SHAPING THE CAST OF CHARACTERS: THE CASE OF AL-TAYYIB SALIH

How to define the characters

There are not many cases in which one writer-as opposed to a group- places a distinct stamp on the literature of his or her people and brings it to the attention of readers outside the country. This is true for Gabriel . Garcia Marquez (1928-), whose Colombian writing came to the attention not just of readers in Latin American, but throughout the world, primarily through his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude [Cien Anos de Soledad (1967)]. Al-Tayyib Salih (1929-) has had a similar effect. This author has not only brought Sudanese literature, considered marginal in the Arab world, to the awareness of readers in and critics of the Arab world, but he has opened the doors of Sudanese literature to audiences throughout the world by way of translations primarily into English, but also into French, German, Italian, Russian, and Hebrew. Clearly al-Tayyib Salih did not oper- I ate in a void, as he was influenced by both Arab and Western writers.'

An earlier version of this article appeared in Arabic: "Tatawwur al-Shakhsiyya fi A`mal al-Tayyib Salih." al-Karmil, Haifa, 10 (1989), pp. 7-26. I am grateful to Professor Ahmad Muhammad el-Badawi who reviewed the material and provided useful suggestions. Unless noted otherwise, all excerpts given in English of the work of al-Tayyib Salih are taken from the translations of Denys Johnson-Davies, hence the transliteration in these excerpts may differ in some respects from the transliteration used elsewhere in the text. ' . Articles and books have appeared in Arabic and English about the writing of al-Tayyib Salih, in particular about his novel Mawsim al-Hijra ild al-Shamdl, most of these since the late 1960s. A partial listing of works in Arabic: Fatima Misi "'Ujflr min al-Janub aw <Ã1am al-Tayyib Salih," al-Majalla, 164 (August 1970), pp. 95-102; Muhammad Zaghlûl Salam, Dirisit fi al-Qissa al-'Arabiyya al-Haditha, Alexandria, Munsha'at al-Ma<ârif, [1973], pp. 428-437; Ahmad Sa'id Muhammadiyya (ed.), al-Tayyib Salih: 'Abqari al-Riwdya al-'Arabiyya, Beirut, Dar al-'Awda, 1976; George Tarabishi, Sharq wa-Gharb, Rujula wa (Inutha, Dirasifi- Azmat al-Jins wa'l-Ifaljära fi al-Riwdya al-'Arabiyya, 2nd ed., Beirut, Där al-Tali'a li'1-Tiba`a wa'1-Nashr, 1979, pp. 142-185; Muhyi a]-Din Subhi, Abtälfi al-$ayrfira: Dirisit fi al-Riwdya al-'Arabiyya wa'l-Mu'arraba, Beirut, Dar al-Tali'a li'l-Tibd'a wa'I-Nashr, 1980, pp. 8-53; Fawziyya al-Saff-ar,Azmat al-Ajyjl al-'Arabiyya al-Mucä$ira,Dirdsa fi Riwdyat Mawsim al- Hijra ild al-Shamal li'l-Tayyib Salih, Tunis, Mu'assasat 'Abd al-Karim ibn 'Abdall5h, 1980; Muhammad Rushdi Hasan 'Ali, al-Ibda` al-Fanni fi Qi$a$ al-Tayyib Sdiih, Cairo: Matba'at al- Ma'rifa, 1980; Ceza Qasim, "Tajriba Naqdiyya: Mawsim al-Hijra ild al-Shamdl," Fujlil 1:2 (January-March 1981), pp. 224-229; Yumna al-'Id, "Tamalluk al-Watan wa-Mu'adalat al-Jins wa'1-Hadara (Mu<änätfi al-Ta'rikh fi Riwdyat Mawsim al-Hijra ild al-Shamäl)," al-Tariq, 3-4 (August 1981), pp. 98-130; 'Isdin Mahfuz, al-Riwaya al-'Arabiyya al-Talfiyya wa'l-Shahäda, Beirut, Dar Ibn Rushd, 1982, pp. 73-78; al-Sa'id al-Waraqi, Ittijdhdt al-Riwdya al-'Arabiyya 60

