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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2009
Yaḥy¯a Ḥaqqī's first article of literary criticism appeared at a time when the critic was still more or less exclusively concerned with explaining a text, or with justifying the rival merits of “ancient” as opposed to “modem” literature. In 1921 Mā.zinī and 'Aqqād had published their Ad-dīwān: kitāb fī an-naqd wa al-adab which constituted a significant step away from the traditional mold of literary criticism. The primary motivation of the madhhab jadīd seems to have been an attack, not always purely literary, on the neo-Classical trend as exemplified in the poetry of Shauqī, Hāfiz and Ismā'il Sabrī. The Diwan School, as it came to be called, required that the poet express his true feelings in an imaginative way without resorting to pure description or stereotyped imagery confined within traditional poetical forms.
1 “Sukhrīyat an-nāy” in Kaukab ash-Sharq, 02. 1927.Google Scholar
2 Abū Shādī and Shukrī had already discussed ideas of the English literary school before 1910.
3 Shi'r taqīldī or shi'r jāamid.
4 Aqqād and Māzinī mocked Egyptians who wrote of nightingales in poetry despite the fact that there are no nightingales in Egypt; they also censured the idealisation of spring –Egypt's most unpleasant season (Khutuwāt fi an-naqd [Cairo, n.d.,] p. 227).Google Scholar
5 Khutuwāt. p. 10.Google Scholar This is particularly true in the case of modem works like Beckett's End Game, where the playwright seems to be emphasising the importance of feeling the work rather than understanding it. Without the critic there is a grave danger that Communication will be lost; the critic forms a vital link (Itral-ahbāb [Cairo, 1971,] pp. 26–30).Google Scholar
6 Khutuwāt, p. 65.Google Scholar
7 Fajr al-qissa al-misrīya (Cairo, 1975, p. 7);Google ScholarKhutuwāt. p.11;Google ScholarKaukab ash-Sharq, 02. 1927.Google Scholar
8 Cf., Hadīth al-arbi‘ā’, Vol. III (Cairo, 1925), (ed. used, 1976), pp. 158–162.Google Scholar Taha Husain accuses contemporary writers of not being able to stand criticism or even comparison with others; cf, . also Mu‘adhdhabūnfī al-ard (Cairo, 1948), pp. 66–67, where he writes again that he does not care if he pleases or offends.Google Scholar
9 Khutuwāt, p. 14.Google Scholar
10 Ihsān Hānim by ‘Īsā ‘Ubaid was the first collection of short stories to be published in Egypt (1921).Google Scholar
11 Khutuwāt, p. 14.Google Scholar
12 Ibid p. 287.
13 Ibid. p. 299.
14 Kaukab ash-Sharq, 02. 1927. Other faults are: incorrect titles for functions, occasional lack of cohesiveness between plot and subplot, heroes who have been poorly adapted into an Egyptian milieu (Introduction, “Sukhrīyat an-nāy,” 1964).Google Scholar
15 Khutuwāt, p. 110.Google Scholar
16 Fajr. p. 130.Google Scholar
17 Ibid., 131.
18 Ibid., 124–125
19 “In our world there is no single truth which may be taken as a fixed point of departure in the drawing of our horizon” (Fajr, p.126),Google Scholar and “It is only the stupidest people, in the sphere of art, who claim that they alone hold the truth. There is no final norm of truth. Variety, not unity, is the rule” (Unshūda Ii atbasāra [Cairo, 1972,], p. 56).Google Scholar
20 Fajr, p. 127.Google Scholar
21 Khutuwāt, p. 118.Google Scholar
22 “Would that there might appear among us a writer who would create new structures and free words from old usages, so that a renovating breeze should blow through his style and refresh the reader” (Ibid., p. 119).
23 Ibid., p. 203; Haqqī refers his readers to French literature which has often been used as a political tool in the struggle (Fajr, p. 24).Google Scholar
24 Shakespeare, Thackeray, Morrison, Carlisle, Scott, Stevenson, Dickens, Comeille, Moliére, La Fontaine, Baizac, Hugo, Dumas, Flaubert, Maupassant, Boccaccio, Dante, Oscar Wilde, Poe, Mark Twain (Ibid., p. 81).
25 Gogol, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Artzybashev (ibid., pp. 81–82).
26 Qindī1 Umm Hāshim (Cairo, 1975), p. 37.Google Scholar
27 Haqība fī yad musāfir (Cairo, 1969), p. 17.Google Scholar
28 Qindīl, p. 37.Google Scholar Muhammad Taimūr also admitted to borrowing from Maupassant when writing “Rabbīl li man khalaqta hādhā an-na“im” in Mā tarāhu al- 'uyūn Lāshīn acknowledged his debt to Chekhov when writing “Al-infijār”. At that time some might write collections entitled Borrowed Stories (qisas muqiabasa) (see Khuhuwāt, p. 15).Google Scholar
