Plain Talk

By Mursi Saad El-Din

---

In collaboration with the British Council, the Egyptian Centre of the International PEN recently organised a seminar to discuss freedom of expression and publishing in Egypt. Two leasing writers, members of the English Centre took part in the discussions which were presided over by Mrs Iqbal Baraka, the President of the Egyptian Centre and one of the most courageous writers in Egypt as well Editor-in-Chief of Hawaa (Eve) magazine -- one of the earliest women's publications in Arabic.

That seminar marked the revival of the Egyptian Centre which, due to some internal problems, had been moribund for some time. It brought back memories of London in the late 1940s and 1950s. I was in London working as secretary of the Egyptian Institute then cultural attache, when I was approached by Hermon Ould, an English playwright and, at that time international secretary of PEN. One point requires explanation. PEN stands for Poets, Essayists and Novelists, but its Arabic name joined the three letters to become pen, the writing instrument, hence the Arabic name Al-Qalam.

We had a wonderful lecture hall at our institute which was situated in the aristocratic area of Mayfair, and Hermon Ould asked me if they could use our hall for their lectures. This I granted with pleasure and thus began my contact with both the English and International PEN. I had just published a small book of English poems and a collection of modern Egyptian short stories which I had translated into English. These two publications made me eligible for membership of the English Centre.

Through my meetings and friendship with Ould I got to know the origin and development of PEN. PEN was an idea born in the mind of the English novelist Catherine Dawson Scot in 1921. In the midst of the hell of World War One, Mrs Scot's idea was that the writers of the world should integrate and further the cause of building an international order on foundations of justice with permanent peace as its objective. She took her idea to John Galsworthy, then at the height of his fame . He saw its merit and with the support of HG Wells and George Bernard Shaw, among others, founded the English Centre.

Galsworthy persuaded Anatole Frank to accept the presidency of the French Centre. Maurice Maeterlenck became an international vice-president. Thomas Mann presided over the German Centre when it was formed. An International Secretariat was established in London, where it still exists. Twenty centres were created, including, as I was initially surprised to discover, the Egyptian Centre.

With the rise of Nazism and the burning of books, the suppression of freedom of expression and the imprisonment and even liquidation of writers in totalitarian regimes, PEN dissolved itself -- only to reemrge at the end of the WWII. It was in the early 1950s that I discussed with Hermon Ould the reformation of the Egyptian Centre, and he agreed with great enthusiasm, whereupon I wrote to Youssef El-Sebai -- novelist, friend and culture minister at the time. The Egyptian Centre was formed with Dr Taha Hussein as President and Youssef El-Sebai as Secretary in Cairo and I as joint secretary in London.

Those were particularly stimulating days, with the non-alignment movement pooling the efforts of the widest range of intellectuals across the world. Young writers were finding their voices, visions were being communicated, and the PEN played an integral role in all this.

The Egyptian Centre became active in international congresses on such topics as The Art of Prose, Criticism, Translation, Tradition and Innovation, the Author and the Public. I had the luck and pleasure of participating in these congresses, in Rome, Budapest, Dubrovnik, Bled, London, New York, Tokyo, as well as a seminar in Senegal on Oral Literature.