Al-Zayni Barakat - Narrative As Strategy

Pluto Journals
Al-Zayni Barakat: Narrative as Strategy

Author(s): Samia Mehrez
Source: Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 2, Modern Arab Writers and the Politics of the
Middle East (Spring 1986), pp. 120-142
Published by: Pluto Journals
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41857824 .
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Al-Zayni Barakat:
Narrative as Strategy
Samia Mehrez
The
spreading
influence of
political
and social facts into the
literary
field of consciousness has
produced
a new
type
of
scriptor, halfway
between the
party
member and the
writer, deriving
from the former an
ideal
image
of committed man and from the latter the notion that a writ-
ten work is an act. . .
.Writing
here resembles the
signature
one affixes
at the foot of a collective
proclamation
one has not written oneself.
Roland
Barthes,
Writing Degree
Zero
1
Al-Zayni
Barakat was first
published
in Beirut in 1 974.2 The novel is consid-
ered one of the most
significant literary
works
produced
in the Arab world
during
the
past
decade. Both the Arabic text and the French translation of it
(Seuil, 1985)
have
generated
tremendous enthusiasm from
literary
critics
world-wide.3
Al-Zayni
has succeeded in
sustaining
this kind of interest
because of the incredible richness of its narrative
texture,
as well as its imme-
diate relevance to the
contemporary political
situation of the Middle East in
particular,
and
authority /people dynamics
in
general.
The novel deals with a
period
in
Egyptian
medieval
history
(1507-1518)
that
parallels contemporary Egyptian reality
(1952-1967).
At the same
time,
al-Zayni
is a manifestation of the artistic
maturity
of its
author, al-Ghitani,
who,
in
trying
to both
represent
and come to terms with his own historical
present,
becomes that "new
type
of
scriptor, halfway
between the
party
member and the writer." The text of
al-Zayni
Barakat
(as
well as most of
al-Ghitani's
works)4
is an "act." Both the structure and discourse of
al-Zayni
are indeed a "silent" statement of the author's
political
and
ideological
strategies.
This
paper
will examine how narrative structure and narrative discourse in
al-Zayni
are a means of
strategizing against
the "authorities." Such an
analy-
sis
requires
that the novel and the author first be situated within their histori-
cal context This will entail several
things.
First,
the author's
generation
(referred
to as the
"young
authors")
in
post-revolutionary Egypt
will be
briefly
discussed,
with
special
reference to these writers'
medium, i.e.,
the
Samia Mehrez is Assistant Professor of Near Eastern
Studies,
Cornell
University.
120 ASQ Volume 8 Number 2
Al-Zayni
Barakat
1 21
Arabic
language.
Second,
I will relate
al-Zayni
Barakat to its model text
(Ibn
Iyas's sixteenth-century
chronicle of
Egypt
under the
Mamluks),
in an
attempt
to show
why
al-Ghitani chose to write about this
specific period
in
Egyptian
history,
in what
ways
it relates to his own
present,
and
finally,
and most
significant
of
all, how,
in
adopting
some of the characteristics of medieval
forms,
al-Ghitani is able to write his own statement in the face of an
oppres-
sive
system.
Gamal al-Ghitani and the
"generation of
the revolution"
Gamal al-Ghitani was born in 1945 in
Suhag,
in
Upper Egypt.
The
family
then moved to
Gammaliyah,
in Old
Cairo,
where al-Ghitani remained until
he married. It
is, therefore,
no
surprise
that Old Cairo serves as a
setting
for
many
of his works. From 1962 to 1968 al-Ghitani studied
carpet design
and
worked as a
designer.
In
fact,
this short-lived career has had a
great
influence
on the
way
he "constructs" his novels.5 Al-Ghitani started his
writing
career
in 1963 and
published
his first short
story
in the Lebanese
literary journal
Al- Adib. He
began
his career as a
journalist
in
1968,
and continues to work
for the
Egyptian daily
Akhbar al-Yawm. Al-Ghitani's
literary production
includes both fictional and non-fictional works.6
Among
his works of fiction
is a collection of short stories that
may
be considered
embryonic
forms of
many
of his
longer
texts.
Awraq
Shabb
*
Asha Mundhu
Alf
(
Am
(1969)
includes short stories that demonstrate al-Ghitani's
experimentation
with the
style
of medieval Islamic
historiography
and his
attempt
at
molding
new
narrative forms. The
general
tone and
style
of the collection resembles that
which we
encounter,
on a more
sophisticated
level,
in
al-Zayni.
Influential on
this
writing
are two
contemporary
Arab writers who have fascinated al-
Ghitani more than
any
others. In
Egypt,
he was
highly
influenced
by
the
works of
Najib
Mahfuz,
Egypt's
most
prolific
modern novelist. The second
writer whom al-Ghitani cites as one of the most
important
Arab writers is the
Palestinian Imil Habibi. Like
al-Ghitani,
Habibi has drawn on the Arabic
classical
heritage
in
writing
Sid,
the
Pessoptimist
(1974).
Two of the
major
events in al-Ghitani's life have been the June 1967
Arab-Israeli
war,
and Sadat's visit to Jerusalem in
1977,
which culminated in
peace
with Israel. He describes these
periods
as
being
some of the blackest in
his life. For him these two historical moments
represented
the erosion of
principles
and the destruction of an
ideology
that he had
grown up
with.7
Al-Ghitani,
who was one of the
young
writers
imprisoned
in 1966 because of
"political
activism,"
spent
six months in a detention
camp.
