The Themes of Politics and Love in Contemporary Arabic Literature

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

The theme of politics seems to be one of the central themes in contemporary Arabic literature. This is explained by the fact that people in the Arab world struggle for freedom and vindication of human rights. Among the examples of this phenomenon in Arabic literature are Naguib Mahfouz’s “Midaq Alley” and Ahlam Mostaghanemi’s “Memory in the flesh”, where authors depict the hardships that Arab people have to face because of the politics of their governments. The other remarkable theme in Arabic literature is the theme of love. Numerous masters of the world turn to this theme in their works including the above-mentioned Naguib Mahfouz, Ahlam Mostaghanemi, and the other Arab writers and poets such as Qabbani, Darwish, Kanfani, Adonis, and Jibran. In the following paper, the two prominent themes of politics and love along with the peculiarities of addressing them in Arabic literature will be observed.

First of all, Naguib Mahfouz’s novel “Midaq Alley” can be seen as a multidimensional representation of the themes of politics and love in Arabic literature. In this novel, the Nobel Prize-winning author performs amazingly by rendering all the life hardships that poor Egyptians had to face in the 1940s. The novel is full of the most diversified personages, who are remarkable for their efforts to survive in the unexampled conditions of Cairo poverty. Among them are Kesha, having a small café business and selling hashish to make living; Mrs. Kersha, his wife and a woman of a bad temper; Abbas, a young barber with dreams to get married; Salim Alwan, a businessman striving to live through the heart attack he had to suffer due to the unstable situation in Cairo business; Dr. Booshy, who makes his dirty business by selling teeth from dead bodies; and Sheikh Darwish, a former teacher of English and a poet. All of these people strive to survive in conditions of British occupation that are even worsened by the politics of negligence of a local government. Mainly, they manage to do so using illegal practices, which is condemned by the author, and interpreted as a sad consequence of the careless politics by the government. One of the main characters, Hussain, makes a pointful comment regarding the sadness of people’s situation in Egypt during those days:

What hopeless wretches we are. Our country is pitiful and so are the people. Why is it that the only time we find a little happiness is when the world is involved in a bloody war? Surely it’s only the devil who pities us in this world (Mahfouz 247).

The theme of politics in the novel is addressed from the most diversified angles; not only is it seen from the point of view of British occupation. For example, the author is also interested in making his comments regarding the vivid political figures of those days, and he does so through the mouths of his characters:

Kirsha thought of Hitler as the world’s greatest bully; indeed his admiration for he stemmed from what he heard of his cruelty and barbarity. He wished him success, viewing him like those mythical bravados of literature Antar and Abu Zaid (Mahfouz 152).

In this quote, the readers may see Mahfouz’s courageous position in assessing the current political situation in the world and its main players. This comment appears to be outstanding for the days when it was written due to its positive attitude to a famous tyrant, Hitler.

One more theme that has its central significance in Mahfouz’s novel is the theme of love. The author is very bold when he addresses this theme because he is showing it from different angles: both from a traditional angle of love between a man and a woman, and from a sinister one, when he speaks about Kesha’s love for men and boys, and Kesha’s daughter’s love to a man, who is not her husband. Traditional love in the novel is shown as a strong power that can present an individual with wings to fly. It can be observed in the example of Abbas, who was obsessed with his dreams about marriage. “Abbas now marveled at the strength of love, its power and its strange magic. He thought it right that God had created mankind capable of love and then left the task of developing life to the fertility of love” (Mahfouz 37). This quote shows how the young man was inspired by his exalted feeling, and how it even strengthened his faith and devotion to God. Traditional love is also shown by the author through the eyes of a girl, with all of its romanticism and idealistic expectations. For example, the readers may see it in the following words about Hamida:

She longed to taste one of those kisses about which she had heard. He carefully noted the passerby while he felt for her mouth in the darkness of the evening and then placed his lips on hers, trembling violently as he did so. His breath engulfed her and her eyes closed tightly in ecstasy (Mahfouz 56).

Generally, love is shown by the author as a gift from above, able to save people from their daily hardships. This point of view can be seen in the following expression by Hussain, “‘As for life’s tragedies, our love will defeat them. Love is the most effective cure. In the crevices of disasters, happiness lies like a diamond in a mine, so let us instill in ourselves the wisdom of love’” (Mahfouz 52).

Secondly, in Ahlam Mostaghanemi’s novel “Memory in the flesh”, the audience may also see multiple appeals to the themes of politics and love. One of the central issues in this novel is the issue of war and its effect on the lives of those who have to suffer from it. “In wars, the sad ones are not always those who die. The most wretched are those who are left behind, orphans, widows, and those with broken dreams”, says the writer in the novel to turn her readers’ attention to the sad consequences of the unwise politics of the local government (Mostaghanemi 87). The memory of the flesh, Mostaghanemi speaks about in this novel, is, first of all, the memory about the sad events of the Algerian revolution, its sorrows, its obscurantism, and its backlash. It is also a memory caused by the love affair of the main protagonist. The readers may see that this memory is bitter as love caused the narrator much pain:

Is not death, in the end, ordinary, just like birth, love, marriage, sickness, aging, being among strangers, going mad, and so on? How long is the list of ordinary events that we expect to be extraordinary until they actually occur? (Mostaghanemi 25).

This phrase shows how love can be something that makes a person change an entire view of the world around, and can add even more pains to the life that is already overfilled with them.

Finally, the themes of politics and love are many times addressed in the pieces of word art by the other Arab poets and writers. Mahmoud Darwish’s works are rich with multiple evaluations of unsuccessful politics in the Middle East (Darwish 57, 86, 98). In Qabbani’s poems, the readers will find a passionate and adoring appeal to the theme of love. For example, Qabbani speaks about the sweet odor of first love, the rich flavor of mature love, and the sensual nature of tender loving feelings (Qabbani 25, 87, 121, 124). In Kanafani’s novels, the readers may find a yet another bitter narration of the political themes through the pains and hardships of his heroes (Kanafani 12, 34, 57).

In conclusion, the works of Arab writers and poets are full of appeals to the themes of politics and love. This is explained by the fact that these masters of the written word wanted to turn the attention of their audience to the problems that Arabian people had to face in their pursuit of freedom and vindication of human rights. However, these writers and poets did not only concentrate on the negative outcomes of life in Arabian countries. Rather than that, all of them wanted to offer people a reason for hope, and a reason to see positive things in their lives. That reason was in their depiction of love as a medicine for all people’s maladies including the pains inflicted by selfish and unwise political leaders; the wounds left after endless wars, and the soul scratches caused by the careless attitude of the world community.

Works Cited

Darwish, Mahmoud. In the Presence of Absence, New York: Archipelago Books, 2011. Print.

Kanafani, Ghassan. Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories, New York: Three Continents Press, 1998. Print.

Mahfouz, Naguib. Midaq Alley, New York: Anchor, 1991. Print.

Mostaghanemi, Ahlam. Memory in the flesh, Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2003. Print.

Qabbani, Nizar. Arabian Love Poems: Full Arabic and English Texts, New York: Three Continents Press, 1998. Print.

Click Here To Order Now!

The Themes of Politics and Love in Contemporary Arabic Literature

Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?

We have qualified writers to help you.

We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.

You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)