Short Arabic Plays

It is only in fairly recent times that Arab writers have turned their hands to the theater. This collection of nineteen short plays is evidence of the remarkable strides made as numerous playwrights have come to grips with the problems and potential involved with this genre. The essence of the collection is its sheer variety. The subject matter ranges from the horrors of a political prison camp to the comic tribulations of furtive lovers trapped in a minefield, from historical fable to the world of official bureaucracy, while dramatic treatments range from the conventional to the highly experimental, some using surreal techniques—now disturbing, now hilariously amusing. Many of the plays use humor or pungent satire to address distinctively Arab issues and problems, whether these have their source outside or inside the Arab world itself. The collection gives a valuable insight into a fast-changing and increasingly distinctive area of modern Arabic literature. Featured authors and plays: Yusuf al-'Ani -- Where the Power Lies Fateh Azzam and others -- Ansar Samia Qazmouz Bakri -- The Alley Mahmoud Diyab -- Men Have Heads Ahmad Ibrahim al-Fagih -- The Singing of the Stars Alfred Farag -- The Person Tawfiq al-Hakim -- Boss Kanduz’s Apartment Building Tawfiq al-Hakim -- War and Peace Jamal Abu Hamdan -- Actress J’s Burial Night Walid Ikhlasi -- Pleasure Club 21 Riad Ismat -- Was Dinner Good, Dear Sister? Raymond Jbarra -- The Traveler Sultan Ben Muhammad al-Qasimi -- The Return of Hulegu 'Ali Salim -- The Coffee Bar Mamduh Udwan -- The Mask Mamduh Udwan -- Reflections of a Garbage Collector Sa'd al-Din Wahba -- The Height of Wisdom Sa'dallah Wannus -- The Glass Café Sa'dallah Wannus -- The King's Elephant

Translations of 12 Arabic plays written and produced during the past thirty years.

This study of Egyptian theatre and its narrative construction explores the ways representations of Egypt are created of and within theatrical means, from the 19th century to the present day. Essays address the narratives that structure theatrical, textual, and performative representations and the ways the rewriting process has varied in different contexts and at different times. Drawing on concepts from Theatre and Performance Studies, Translation Studies, Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Studies, and Diaspora Studies, scholars and practitioners from Egypt and the West enter into dialogue with one another, expanding understanding of the different fields. The articles focus on the ways theatre texts and performances change (are rewritten) when crossing borders between different worlds. The concept of rewriting is seen to include translation, transformation, and reconstruction, and the different borders may be cultural and national, between languages and dramaturgies, or borders that are present in people’s everyday lives. Essays consider how rewritings and performances cross borders from one culture, nation, country, and language to another. They also study the process of rewriting, the resulting representations of foreign plays on stage, and representations of the Egyptian revolution on stage and in Tahrir Square. This assessment of the relationship between theatre practices, exchanges, and rewritings in Egyptian theatre brings vital coverage to an undervisited area and will be of interest to developments in theatre translation and beyond.

The book aims to explore the foresight of prominent Middle Eastern authors and artists who anticipated the Arab Spring, which resulted in demands for change in the repressive and corrupted regimes. Eventually, it led to cracking down on the protests with excessive force, which caused tremendous human suffering, destruction, and also escalation of extreme insurgency. The author analyzes major literary and artistic works from Egypt, Syria and Tunisia, and their political context. This monograph will be helpful to scholars and students in the growing field of Middle Eastern and North African Studies and everyone who is interested in the politics of MENA.

This book is the first critical survey of modern Egyptian drama during the period of its maturity from the 1930s to the present day. A discussion of the work of Tawfiq al-Hakim is followed by an examination of the less experimental plays of his successors, Mahmud Taymur, Bakathir and Fathi Radwan.

This volume explores Arab cultural life since World War II. Chapters cover topics such as radio/TV, the press, cinema, music, theatre, popular religion, belly dance, western consumerism, sport and the Arabic language.

Understanding the complexities of Arab politics, history, and culture has never been more important for North American readers. Yet even as Arabic literature is increasingly being translated into English, the modern Arabic literary tradition is still often treated as other--controversial, dangerous, difficult, esoteric, or exotic. This volume examines modern Arabic literature in context and introduces creative teaching methods that reveal the literature's richness, relevance, and power to anglophone students. Addressing the complications of translation head on, the volume interweaves such important issues such as gender, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the status of Arabic literature in world literature. Essays cover writers from the recent past, like Emile Habiby and Tayeb Salih; contemporary Palestinian, Egyptian, and Syrian literatures; and the literature of the nineteenth-century Nahda.

This book covers 60 years of translations, studies, and other writings, which represent Iraq's national literature, including recent works of numerous Iraqi writers living in Western exile. By drawing attention to a largely overlooked but relevant and extensive literature accessible in English, it will serve as an invaluable guide to students of contemporary Iraq, modern Arabic literature and other fields such as women's studies, postcolonial studies, third world literature, American-Arab/Muslim Relations, and disapora studies.