Thereafter he
refrained from direct
political
involvement. The choice to remain silent on the
open political
front has been
paralleled by
a
very strong political
and
ideolog-
ical
message
delivered
through
his fiction.
Al-Zayni
Barakat is that indirect
statement. As Edward Said has
pointed
out:
1 22 Arab Studies
Quarterly
Every
novelist is of his
time,
however much his
imagination may
take him
beyond
it. Each novelist articulates a consciousness of his time that he shares
with a
group
of which historical circumstances
(class, period, perspective)
make
him a
part.
Thus even in its irreducible
singularity
the novelistic work is
itself
a
historical
reality.8
Gamal al-Ghitani
belongs
to what we can refer to as
jil
al-thawrah
(the
generation
of the
revolution).
He
probably
started his school
days
with the
advent of the 1952 revolution in
Egypt.
One of the
primary goals
of the Free
Officers'
regime
was to breed a new
generation
fed on a new
ideology,
a new
rhetoric and a new
self-image. Through
a
process
of
standardizing
education
and
rewriting history
in a manner that would
downgrade
the
pre-revolution-
ary period,
the new "democratic"
regime
succeeded in
molding
a
generation
that
strongly
believed in this
newly forged image
of
Egypt:
the "heart" and
"strongest
nation" of the "Arab world."9 On the other
hand,
the Nasser
regime fully
realized the
politically significant
role
assigned
to the
press
in the
pre-revolutionary period. Consequently,
one of the first measures taken
by
the
revolution was
censorship
of the
press.
The
press played
an
important
role in
pre-
and
post-revolutionary Egypt,
insofar as literature and
newspapers
have a
very special relationship
not
only
in
Egypt,
but in the Arab world in
general.
In
speaking
about the function of
the
press
in
Egypt,
William A.
Rugh points
out:
Cairo
newspapers
and
magazines
have on their staffs some of the
leading
and
best-known
professional journalists,
as well as some of the
very
best
novelists,
playwrights,
and
short-story
writers in the entire Arab world.
. . . These
journalists
function in the
Egyptian political environment,
which is
not static but
changing,
so over time their fortunes
change depending
on how
their views and
personalities
fit with the times.10
The
pre-revolutionary press
in
Egypt played
an
important part
in the devel-
opment
of modern Arabic fiction. From the 1870s until the 1952 revolution in
Egypt,
the
press
fulfilled two
major
functions.
Primarily
it
helped develop
a
modern Arabic
literary style
that freed itself from the restraints of classical
Arabic
prose. Language
was no
longer
an aesthetic
object
to be
contemplated
for its own
sake;
rather it was a vehicle to communicate a
message.
On the
other
hand,
the
publishers
of these
newspapers, following
the
example
of
contemporary
French
newspapers,
which were
largely
cultural in
content,
considered the Arab
press
one of the
proper
vehicles for Arab literature.11
Hence,
another function of the
press
was the creation of a new
space
for
creative
writing,
whether short stories or serialized novels.12 With the 1952
revolution in
Egypt
there was a shift of
emphasis
in the function of the
press.
The new
regime
abolished the
party system,
and with this new measure a
Al-Zayni
Barokat
1 23
great
number of
party newspapers
were closed down. The
remaining
ones
were
placed
under
very
close
censorship
and became
mouthpieces
for the
government.
Whereas
pre-revolutionary newspapers
had been
responsible
for
the
development
of a modern Arabic
literary style, post-revolutionary papers
were
responsible
for the erosion of that modern Arabic
style.
The
language
of
the
press
became laden with cliches that resounded
only
with the
ideology
of
the authorities:
This
[authoritarian] system
is based on the
theory
that truth is not the
product
of
a
great
mass of
people,
but of a few wise men ... in a
position
to
guide
and direct
their fellows. Comment and criticism are
carefully guided,
and
articulated;
goals
for the
community
conform with the
goals
of the
regime
itself.13
This
tightly
controlled
grasp
on the
media, including
radio and
television,
remains in
place
even
today, despite
the existence of
"opposition" papers
such
as al-Ahali and
al-Sha%
that are
published by
the now
existing "parties"
in
Egypt.
This fact was demonstrated
by
Sadas crackdown on the
press
in 1973
and his
comments,
at the
time,
"justifying" censorship
and
suspension
of
major journalists:
"I want freedom of the
press.
At the same time I want it to
be a dedicated
press."14
The
Egyptian
defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war had
already
made it
impossible
for the local media to mask the
reality
of the Arab situation. The
Egyptian people
entered the war backed
by
an elaborate media-fabricated
rhetoric:
It is clear that the Arab mass media
participate very actively
in
politics.
Their
commentaries,
how
they report
the
news,
and what
they report
or omit are
matters that Arab
politicians, government
officials on all
levels,
and
many
others watch
carefully
on a
day-to-day
basis.15
The defeat
brought
with it a
disillusionment,
a
sensitivity
to the
misleading
language
that had so far been
adopted
to
forge
the modern
history
of the
Egyptians:
No Arab can have been immune from the
feeling
that his modern
history,
so
laboriously
created,
scene
by scene,
would
prove
so
easy
to brush aside in the
test.16
In other
words,
the war led to a re- examination of the
ideology
and the
very
language
that
expressed
that
ideology.
On the
literary
front,
the war caused a
re-evaluation of
existing literary
forms,
the role of the writer in
society,
and
the
representation
of
reality
in a work of fiction.
The
generation
of
young
writers,
among
whom is Gamal
al-Ghitani,
was
1 24 Arab Studies
Quarterly
confronted with a
complex problem.
