An Introductory Survey of the Plays, Novels, and Stories of Tawfiq Al-Hakim, As Translated Into English
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AN INTRODUCTORY SURVEY OF THE PLAYS, NOVELS, AND STORIES OF TAWFIQ AL-HAKIM, AS TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH A THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree Master of Arts in The Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Christina M. Sidebottom, B.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2007 Master's Examination Committee: Approved by Dr. Thomas Postlewait, Adviser ~qo~ Dr. Joseph Zeidan Advisor Adviser, Department of Theatre ABSTRACT This thesis will provide an introductory survey of the plays, novels, short stories and other writing of Tawfiq al-Hakim, which have been translated into English. This work will be useful to English-speaking readers who are interested in learning more about Tawfiq al-Hakim and his literary works. The study will include a brief biography of al-Hakim together with an overview of the political regimes, geographical conditions, and the socio- economic environment that had an impact on the various phases of al-Hakim's life. An analysis of examples of significant publications spanning al-Hakim's writing career will be undertaken. The main focus of this thesis will be an discussion of the play F ate o f a Cockroach, in particular Act One which could be read as a political allegory for the life and times of Gamal Abdul Nasir, the military conflicts during his political regime, and the rise and fall of the United Arab Republic (1958-1961). The discussion will include a synopsis of the play, a description of the characters, and a literary analysis of the play, explaining the political allegory. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My sincere thanks go to my advisor, Dr. Thomas Postlewait, for his academic advice, support and encouragement during the preparation of this thesis. But, perhaps, most of all I am grateful to him for his sustaining sense of humour during my eight years of study at The Ohio State University. I am grateful to Dr. Joseph Zeidan for agreeing to be a member of my Thesis Committee. Thanks are also due for his assistance with Arabic texts and translation services. I am indebted to my husband, Stephen Sidebottom, for his unswerving support and encouragement during my years of academic study. Special thanks are due to him for fulfilling his post as unpaid research assistant with love and devotion. iii VITA April 11, 1946 ............................................................ Born, London, England 2001... ......................................................................... B.A. Theatre, The Ohio State University FIELDS OF STUDY Theatre iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................... iii Vita ............................................................................................................................................................ iv Chapters: 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 2. A Biographical Perspective on Tawfiq al-Hakim and his Times .................................... 10 3. The Major Literary Works of Tawfiq al-Hakim .............................................................. 45 4. Fate of a Cockroach, Act One ............................................................................................. 96 5. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 131 Appendix Literary Works of Tawfiq al-Hakim Translated into English .................................... 137 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................................... 139 v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION I have loved theatre for as long as I can remember. My fascination with the Middle East began with a one-year working trip to Bahrain in 1977 which turned into a twenty-year residence in the Middle East, first in Bahrain and later in Saudi Arabia. I first discovered Tawfiq al-Hakim and Fate of a Cockroach during a class on Arabic Theatre and Film, offered by Dr. Edward Ziter at the Department of Theatre, The Ohio State University, in Autumn 2002. I expanded my knowledge of this playwright when I served as dramaturg to the OSU Department of Theatre production of Fate of a Cockroach in May 2004. I had the great privilege of working with Syrian director Naila al-Atrash who accepted the Department of Theatre's invitation to come to the United States to direct Fate of a Cockroach as part of "Identity Formation in the Arab World," a quarter-long series of Arab academic and artistic endeavors. This thesis will provide an introductory survey of the plays, novels, short stories and other writing of Tawfiq al-Hakim, which have been translated into English. I intend this work to be useful to English-speaking readers who are interested in knowing more about Tawfiq al-Hakim and his literary works. Chapter Two will include a brief biography of al-Hakim. Woven in with this biography will be a timeline of the political regimes, 1 geographical conditions, and the socio-economic environment that had an impact on the various phases of al-Hakim's life. Chapter Three will contain an analysis of some of the major, significant publications spanning al-Hakim's writing career, including examples of his short stories, plays, novels and memoirs. Chapter Four will focus on Fate of a Cockroach, in particular Act One which could be read as a political allegory for the life and times of Gamal 1 Abdul Nasir , the military conflicts during his political regime, and the rise and fall of the United Arab Republic. This chapter will include a synopsis of the play, a description of the characters, and a literary analysis of the play, explaining the political allegory. Reading Fate of a Cockroach, and other plays by Arabic playwrights has reinforced my belief that there are some similarities between the struggles in the Middle East and the struggles in Ireland. My family heritage is Irish. Both my parents were born and raised in Southern Ireland and, as a child, I spent my summers there with my grandparents. My father was considerably older than my mother so both he and my grandfather were teenagers during "the troubles" in Ireland. I was raised on rebel stories and rebel songs. During my time in the Middle East I came to realize how much the Irish and the Arabs had in common. At first glance one might wonder what the relationships is between Ireland and the Middle East but if we look again we see that the peoples of both these lands have been dispossessed of their land rights by colonial powers over many hundreds of years. For centuries the Arab lands have been occupied by various invaders; the Persians in 550BC, Alexander the Great in 330BC, then the Romans, the Byzantines, the Muslims and finally they became part of the Ottoman Empire from the fifteenth century to the end of 1 The correct spelling of an Arabic name is to be found in the Arabic script. All English spellings are transliterations of the Arabic script. For the purposes of this thesis I have chosen Nasir for my spelling of Gamal Abdul Nasir's name. Some scholarly quotations cited in this thesis use alternative transliterated spellings. 2 World War One (WWI). The twentieth century saw, perhaps, the greatest "carving up" of Arab lands by colonial powers in their history when the British and the French divided up the Middle East at the end of WWI. In the secret Sykes-Picot Treaty of 1916 the British signed agreements with Russia and France. If the Turks and Germans were defeated they would perhaps divide the Middle East amongst themselves. The British wanted the support of the Jews and in the Balfour Declaration (November 2, 1917) the British agreed that if they won the war they would create a homeland for the Jews in Palestine, despite the fact that only 10/'o of the people living in Palestine were Jews. Syria was divided into Syria and Lebanon by the French. Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, went to the British. The British mandate of Palestine did not go smoothly. In World War Two (WWII) the Arabs took the opposing side to Britain and France who had cheated them in WWI. When the Nazis were defeated the Zionists wanted their immediate reward, i.e. a homeland, a Jewish state. In 1947 the British government requested removal of the Palestine Mandate by the General Assembly of the United Nations (formed in 1945). The United Nations 1947 Partition Plan divided Palestine into two independent states, a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Arabs were in the majority so they were to get more of the land. The Jews got the smaller part on the sea shore, part by Galilee and part of the Negev. The Ghaza strip went to the Arabs. The Arabs rejected the Jewish right to Palestine saying that the UN did not have the right to give the land to the Jews. The Arabs then rejected the UN resolution. The State of Israel, however, was declared by the Jewish Agency in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948. An Arab alliance of Jordan, Egypt, Syria/Lebanon, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia attacked Israel to regain the land for the Palestinians. 3 The Christian Irish fared little better when it came to invaders and colonial masters. The Irish suffered at the hands of the Vikings in the eighth century and the Norman