29 Ibid. p. 275.
30 Their contact with the sick is seen to help them to understand the human soul (ibid., p. 280).
31 Fajr, p. 82. For a comparison of Lāshīn with the best European short story writers, seeGoogle Scholaribid., p. 83.
32 Khutuwāt, p. 125.Google Scholar Muhammad Taimūr wrote a series of articles in Minbar against Rīhāni and all “low” comedians and ham actors, because they degraded drama– this criticism despite his own 'Abd as-Sattār Effendi (1918). In such plays, music and dance were the mainstay of the plot and dialogue, or at least served to make them acceptable. 'Aqqād said that Sayyid Darwīsh had filled the streets with his songs– he had introduced simple composition in music and songs. He established a link between the words and meanings, between verses and what Berque calls étars d'âme – he was the first realist in music (see Berque, J., Les Arabes d'hier à demain [Paris, 1969], p. 254).Google Scholar
33 In his second article of literary criticism (“Yuhkā anna” in Al-Batāgh, 15 04 1930)Google Scholar Haqqī discusses Lāshīn's second collection of short stories and, looking for progress, he finds it. Nassāj accuses Haqqī of not looking at Lāshīn's numerous stories published in magazines (often the same story would reappear under a different title, e.g., “Ali” was renamed “Yastahil” when it was published in Al-Hadīth [03 1969]).Google Scholar These stories he claims cannot be assessed as Haqqī had done for the date of their writing is uncertain (Sayyid H¯mid an-Nassāj, Datīt al-qisīa al-misrīya al-qasīra – suhuf wa majmū'at 1910–1961 [Cairo, 1972] p. 12). Haqqī does, however, show his familiarity with Lāshīn's stories that were published in magazines, and in his introduction to the 5964 edition of Sukhrīyar an-nāy he lists: “Al-umni baina jīlain”, “Firqat ansā at-tamtbīl] and “Al-isba' az-zā'ida”.Google Scholar
34 Fajr, p. 60.Google Scholar
35 Ibid., p. 49.
36 Ibid., pp. 28–29.
37 Ibid., p. 44.
38 Ibid., p. 60.
39 Ibid., p. 117.
40 Ibid., pp. 21–22.
41 Ibid., p. 22.
42 Ibid., pp. 61–62. “The short story appeared to be an attempt by the authors to enter the national political field, and so it began to reflect precisely the post-revolutionary society” (Sayyid Hāmid an-Nassāj, Tatawwur fann at-qissa al-qasīra fī Misr, 1910–1930 [Cairo, 1968], p. 388).Google Scholar
43 Fajr, p. 103;Google ScholarKhutuwāt, p. 241.Google Scholar
44 Fajr, p. 149.Google Scholar
45 Ibid. pp. 62, 200.
46 Ibid., p. 98; Khutuwāt, p. 111.Google ScholarHusain, Cf Taha, Khisām wa naqd (Beirut, 1963), p. 25.Google Scholar
47 Khutuwāt, pp. 200, 245.Google Scholar Such an idealistic approach to literature in Egypt was beset by problems; Lāhīn, for example, would only write when his stories met with acclaim (Introduction to Sukhrīyat an-nāy, 1964).Google Scholar
48 “The Egyptian author should now … describe complex mysterious emotions or he should present us with examples of emotionally charged situations, by means of which he could clearly demonstrate the good and the evil in the world, the beautiful and the ugly. He should show that man's soul is so complex that one emotion is not seen to be separable from another. He should describe the lowest levels of humanity, as also the highest, to show that man can be either an angel or a devil” (Fajr, p. 215).Google Scholar
49 Ibid., p. 62.
50 Khutuwāt, p. 226.Google Scholar
51 Fajr, p. 128.Google Scholar
52 Khutuwāt, pp. 130–131.Google Scholar
53 Ibid. p. 169. Here he writes of Ihsān ‘Abd al-Qaddūs’ importance in recording the characteristics of his age.
54 Ibid. pp. 132–133.
55 “I beg the present generation not to be put off by its naïveté, but to handle it with the care and respect that they would display when coming across an old box which their grandmother had left behind, and when the box was opened her perfume is smelt and glimpses of her world are caught” (Fajr. p. 164).Google Scholar
56 Ibid., p. 124.
57 Ibid., p. 105.
58 Ibid., pp. 198, 241.
59 “Increase in observation is a positive sign, since it indicates that the nation is generally progressing” ('Abd ar-Rahmān ar-Rāfi'ī, Thaurar Sanat 1919 [Cairo, 1946], II, 193).Google Scholar
60 Khutuwāt, p. 80.Google Scholar
61 Haqqī deplores the tendency of young writers toward directly political literature, in which political pamphlets and government communiqués may be included in full. He claims not to read contemporary Russian literature because it is mostly propaganda (Unshūda, pp. 114–118).Google Scholar
62 Khutuwāt, p. 91.Google Scholar
63 Itr, p. 37;Google ScholarFajr, pp. 84–85;Google ScholarAt-Balāgh, 15 04 1930.Google Scholar
64 lntroduction to Sukhrīyat an-nāy, 1964;Google Scholarcf., Khutuwāt, p. 214.Google Scholar
65 Khutuwāt, p. 211.Google Scholar This was how Haqqī felt that the songwriter, Rāmī, had been annihilated in Umm Kulthūm (Ibid., p. 40). He criticises the use of saj' (Fajr, pp. 22–23).Google Scholar
66 Haikal asserted that had he not loved Egypt he would not have written a word (Fajr, p.43) – when in Paris he would close his curtains, and in the darkened room he would imagine Egypt. Haqqī claims that Mutammad Taimūir's inclination to literature arose out of his love for EgyptGoogle Scholar (ibid., p. 65).