First, they
were disowned
by
their liter-
ary predecessors, many
of whom had been neutralized
by
the authorities
by
being placed
in
key positions
in the
press
(the
government mouthpiece):
This
young generation
that does not read
(Taha
Husayn),
that does not
study
(Muhammad
Hasanayn Haykal),
that does not seek
depth
(Ahmad
Baha' al-
Din),
this
generation
of bureaucrats that does not know its own
classics,
nor the
classics of
others,
what will it write?17
Secondly, they
were
persecuted by
the authorities for
voicing
their
political
opinions
and accused of
"aiming
to
destroy
the
government," "spreading
hostile
propaganda,"
and
"acting against
the national interest."18 The
young
writers had to face
many challenges, among
which were a medium
(the
Arabic
language)
that had been robbed of its
richness,
a censor that monitored
that
medium,
and the need to refashion "conventional"
literary
forms that no
longer represented
their
contemporary reality.19
Al-Zayni
Barakat and Nasser's
Egypt
Al-Zayni
Barakat confronts all these
challenges.
The novel is set in
sixteenth-century
Cairo
during
the
region
of the Mamluk Sultan
al-Ghawri,
just
before the Ottoman invasion of
Egypt
in 1517 A.D. Al-Ghitani's main
source on
sixteenth-century Egypt
is the medieval chronicle
by
Ibn
Iyas,
BadaT al-Zuhur Fi WakaY al-Duhur. Mamluk rule in
Egypt
was character-
ized
by
constant
instability.
In
fact,
this is a
period
in the
history
of medieval
Egypt
that
symbolizes
the
police
state. As
many
critics have
already pointed
out,
and as al-Ghitani himself
confirmed,
there exists an
analogy
between the
medieval
police
state that we read about in
al-Zayni
and
Egypt
under Nasser
(its
modern
counterpart).
Any portion
or
groups
which could threaten
[the
Free
Officers'] power
were
systematically destroyed.
...In 1954
following
an
attempt
on Nasser's life
several thousand members of the
[Muslim]
Brotherhood were arrested and lead-
ers of the movement executed.20
Furthermore,
the factors that contributed to the Ottoman invasion in 15 17
A.D. and the
Egyptian
defeat in 1967 were not dissimilar. We know that the
historian Ibn
Iyas
was
very
critical of the Sultan and his
corrupt
administra-
tion and held them
responsible
for the defeat. In both cases we have
administrations that failed to live
up
to their
images.
And in both cases we
have
regimes
that tried to mask the
reality
of defeat from the
people
for as
long
as
possible.
The inherent
parallel
between the two situations leads
Samia As'ad to
interpret
the
opening
line of
al-Zayni ,
"To
every
first there
Al-Zayni
Barokot
1 25
is a
last;
to
every beginning
an
end,"
as follows:
The novel covers a certain historical
period.
It
may
be similar to a
preceding
period
or a herald of one
yet
to come.21
The main character in the novel is
al-Zayni
Barakat Ibn Musa. Barakat Ibn
Musa is a real historical
figure
of the sixteenth
century.
He was a
judge
who
was
appointed by
the Sultan al-Ghawri to the
position
of muhtasib
(supervisor
of trade and
prices).
The word
"al-Zayni"
(the
one who
adorns)
is a title
bestowed
upon
Barakat Ibn Musa
by
the Sultan. In
many periods
of medieval
history,
the
position
of muhtasib involved far more than
simply monitoring
the
prices
of merchandise. This was the case with both the real and the fictional
Barakat Ibn Musa. The novel traces the
emergence
of
al-Zayni
Barakat,
his
rise to
power,
and his success at
remaining
in
power
even after the fall of the
Mamluks.
Working closely
with Ibn
Iyas's
medieval
chronicle,
two volumes
of which are a
day-by-day eyewitness
account,
al-Ghitani recreates a whole
epoch. Al-Zayni
Barakat,
to use Ceza Kassem's
words,
is the
"absent/pres-
ent."22 He never
actually appears,
as a
character,
in the novel.
However,
all
the events and characters in the book are
directly
or
indirectly
connected with
him. We hear of him and about him
through
others,
and he remains a contro-
versial
figure
till the end.
There exist several sources of
information,
in the
novel,
on
al-Zayni.
One of
these is the text of memoirs of a Venetian
traveler,
who records some of the
significant
events that took
place during
his numerous visits to Cairo before
and after the Ottoman invasion. He
provides
the view of the outsider who has
access
primarily
to a
public reality.
The other sources of information can be
divided into two
categories.
One
pole
is
represented by
the chief of
police,
Zakariya,
and his network of
spies (among
whom is a student at
al-Azhar)
-
i.e.,
the authorities. The other
pole
is
represented by
another Azhar
student,
Sa'id,
who seems to be the articulation of the other
component
in this
world,
namely,
the
people. Al-Zayni
Barakas
increasing power poses
a threat to
that of
Zakariya. Throughout
the
novel,
the latter tries to unveil the
myste-
rious
history
of the
baffling
Barakat. When
Zakariya finally
realizes that his
self-interest lies in
allying
himself with
al-Zayni,
he abandons his
plans
to
destroy
him.
Sa'id,
on the other
hand,
is the
intellectual,
who is
destroyed by
that
perfect
alliance of authorities
(Zakariya
and
Barakat).
He
begins
as a
firm believer in
Barakat,
but his belief is shaken when he witnesses incidents
that seem to
point
to Barakas
corrupt
and
hypocritical
nature. When
Sa'id,
at
a
gathering
in a
mosque, finally
accuses Barakat of
being
a
liar,
he becomes a
threat to the authorities
(Barakat
and
Zakariya). They
decide to eliminate
him.