Although Sudanese authors appeared as early as the 1920s, it was only in the 1960s that one can speak of Sudanese literary activity of real signifi- cance. Briefly, we can mention Abu Bakr Khalid (1934-1976), 'Ali al-Makk (1937-), al-Tayyib Zarruq (1935-), Ibrahim Ishaq Ibrahim (1946-), and Mukhtdr Ibrahim 'ariba ( 1946-).z Nevertheless, the literary activity of the Sudanese writers, including al-Tayyib Salih, did not change the marginality of Suda- nese literature among modem Arabic literatures, especially compared to lead- ing Arabic literatures such as Egyptian, Lebanese, and Moroccan. al-Muca$ira,Cairo, al-Hay'a al-Misriyya al-'Amma li'l-Kitâb, 1982, pp. 300-309; Yusuf Nur 'Awad, al-Tayyib Salih fi Manxlir al-Naqd al-Bunyawi, Jedda, Maktabat al-'Alam, 1983, pp. 162-181; 'Abd al-Rahman al-Khanji, Qiru'a Jadida fi Riwayat al-Tayyib Salih, Umm Durmân, Dar Jämi'at Umm Durman al-lsldmiyya, 1983; Simi Suwaydan, Abhath fi al-Nass al-Riwä'ï al-'Arabi, Beirut, Mu'assasat al-Abl)äth al-'Arabiyya, 1986, pp. 121-176; Rajä' Ni'ma, $iraC al-Maqhur ma`a al-Sulta, Dirdsa fi al-Tahlil al-Nafsi li-Riwdyatal-Tayyib SCzlihMawsim al- Hijra ila al-Shamal, Beirut, 1986; 'Ami El'ad, "al-Tayyib Salih wa'1-Adab al-Sudani al- Hadith," Liqd', 6 (Spring 1987), pp. 22-24; 'Isdm Bahii, al-Rihla ila al-Gharb fi al-Riwdya al-'Arabiyya al-Haditha, Cairo, al-Hay'a al-Misriyya al-'Amma li'l-Kitâb, 1991, pp. 55-93; and MuhammadShahin, Tahawwulat al-Shawq fiMawsim al-Hijra ild al-Shamdl,Dirasa Naqdiyya Mugdrana, Beirut, al-Mu'assasa al-'Arabiyya li'l-Dirdsdt wa'l-Nashr, 1993. In European languages, as well, scholarship about the works of al-Tayyib Salih focuses on the novelMawsim al-Hijra ild al-Shamdl,including: Mattityahu Peled, "Portrait of an Intellectual," MiddleEastern Studies,8:2 ( 1977),pp. 218-228;Muhammad Siddiq, "The Processof Individuation in al-Tayyib Salih's Season of Migration to the North," Journal of Arabic Literature, 9 (1978), pp. 67-104; Denys Johnson-Davies, "The World of Tayeb Salih," Azure: The Review of Arab Literature, Arts and Culture, 8 (1981), pp. 15-20; Rotraud Wielandt, "The Problem of Cultural Identity in the Writings of al-Tayyib Salih," in Wadad al-Qadi (ed.), Studia Arabica and Islamica: Festschrift for Ihsan Abbas on his Sixtieth Birthday, Beirut, Imprimerie Catholique, 1981, pp. 487-515; Roger Allen, The Arabic Novel: An Historical and Critical Introduction,Manchester, University of Manchester,1982, pp. 131-138;Mona TakieddineAmyuni (ed.), Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North: A Casebook, Beirut, The American University of Beirut, 1985; Constance E. Gresham Berkley, The Roots of Consciousness Molding:The Art of El-TayebSalih: A ContemporarySudanese Writer, Michigan, UMI Dissertation Information Service, 1989 [Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1979]; M.M. Badawi, A Short History of Modern Arabic Literature, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 225- 230 ; and Ami Elad, "Fiction and Reality in al-Tayyib Salih's Dawmat Wad Hamid" in Ami Elad (ed.),Writer, Culture, Text:Studies in ModernArabic Literature, Fredericton, New Brunswick, York Press, 1993, pp. 62-73. 2 On modem Sudanese fiction, see the following works in Arabic: 'Abd al-Majid 'Abdin, Ta'rikh al-Thaqdfd al-'Arabiyya fi al-Sudan mundhu Nash'atihd ilä al-'A$r al-Hadith, 2nd ed., Beirut, Dar al-Thaqafa, 1967; Muhammad Zaghwl Salam, al-Qissa fi al-Adab al-Südänï al- Hadith, Cairo, Ma'had al-Buhuth wa'1-Dirasat al-'Arabiyya, 1970; Mukhtar Ibrahim `Ajuba, al-Qissa al-Haditha fi al-Slid3n, Khartoum, Jami'at al-Khartüm, Dar al-Ta'lif wa'l-Tarjama wa'1-Nashr, 1972; Mustafa 'Awad Allah Bishara, A4wä' al-Naqd, Diräsat fi al-Qissa wa'l- Shirr wa'l-Naqd, Khartoum, al-D5r al-Südâniyya li'1-Tiba`a wa'l-Nashr wa'I-Tawzi', 1977; Ibrahim Ishaq Ibrahim, "Hawla al-Qissa al-Qasira fi al-Sudan," al-Thaqdfa al-Südaniyya, 10 (May 1979), pp. 20-24; 'Ali al-Makk (ed.), Mukhtdrit min al-Adab al-Südanï, 2nd ed., Khartoum, Dar Jiimiat al-Khartum li'l-Nashr, 1980 (1st ed. 1975); and Sayyid Hamid al- Nassaj, Banuramd al-Riwdya al-"Arabiyyaal-Haditha, Cairo, D8r al-Ma'5hf, 1980, pp. 231- 252. In English: Osman Hassan Ahmed (ed.), Sixteen Sudanese Short Stories, Washington, D.C., Office of the Cultural Counselor, Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan, 1981, pp. 1-5; and Berkley, The Roots of Consciousness Molding, pp. 105-142.