67 lntroduction to Sukhrīyat an-nāy. 1964.Google Scholar
68 Fajr, p. 201.Google Scholar
69 Khutuwāt, p. 8;Google Scholar'Itr, pp. 31–37.Google Scholar
70 Taufīq al-Hakīm is introduced with a description of a baby entering the world without a tear. Unlike other babies, his eyes were wide open, contemplating people's faces – and, claims ī, he has not changed (“Taufiq al-Hakim between Fear and Hope” in Al-Hadīth, 02. 1934);Google Scholarcf, . also Mutammad Mahmūd Ghālī's obituary in Majalla, 04 1970.Google Scholar
71 “I was happy to add some comments which were designed to be of benefit to the writer, and to give him an unbiased idea of what an easy-going, modest reader thinks” (Khutuwāt, p.60).Google Scholar
72 Ibid., p. 100.
73 Khutuwā, pp. 165–166.Google Scholar
74 Ibid., p. 181.
75 Fajr, p. 220.Google Scholar
76 Itr, p. 133.Google Scholar
77 Fajr, p. 154.Google Scholar
78 E.g., Lāshīn's “Mudhakirrāt Nūh” in Al-Balāgh. 15 04. 1930.Google Scholar He does, however, justify the use of the ancient theme of Cleopatra: if Cleopatra's reputation can be salvaged, Egyptians can oncea again feel honour and pride in themselves and in their past (Khutuwāt, p. 57).Google Scholar
79 Fajr, p. 121.Google Scholar
80 Khutuwāt, p. 46.Google Scholar
81 Structural criticism pertains to the internal consistency of the story, whereas functional criticism pertains to the psychological and social conditions surrounding the story, and the critic's perception of such conditions.
82 Kaukab ash-Sharq, 02 1927.Google Scholar
83 Unshuda, p. 51.Google Scholar
84 “…the design or intention of the author is neither available nor desirable as a standard for judging the success of a work of literary art” (Wimsatt, W. K. and Beardsley, M. C., “The Intentional Fallacy” in Lodge, D., ed., 20th Century Literary Criticism, [London, 1972,] p. 334).Google Scholar
85 Fajr, pp. 129–130. He even suggests that al-Hakįm should have had one of his protagonists die for his country.Google Scholar
86 Al-Hadīth, 1934.Google Scholar
87 Fajr, p. 200.Google Scholar At the end of “The Turtle Flies” Haqqī has added his “intention”: the importance of the hero is that he was an early example of a working-class man trying to become a bourgeois (Qindīl, p.138).Google Scholar
88 Khutuwāt, p. 17.Google Scholar
89 'Itr, p. 158.Google Scholar
90 E.g., Khutuwāt, p. 85.Google Scholar
91 Ibid., p. 6.
92 Ibid., p.185.
93 Fajr, p. 146.Google Scholar
94 Ibid., p. 41.
95 Ibid., p. 88.
96 Introduction to Sukhrīyat an-nāy, 1961.Google Scholar
97 'Itr, p. 106; cf.Google Scholaribid., p. III.
98 Khutuwāt, p. 227.Google Scholar
99 ' Itr pp. 84–122.Google Scholar
100 Khutuwāt, p. 76.Google Scholar
101 Ibid., p. 69.
102 A1-Hadīth, 1934;Google ScholarFajr, p. 124;Google Scholar 'Itr. p. 77.Google Scholar
103 Al-Hadīth, 1934.Google Scholar He also compared himself very unfavourably with the Greek Kosti Sajaradas (Khutuwāt, p. 183;Google ScholarKhallīha 'alā Allāh [Cairo, nd.], p. 220).Google Scholar
104 “The first we heard of 'īsā 'Ubaid was what Yahyā Haqqī had written in his book Fajr which was published in 1960. Before this he was almost completely unknown in the literary field” ('Abbās Khidr, Introduction to Ihsān Hānim, 1964).Google Scholar
105 Fajr, p. 76.Google Scholar This magazine was run by Ahmad Khairī Sa'īd and seems to have been a forerunner of Al-Fajr (1924–1925).Google Scholar
106 Fajr, pp. 88–97.Google Scholar
107 'Itr, pp. 161–186.Google Scholar
108 lnterview, Cairo, , 30 03. 1979.Google Scholar
109 'Itr on the cover.
110 Ibid., p. 69.
111 Ibid., p. 64