Zakariya
and his men
capture
and torture Sa'id. The "authorities" even
meddle with Sa'id's
personal
life;
it is said that
al-Zayni arranges
a
marriage
for
Samah,
the
girl
Sa'id loves. The novel ends with Sa'id
totally destroyed,
1 26 Arab Studies
Quarterly
crying
out:
"They
have made me
rot, they
have
destroyed my
forts"
(p.
238).
Any
reader familiar with the
history
of modern
Egypt
will not fail to see the
affinities that exist between the character of
al-Zayni
and that of Nasser.23
Both
figures
seem to elicit the same controversial
questions:
Are
they good
or
are
they
evil? Are
they working
for the
people
or
simply manipulating
them?
Are
they
villains or are
they
heroes? The same
shaykh
who
supports
Barakat's
appointment
to the
position
of muhtasib later orders the
people
to beat him. In
1954,
the hero of the revolution and the new "democratic
regime"
was seen
as a
"usurper
of
people's rights."24
Furthermore,
no one will fail to
identify
Sa'id,
the disillusioned Azhar
student,
with a whole
generation
of
young
Egyptians, among
whom is Gamal al-Ghitani
himself;
a
generation
that
grew
up
with the
slogans
of the new
regime only
to be
oppressed by
this
very
same
"democratic"
regime.
Parody
and
pastiche
The above has been a rather bare reconstruction of the
"story"
of
al-Zayni
Barakat from a text that
begins
at the
end,
that defies the idea of an authorita-
tive voice in the
narrative,
and that narrates
through
the
juxtaposition
of
"fictional"
reproductions
of medieval
documentary
forms. The
question
is,
how does it work? More
significant, however,
are the
implications
behind the
strategies
that al-Ghitani uses to make
al-Zayni
work. A
good starting point
would be to examine further the
relationship
between
al-Zayni
Barakat and
its model
text,
the medieval chronicle
(which
we must not isolate from its
generic
and historical context of Islamic medieval
historiography).
Ibn
Iyas's
chronicle
provides
al-Ghitani with an inexhaustible
repertoire
of historical
data
(bureaucratic
and
popular
traditions). Furthermore,
medieval historio-
graphy provides
him with
specific stylistic
and formal characteristics of his-
torical
discourse,
which he draws
upon constantly
in other of his works as
well.25 In an
interview,
al-Ghitani talks about how he internalized the
style
of
the chronicle before he started
writing al-Zayni
I used to read whole
pages
aloud and I used t
copy
down in
my
notebook whole
pages
from it in an
attempt
to
capture
the internal
rhythm
of the
style
of Ibn
Iyas.26
The
relationship
that exists between
al-Zayni
Barakat and Ibn
Iyas's
medieval
chronicle can be best defined in Gerard Genette's term
"hypertextuality."27
According
to
Genette,
the
object
of
poetics
is not the text in its
singularity;
rather it is the textual transcendence of the
text,
its
transtextuality.
In other
words,
it is that which
puts
the text in a manifest or secret relation with other
texts.
Hypertextuality
is the relation that unites a text
(B),
which Genette calls
the
"hypertext"
(in
this case
al-Zayni ),
with an anterior text
(A),
the
"hypo-
Ai-Zoyni
Barakat
1 27
text"
(in
this case medieval
historiography). Hypertextuality operates
on two
levels:
parody
,
which is the
transformation
of the elements of the
hypotext,
and
pastiche,
which Genette identifies with imitation of the
hypotext.
In
al-Zayni
,
parody
is identifiable on the level of
style,
where some of the
most
prominent stylistic
characteristics of medieval Islamic
historiography
are re-used to create the "fictional world" of the novel. Here I am
referring
especially
to the use of narrated discourse and the
passive
voice. It is
impor-
tant for us to consider the function of these devices in historical texts in order
to
appreciate
the
significance
of their
prevalence
in al-Ghitani's fiction. Both
narrated discourse and variations on
passive
constructions are means
by
which a historian can demonstrate his "detachment" and
"objectivity."
At the
same time
they
are
"non-incriminating"
devices;
they
do not allow for a
reliable source of information. There is no
responsible
"I" at which a
finger
can be
pointed.
The historian can hide behind that absent "I" and
inject
the
text with his own biases and
opinions
without
assuming
direct
responsibility.
On the other
hand,
the absence of the "I" is a
way by
which the historical text
can reflect a collective consciousness. What does it
mean, then,
for a fictional
narrative to be written
using predominantly
these two devices?
Pastiche
(the
other dimension of
hypertextuality)
is likewise evident in
al-Zaynl
Events in the novel are "narrated"
primarily through
the
juxtaposi-
tion of
complete
texts of "fictional" medieval documents. Even the characters
rarely speak directly,
but are
presented through
narrative sections
bearing
their
respective
names as
headings.
Al-Ghitani makes his characters
part
of
the documents. What
they say
and think is "told" rather than "shown." We
know the characters
through
their individual narrated
monologues,
while
they
themselves remain silent
throughout,
each locked within the
space
ascribed to
him in a section.
They
are isolated
units,
imprisoned
in their
respective
con-
sciousness,
a
gesture
that further
emphasizes
the
police
state.
Here it is
important
to establish a
yet
more
significant point, namely
the
relationship
between medieval
historiography
and the modern
press.
Al-
Ghitani is a
journalist by profession
in a
system
that has censored the freedom
of the
press.
To
get
around direct confrontation with the
authorities, he,
like
the medieval
historian,
must
adopt
certain
strategies.
