31 Jan. - 6 Feb. 2002
Issue No.571
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 31 Jan. - 6 Feb. 2002 Issue No.571 |
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Forlorn musing
How engaging is the book fair's fringe scene? Youssef Rakha spends a day finding out
Sunday has a reputation for being light on traffic: not so on the October Bridge, mid-afternoon, when hundreds of vehicles crawled across to the fair grounds, Nasr City. Fair-goers were looking forward to the various entertainments which thrive during the second half of the day and well into the evening -- the Upper Egypt Association for Development and Education Choir, the Palestinian Abbad Al- Shams Choir, folk and jazz performances from Al-Bait Al-Fanni lil-Funoun Al-Sha'biya and a performance of Ashraf Abu Golail's Madad ya Mansouri by the Saadeddin Wahba Troupe, directed by Mohamed Khalifa, to mention but a few of the options on offer that day -- or else a leisurely stroll around the space occupied by the "Ezbekiya Fence," which recreates not only second-hand book trading venues but popular neighbourhood markets in general. There is stationary, computer implements, toys: all at remarkably low prices.
Others, like the present reporter, had the seminars and discussions in mind; even if they still set aside a little time for inspecting some or all of the above, an experience that proved engaging, if less than remarkable. Having painstakingly found a parking spot, bought the tickets and edged his way through the incredibly narrow, incredibly crowded entrance -- noting an exceptional stress on security from the first step -- the reporter in question braced himself for the Culture Café and surrounds.
There was an hour to spare before the Naguib Mahfouz seminar, at the Lotus Hall, started; and the Culture Café seemed the right place to be. This year the programme of the café was divided into three slots. The first is dedicated to the discussion of a recently published non-fiction book. The second theme of events are testimonies given by fiction writers under the working title Zaman Al-Riwaya, the title being in reference to Gaber Asfour's Zaman Al-Riwaya (The Time of the Novel), published two years ago. The third slot is occupied by discussions in the presence of the writer of a recently published creative work.
Attended by, among others, the well-known critic Abdel-Moneim Teliema, the discussion of novelist Youssef El-Qai'd's travel book, Mufakahat Al-Khillan fi Rihlati ila Al-Yaban (Jesting With Friends About My Trip To Japan), whose title employs saj', mimicking canonical books of the same kind, had just ended. And Salwa Bakr's testimony about her experience in writing was beginning. This session was chaired by Teliema and between him and Bakr a stimulating discussion on the nature of the contemporary Arabic novel and how it spills over into both the short story and the poem, the untimely decline of the short story as the Arab writer's vehicle of choice and the increasingly private and individual approaches adopted by novelists of the 1990s took place.
Due in the Lotus Hall within 20 minutes, the reporter exited the Culture Café for a quick look around. The adjoining cafeteria, where writers and artists undertake many discussions in an informal way, boasted the presence of nobody but novelist Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid and poet Mohamed Afifi Matar, both of whom, already embroiled in discussions of other topics, had little to say about this round of the book fair. In no significant way, it seemed, was the present fair different from the previous 33.
In the Conference of Young Poets Tent, indeed, poet after poet from Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh recited their verses: nothing of note in the work of these Cultural Palace candidates except the predominance of themes relating to the Arab- Israeli conflict and American Middle East policy (evil, unjust and pro-Zionist) after 11 September, as naively and unpoetically expressed as could be. More exciting was the discussion taking place in the Family Library Tent, which centred on a book by journalist Mohamed Hassan El-Alfi, Ontha Al- Matar (Rain Woman), to which television dramatist Osama Anwar Okasha and actress Athar El- Hakim -- whose popularity was astoundingly evident -- contributed.
Under the direction of the formidable scholar Fatma Moussa, the aforementioned Al-Qa'id, along with novelist Mohamed El-Bosati and writer Abdel-Rahman Abu Awf discussed their various connections with the writing and person of Naguib Mahfouz. In their anecdotes and specific references, they revealed a figure of immense importance to the day-to-day workings of literary life as well as a seminal writer. A brief encounter, this was followed by an involved discussion of Mahfouz's perspective on women undertaken by, among others, writers Zeinab El-Assal, Azza Heikal and Mahmoud El-Rubie'i. The place of woman in the social fabric of Mahfouz's novel's was thought to reflect her place in Egyptian society and culture. The Trilogy's Amina, for example, might appear to be the oppressed victim of a male chauvinist system that subjugates her gender, yet Moussa pointed out that this would be a terribly superficial view. Amina, after all, had the freedom to act differently; the commendable qualities of compassion and understanding are integral not only to her but to her social role. And it is in these qualities, not in the circumstantial accident of her being in a position rejected by Western feminist discourse, that she should be tackled.
Back to the Culture Café for the second half of the discussion of novelist Muntaser El-Qaffash's latest contribution, An Tara Al-An (To See Now), attended by an impressive array of high-profile literati: the Alexandrine father of experimentation, Edwar El-Kharrat, critic Ibrahim Fathi and novelist Nora Amin, among others. Novelist Bahaa Taher had just reached the podium: he had not read the novel in its entirety, he was saying, as it had appeared the previous day, however the extracts he had read serialised in Akhbar Al-Adab revealed El-Qaffash's intimate connection with the language and mannerisms of bygone ages should not imply a tendency towards fundamentalism. The Heideggerian hypothesis, brought up by a Syrian critic, dominated the discussion: Ibrahim, the hero of El-Qaffash's book, is forced to wrestle with the angst inherent in the emptiness of his existence, even if, as the author pointed out, he endeavours in most respects to remain ordinary. Ibrahim also experiences the crisis of existing within the framework of time: the title of the book, El-Qaffash suggested, is as much an invitation to place oneself in Ibrahim's shoes, thereby gaining an insight into one's own existence, as an implicit question about the historical, existential and personal definition of "the now."
Opposite the Lotus Hall near the entrance, interspersing the reporter's journeys to the Culture Café complex and back, the recorded voice of vernacular poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi boomed on -- an advertisement for Dar Atlas's text-and-cassette versions of his various diwans. Yet the poet himself was not present.
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