Middle East - Anthony Ham [66]
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VISUAL ARTS
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To learn more about how the stories of The Thousand and One Nights came together, read the excellent introduction by Husain Haddawy in The Arabian Nights.
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Some countries in the region have long and distinguished traditions in fine arts – the Belzalel Academy of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem opened in 1906, official painting and sculpture academies operated in Turkey as part of Atatürk’s secularising overhaul of the country and Lebanon’s first art school, the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts, was established in 1937. In other countries such as Jordan and Syria, secular governments and the partial liberalisation of Islamic norms has seen a flourishing of artistic expression. Wander around the old cities of Jerusalem, İstanbul, Damascus, Beirut and Amman and you’ll come across an eclectic range of independent, contemporary art galleries.
One distinct visual art form, particularly strong within Palestinian society, is the political cartoon. Female Palestinian cartoonist Omayya Joha (see www.omayya.com) and the late Naji al-Ali are two of the best-known creators in the genre. Their work is characterised by bitter criticism of Israel, the USA and, in the case of Omayya, Palestinian society itself. Her husband, an alleged Hamas operative, was killed in an Israeli army raid in Gaza in 2003. Al-Ali was assassinated in London in 1987, but his work seems just as timely today.
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An Introduction to Arabic Literature, by Roger Allen, is a worthy addition to the canon of literary criticism, with extensive translations of seminal texts and lively analysis; it’s especially good on The Thousand and One Nights.
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LITERATURE
The Middle East is the cradle of storytelling. The telling of tales that are both mischievous and reveal the social and political times from which they arise has always occupied centre stage in Middle Eastern life, from the epic tales from the 8th-century Baghdad court of Haroun ar-Rashid, so wonderfully brought to life in The Thousand and One Nights (see the boxed text, Click here) to the wandering storytellers that once entertained crowds in the coffeehouses and theatres of the region. It’s a heritage with two tightly interwoven strands: entertainment through suspense and comedy, and thinly veiled commentaries on the issues of the day. The region’s literary talents are worthy heirs to this ancient tradition and it’s these storytellers – the poets and novelists – far more than government-controlled newspapers and ‘information’ ministries, who serve as the great chroniclers of Middle Eastern life.
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According to one UN estimate, Spain translates more books each year than have been translated into Arabic in the past 1000 years.
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Like Middle Eastern filmmakers, the writers of the region face many challenges, from government repression and a lack of funding to the stellar rise of satellite TV. But perhaps of far greater importance is the lack of a book-buying culture in Arabic-speaking countries. Storytelling in the Middle East, including poetry, was always a predominantly oral tradition and it was not until the 20th century that the first Arabic-language novels appeared. The audiences never really made the transition from the public performance to the printed page. Incidentally, although printed stories have not taken off, public storytelling is dying out – only one professional storyteller remains in the entire Middle East; Click here.
But performing the last rites for Arabic literature (note that Israeli writers face few such challenges) would be premature. Unable to sell many books at home, many writers in the region have learned to survive from international sales. The Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, for example, combined a devoted local audience, which he cultivated through hugely popular public readings, with an equally devoted international following, so much so that he is the bestselling poet in France.