In The Arab
Press,
Rugh
enumerates some of the
games
a
journalist
can
play
with the
system:
. .
.by omitting parts
of the
story, by emphasizing
other
parts by putting
them in
the lead
paragraph
or
headline,
by juxtaposing
elements of the
story
to create a
certain
impression, by printing
as unattributed fact information from
only
one
source on a controversial
issue,
by uncritically publishing
information from a
doubtful
source,
or
by outright fabricating.28
The
strategies Rugh
lists above act as a
double-edged weapon. They
can be
used to ensure the
security
of the
"authorities,"
or
they
can
instigate
a revolt
1 28
Arab Studies
Quarterly
against
the
"authorities,"
depending
on the
allegiances
of the
journalist, i.e.,
our modern historian!
Al-Zayni
Barakat uses both
edges
of the
weapon.
It uses
the
language
and
strategy
of the
authorities,
only
to raise consciousness and
instigate against
the
very language
it uses.
(I
will
presently analyze passages
from the text in order to demonstrate
my point.)
Another
important
dimension
to
Rugh's quotation
is the
question
it raises around
"reality,"
a central
question
in
al-Zayni
Barakat. Do we have access to the "real"? What
implications
does
the
juxtaposition
of "fictional"
documentary
forms in
al-Zayni
have on "his-
tory"
as the
presentation
of
"reality"?
In
discussing
the text of
al-Zayni
Barakat
'
in order to demonstrate how its
very
structure and narrative discourse can
help
us understand al-Ghitani's
political statements,
I will
present
two levels of
analysis:
(1)
the
significance
of the
juxtaposition
of the
major
blocks
(memoir
sections and
surdaq
sec-
tions);
and
(2)
the internal
organization
of the
surdaq
sections.
Memoir sections and
surdaq
sections
On the first level we have two
major
blocks that are
juxtaposed against
each other: the texts of the memoirs written in the first
person by
the Venetian
traveler,
and the
surdaq (pavilion)
sections. The Venetian traveler does not
have total access to the
"reality"
we
privileged
readers are
given
in the
surdaq
sections,
which contain "fictional" documents and the narrated
monologues
of the
major
characters.
There are five memoir sections
carefully placed
within the text of
al-Zayni
The first section of memoirs
appears
on the first
page
of the novel:
Rajab
922 A.H.-
August
to
September
1517 A.D. An
excerpt
from the memoirs
of the Venetian
traveler,
Visconte
Giante,
who visited Cairo more than once
during
the sixteenth
century
while
traveling throughout
the world. These
memoirs record the conditions in Cairo
during
the month of
August
1517
a.D.-
Rajab
922 a.h.
(P. 7)
The other sections are found on the
following pages:
121, 169, 187,
and 239.
The order of the dates that
appear
with the memoir sections are as follows:
Page Hijra
(A.H.)
A.D.
7 922 1517
121 914 1509
169 920 1515
187 922 1517
239 923 1518
Al-Zayn
Barakat 1 29
The second
through
fifth memoir sections are in
chronological
order. The first
section,
with which the novel
begins,
has been
uprooted
from the
chronologi-
cal
order,
an act of dislocation that has
special significance
and relevance to
the narrative structure of
al-Zayni
On a
purely
historical
level,
the
year
1517
A.D. is the
highly important
date of the Ottoman invasion and the fall of the
Mamluk
dynasty
in
Egypt.
Placed at the
beginning
of the
novel,
the memoir
section,
bearing
that
significant date,
gives
the reader an "after the fact" view
of the situation in
Egypt.
It draws our attention to the
significance
of the
period
in which the novel is set. In the first section of memoirs the traveler
portrays
the conditions in Cairo
immediately before
the defeat of the Mamluk
Sultan of
Egypt.
The last section of
memoirs,
dated 1518
A.D.,
portrays
Cairo
after
the Ottoman invasion.
Al-Ghitani sets the
general
mood of
al-Zayni by displacing
the
chronology
of the memoir sections. He introduces the date 1517 A.D. at the
beginning
of
the novel to
highlight
the historical
significance
of the
period during
which
the novel is set.
Despite
the fact that the memoir section
appears
on the first
page
of the text of
al-Zayni,
it is not the
beginning
of the novel. If
anything,
it
is a false
beginning.
Placed at the
beginning,
the first memoir section is
followed
by
a
surdaq
dated 1507
A.D.,
which carries the reader ten
years
back
in time. The novel
actually begins
ten
years
before the Ottoman invasion. The
first memoir
section,
dated
1517, however,
mirrors a
general feeling
of terror
and unrest and
captures
the
spirit
of the decline and
corruption
of Mamluk
rule:
Conditions in the land of
Egypt
are troubled these
days.
Cairo seems
strange
to
me;
not what I had known on
my previous
visits. .. .1 see the face of the
city
sickly,
on the brink of tears. (P. 9)
The first time we hear of
al-Zayni
Barakat is
through
the remarks made
by
the Venetian traveler in the first memoir section. Given the traveler's limited
analytic
and
interpretive perspective, al-Zayni
is
presented
in
highly
contro-
versial terms. The
controversy
over
al-Zayni
Barakat
is, indeed,
what remains
with the reader till the end of the novel:
The
people of
Cairo see
al-Zayni, every day,
at least once. The
processional
drums
precede him,
attendants walk in his train.
Al-Zayni
is forever
supervising
the
prices
of merchandise. He searches out dens of
immorality.
. . .On
my
last
visit to
Egypt; al-Zayni
Barakat was
strong
and
sturdy.
