselves, who, because of their tact toward this writer, have been implicit rather than ex­ plicit* Essentially, they imply that a European (or American) cannot under­ stand Arabic literature, partly because of the matter of a different tradition and partly because of the Arabs1 linguistic ethnocentricism, which makes them convinced that no non-Arab, especially a "Westerner” can ever master the subtleties of their language* The two positions, the "Western!1 European- American, and the "Eastern", Arab, state the same proposition: The "Westerner" cannot understand Arabic culture in general and Arabic literature in particular* As this writer is a "Westerner" he has been struck by a statement made by another "Westerner" who explicitly states the impossibility of mutual understanding. 7 This is all the more surprising since this person was foremost a scholar in the field of Arabic culture and literature. He writes concerning modem Arabic literature: "It is not for the outsider to determine the branch of literary endeavor In which the Arab public will recognize itself most readily, nor is if for him to select within that branch the individual works that are being experienced as the most representative and to which therefore the foreigner 1 writer, critic, scholar, and public at large should be exposed." The Arab and European-Americcn positions say the same thing, but is their significance the same? To this writer, the answer is no. The topic of discussion, Arabic literature, is the same, but the speakers are different. On the one hand is an insider (Arab) giving his views to an outsider (European or American), and on the other are outsiders making statements for their own consumption. This distinction is fundamental. Before the European-American position is tackled, the Arab position should be inspected most closely, as it ultimately has a bearing on the European^American one. If is important to note who the Arabs are that speak out on the subject. Having known Arabs both inside and outside the Middle East, this writer has been struck by the difference In their thinking and attitudes. Many become defensive about their cultural heritage once they are ?n the "West", and they live It nostalgically. This is especially true of those who 1. G .E . von Grilnebaum, in Arabic Writing Today. The Short Story, p. 13, 8 actually settle in the "West". This defensive attitude is very likely reinforced by anti-Western attitudes exemplified by an author such asTawfTq ai-Hakim I who believes in the essential dichotomy between East and West* This 2 attitude is not restricted to the Arab world,but is also found further East* These attitudes are part of a given culture at a given point of history * But such ideas may undergo modification since they are part of a living culture* If, however, a member of his culture leaves his milieu the culture ceases to be a living thing but may become a rigid set of unchanging values to which the individual refers in his new environment. This is a universal phenomenon and is by no means restricted to the Arabs. This writer has seen this happen in the case of Europeans who have emigrated to the United States. Such individuals, however, have one advantage over the Arabs in that they are leaving one "Western11 culture for another, and in principle should be able to participate in the wider "Western" culture. But in reality not all are able to do so, and the migration warps them in some way or other. Thus it would be more difficult for an Arab to make the cultural adjustment in the "West", as he comes from a long tradition distinct from the European one. When we go back to the immediate topic under discussion, the understanding of Arab literature, the Arab is not at such a disadvantage as it seems. "Western" literature is now a part of his tradition, and a living 1. Tawflq al-Hakim, Fann al^Adab, at-Ta^adullyya, Tahta Shams al-Fikr and ( UsfOr min ash-Sharq. 2 , Rabindranath Tagore, Sadhana. tradition at that. Books are translated, and they have an impact on the writers. This last point is crucial to the discussion. If one turns to the Westerner who is interested in Arabic literature, such an individual is at a real disadvantage. The Arab tradition is not part of his active cultural arsenal, and he therefore has to study Arab literature from scratch.