I don't know what has
become of him. I saw
al-Zayni
himself dismount and talk with the vendors of
pastries,
cheeses and
eggs.
. . .1 know of the
people's respect
for
him,
their love
for him. I remember what I wrote about him after our
first meeting.
...I have
never seen
anything
like the
gleam
that is in his
eyes.
. . .There is a
striking
intelligence
in his features. The blink of his
eye
is full of tenderness and
compas-
sion which
captures
the soul. At the same time it evokes
fear. (P.
1 1
; my
italics).
1 30 Arab Studies
Quarterly
The traveler
reports
what he hears from the
people,
what he sees
;
and how he
feels
;
without
synthesizing
the information. His
description
of
al-Zayni
Bara-
kat leaves the reader with the two
conflicting
elements of the muhtasiV s
character: he is
compassionate, yet
he
inspires
fear. Another
example
of the
traveler's detachment in
reporting
occurs
immediately
after the above
pas-
sage.
Once more his detachment accentuates the controversial character of
al-Zayni
Barakat. Visconte Giante records a
story
that he hears from the
people,
in which a
young
slave
girl appeals
to
al-Zayni
for
help
when her
master abuses her
sexually. Al-Zayni
orders his men to storm into the accused
man's house.
They
take the slave
girl away
and abuse the man. The
story
circulates
among
the
people,
and a debate arises about the
legitimacy
of
al-Zayni's
interference:
People disagreed
about
al-Zayni's
Barakas behavior. One
group supported
what he had
done,
especially
as the
girl
had sent to him
asking
for
help
when she
felt she could bear no more. But another
group
felt that he had intruded on the
most
private
matters of
people's
lives;
and that no one at all could
feel safe
in his
home or about his
family, especially
after a rumor indicated that the
girl
had
never
appealed
to
al-Zayni
at
all;
that he had found out about the matter
through
dubious methods which enable him to
acquire
information about the minutest
details that occur within homes.
(P. 13; my
italics)
Historically speaking,
the conventional form of the memoir
belongs
to a
larger species
or
genre, namely,
travel literature.
However,
within the context
of
al-Zayni,
the memoir
acquires
a
new, fictional
function. It becomes an
objective commentary
that
provides
a different
point
of view on the events.
By
the same
token,
its authoritative voice is undermined because the reader has
another access to the "real" in the
surdaq
sections. The memoir sections
always interrupt
the text after an
important
event has been
presented
in the
surdaqs. Very
often the internal
organization
of the
surdaqs
includes details of
which the Venetian traveler is
totally
unaware,
making
the memoir sections
seem at times naive. In other instances
they
are
complementary
to the
surdaqs
because
they provide
a different
perspective by recording
scenes that have
only
been mentioned in
passing
with the
surdaqs.
Such instances
downplay
the
authority
of the
surdaqs.
An
example
of this
complementary
function is
the incident with
'Ali,
who was muhtasib of Cairo before
al-Zayni
Barakat.
The first
surdaq
includes a
royal
decree for 'Ali's
arrest,
which is followed
by
oral
proclamations announcing
his
public
torture. The memoir section that
follows the first
surdaq
is an
eyewitness
record of that
public
torture.
The
remaining
four memoir sections occur after the
following major
inci-
dents in
al-Zayni
:
Al'Zoyni
Barakat 1 31
Event Memoir dates
1. The nomination of
al-Zayni
Barakat 1509 A.D./914 A.H.
as the Governor of Cairo. section II
2.
Al-Zayni's public appearance
at the 1515 A.D./920 A.H.
mosque,
where he is
interrupted by
a section III
voice that accuses him of
being
a liar.
3. A
quoted passage
from Ibn
Iyas's
1517 A.D./922 A.H.
chronicle. The
passage
describes section IV
the Sultan's
procession
on his
way
to Greater
Syria
to meet the Ottomans.
Visconte Giante includes this
passage
in his
memoirs,
he
being
Ibn
Iyas's
friend.
4. Rumors of the defeat of the Sultan 1517 A.D./922 A.H.
and
al-Zayni's disappearance
from Cairo. section I
5. After the Ottoman invasion. A
descrip-
1518 A.D./923 A.H.
tion of
al-Zayni's
usual
procession.
section V
The external
juxtaposition
of the two
major blocks, i.e.,
the memoir sections
and
surdaqs
,
generates
what Samia As'ad refers to as a
feeling
of
cyclical
history:
the novel
begins
at the end. This
symbolic gesture,
she
suggests, points
to al-Ghitani's
interpretation
of the movement of
history.
The circle
suggests
re-occurrence,
and the defeat of the Sultan in 1517 is
Egypt's
defeat in the
war
against
Israel in 1967.29
On
yet
another
level, however,
the traveler's memoirs reflect a
very public
version of the situation in
Egypt.
He records
congregations
at
mosques,
cof-
feeshops,
conversations that take
place
between the
people-
but
he,
like all
other characters in the
novel,
remains
ignorant
of the
private complexities
of
the situation. He never rises above the
people's
immediate
understanding
to
question
their vision or to comment on the controversies that surround them.
We,
as
readers,
are in a
position
to see
through
the traveler's naivet because
we have access to more information. While the traveler is
busy describing
Sultan al-Ghawri's
procession
on his
way
out of
Egypt
to meet the
Ottomans,
the reader turns the
page
to find that
something equally significant
is
happen-
ing
within
Egypt.
A summit
meeting
is
being
held for
police
chiefs from all
over the world.
May
God bestow
peace
on these lands.
Top
secret. Not accessible to
any living
soul.
1 32 Arab Studies
Quarterly
A letter
prepared
on the occasion of the
meeting
of the world's
police
chiefs in
Cairo,
the mother of the
world,
and
garden
of the universe. This
meeting
is held
to
study
conditions and methods used and
developed
to
exchange knowledge
and benefits. This letter was
prepared
in the Diwan of the Mamluk Sultan's
police
force. It was read
by
the Great
Shihab, Zakariya
Ibn
Radi,
may
God
forgive
him and
guide
his
way.
Cairo
Jamadi First 922 a h.
(P. 189)
This letterhead is followed
by
the text of the letter that
Zakariya
read at the
meeting.
The text is full of
horrifying
details of
recently developed
torture
techniques
that would allow the authorities to maintain an even
tighter grip
on the
people. Zakariya
describes all his own
experiments
in the field of
human torture and concludes:
In this
way
I transform life into an Inferno
padded
with
spikes
so that even
Death becomes a
longed-for hope
and much desired
luxury.
(P. 201)
All this
happens simultaneously
as the traveler records "conditions in the land
of
Egypt!"
The
juxtaposition
of the traveler's
memoirs,
which describe
very
public things,
with the
horrifying
texts of these
top-secret
documents in the
surdaq sections,
renders the information in the memoir sections ironic. Al-
Ghitani
silently
creates a comment on the discourse of the Venetian traveler.
In his book
Irony ,
D. C. Muecke discusses that
aspect
of
irony
that consists
in the contrast of
reality
and
appearance:
The ironist
presents
an
appearance
and
pretends
to be unaware of a
reality
while
the victim is deceived
by
an
appearance
and is unaware of a
reality.30
The above definition of
irony
describes al-Ghitani's
gesture
towards the
Venetian traveler. It is the traveler's
genuine
unawareness of the contrast
between
appearance
and
reality
that makes him ironic. On the other
hand,
al-Ghitani,
the silent ironist
par excellence,
makes the traveler the victim of
irony by
a
simple juxtaposition
of the latter's memoirs and the secret letters of
the authorities. As readers we have this
totality
of vision because we have the
text.
If a contrast of an
appearance
and a
reality
is a basic feature of
irony,
an
awareness of contrast is a
necessary
condition of the
recognition
of
irony.31
Internal
organization of
the
surdaq
sections
The
surdaq
sections constitute the second
major
block in
al-Zayni.
The
Al-Zoyni
Barokot 1 33
word
surdaq
means a
pavilion
or
large
tent. Within the context of
al-Zayni ,
al-Ghitani attributes a new fictional function to this
spatial concept by using
the
surdaq
to create a
large
umbrella under which events and characters exist
simultaneously
within the same
space.
In
al-Zayni
there are seven such sur-
daqs
,
each
bearing
a number indicative of its
temporal sequence
within the
text. The cluster of nonfictional
documentary
forms and character sections
within each
surdaq
is
organized
around one central event.
The
surdaq
sections in
al-Zayni represent
a
very
elaborate form of
pastiche,
wherein al-Ghitani imitates several kinds of documents. He draws on a
reper-
toire of medieval conventional forms. Each of these medieval documents has
its own historical function and characteristics. In order to "narrate" the events
in
al-Zayni
,
al-Ghitani
organizes
the documents within each of the
surdaq
sections
according
to their historical characteristics and function. All seven
surdaqs
have the same
heterogeneous
internal structure. Each deals with one
central event in the novel: the arrest of the old muhtasib of
Cairo,
the rise of
al-Zayni
Barakat to
power,
and so on. The central or
topical
event that is the
subject
of each
surdaq
is
presented
to the reader
through basically
two kinds
of entries. The first are fictional texts of medieval
documents,
both written
and oral. The second are narrative sections
bearing
as
sub-headings
either the
name of a character
(followed
by
that character's narrated
monologue),
or the
name of a
place
(followed,
generally, by
a section
presenting
the
people's
point
of
view).
On the level of historical
function,
the medieval documents included in
al-Zayni
can be divided into two
major categories:
1. Texts of documents
(oral
and
written)
presented
from an
authority
(the
Sultan,
al-Zayni
Barakat,
the chief of the
police
force)
to the
people
of
Egypt.
This first
category
of
authority/people
documents includes the
following:
a.
Royal
decrees from the Sultan.
b. Oral
proclamations
from the Sultan.
c. Oral
proclamations
from
al-Zayni.
e. Fatwas
,
which are Islamic
legal
statements made
by prominent shaykhs.
f.
Reports
from the Sultan on a
given
situation.
Each of the above medieval documents has its own
distinguishing
historical
formal,
rhetorical and
stylistic
characteristics. Al-Ghitani
reproduces
all such
medieval
stamps
of the conventional
forms,
so that the documents are
very
period- specific.
2. Texts of documents that are
presented
from one
authority
to another
authority.
These documents are accessible to the
reader,
but some of the
fictional characters remain
ignorant
of their circulation and existence. In
some
instances,
the reader is
given only
the title of a
document,
but not the
text. There are three subdivisions of
authority/authority
documents:
1 34 Arab Studies
Quarterly
a. Texts of letters
exchanged
between authorities in the novel. These
authority/authority
documents are accessible to the reader.
b. Texts of
spy reports presented
to the authorities in the novel.
These, also,
are accessible to the reader.
c. Titles of
reports
and letterheads followed
by
no text. These are authori-
ty/authority
documents to which even the
"privileged"
reader has no
access.
All
authority/people
documents
represent
an action taken
by
the authorities
and announced to the
people through
these conventional forms.
They
are
essentially public
forms and
predominantly
oral. All
authority/authority
forms are either intentions of
carrying
out actions or
reports
on reactions
(basically
of the
people)
to certain actions
already
taken
by
the authorities.
They
are
essentially private
forms and
are, therefore, predominantly
written.
Al-Ghitani's
understanding
of the historical functions of both
categories
of
documents allows him to
juxtapose
them in such a
way
that
they
"tell" the
story.
The
documents,
in their
organization,
"narrate" the events of the novel.
I will define the
organizing principle
of this elaborate
pastiche,
with
examples
from the
text,
shortly
after the
following
section.
The second kind of
entry
in the
surdaq
is the narrative sections
bearing
as
headings
the names of characters or the names of
places.
These are all written
in the third
person.
The narrator of these entries oscillates between the camera
eye (recording
events with a focus on the
present
moment)
and the
reporter
(reporting
events from the characters'
past).
The
categories
and functions of
the character and
place
entries within the
surdaq
sections are
analogous
to
those of the medieval documents. The
place
sections describe
people's
reac-
tions to events. The character sections can be divided into two
categories:
authority (represented by
sections that bear the name of the
police
chief,
Zakariya);
and
people (represented by
sections that bear the name of the
Azhar student Sa'id. The character entries thus
represent
two
points
of view:
that of the authorities and that of the
people.
Each character reflects
upon,
reacts
to,
and comments on the events and information
given
in the form of
medieval documents.
The basic
principle
that
governs
the
juxtaposition
of the documents and the
characters on the level of internal
organization
is that of action/reaction. An
authority/people
document
(action)
will be followed
by
an
authority/author-
ity
document
(reaction).
The
following
is an
example
of the action/reaction
principle
as it manifests itself in
al-Zayni.
After
al-Zayni
Barakat assumes his
position
as muhtasib of
Cairo,
he issues an oral
proclamation. According
to
my categories,
the
proclamation
is an
authority/people
document. It is an
action. In this oral
proclamation al-Zayni
announces that lanterns should be
posted
at the entrance of
every alley,
and at the
gate
of
every palace (p.
89).
Following
the oral
proclamation
in the
text,
a
report
is sent to
Zakariya,
the
Al'Zoyni
Borakot 1 35
police
chief, summarizing
the reaction of the
people
to the action of the
lanterns. The reaction of the
people
is
complemented by
the texts of
fatwas
(legal opinions
from
'
ulama
X
concerning al-Zayni's
action. A third level of
reaction is
represented through
the texts of letters sent
by
a
group
of Emirs to
the Sultan. It is the reaction of the authorities
(police, 'ulama', Emirs)
to the
action of
al-Zayni
that elicits a counter- action on the
part
of the Sultan. A
royal
decree, i.e.,
an
authority/people
document that constitutes a new
action,
is issued
by
the Sultan. The
royal
decree bans the
suggested
use of lanterns:
A
Royal
Decree:
The idea of lanterns will be
stopped.
. . .those
already posted
will be
removed;
consider that
they
had never existed.
(P. 105)
The action/reaction axis in
al-Zayni
can be
very complex.
One action can
elicit several reactions.
Depending
on the
source,
the reactions will be
pres-
ented
through
different
categories
of medieval documents. The above exam-
ple
of the lanterns is one such action that
generates
several reactions. The
people's
reaction is
presented through
a
spy report. They
do not seem
totally
opposed
to the idea of the lanterns:
Al-Zayni
wants to introduce an innovation that will be attributed to him.
Another man said:
perhaps
this innovation will win the
blessing
of the
people.
(P. 92)
However,
the 'ulama' in their
fatwas
are
opposed
to it:
A
fatwa
from the
Supreme Qadi:
The lanterns rob the
people
of divine
blessing.
(P. 99)
The letters from the Emirs to the Sultan reflect the former's
opposition
to the
lanterns. Some
oppose
the idea because it
encourages
women to remain out
longer;
others feel it
encourages
children to
stay
out
longer.
All the
Emirs,
who
continuously
vie
amongst
themselves,
want to
keep
Cairo dark at
night.
The Sultan
finally grants
them their wish in a
royal
decree. The
juxtaposition
of all these reactions to one action
(that
of the
lanterns)
through
a series of
documentary forms,
leaves the reader with the burden of
interpretation,
and
the
controversy
of the lanterns is not resolved. Did
al-Zayni
want the lanterns
for the
safety
of the
people,
or did he want the lanterns in order to be in full
control of the situation
by weakening
the
night
activities of the Mamluk
Emirs?
However,
the issue of the lanterns can be understood when we know
the context and the circumstances
surrounding
it. This is not unlike the exer-
cise the reader
acquires
in
dealing
with information
presented
in a modern
newspaper.
As William
Rugh points
out,
"Readers look for
information,
but
1 36 Arab Studies
Quarterly
they
also seek nuances in
language
and even omissions in
reporting."32
Earlier in this
paper
I indicated that
al-Zayni
Barakat never
appears
directly
in the novel. Nevertheless we do
obtain,
at
second-hand,
his reaction
to the action taken
by
the Sultan
concerning
the lanterns. This occurs in a
narrative section
bearing
Sa'id's name.
Al-Zayni
is said to have been
disap-
pointed,
to have felt that the Emirs cheated the Sultan and acted
against
the
best interest of the
people.
Hence,
character entries within the
surdaq
can also
at times function on the level of reactions to certain actions. The most
impor-
tant characteristic of the character entries is that
they symbolize
the isolation
of the characters in the novel. The reactions
presented through
character
entries are
personal,
unvoiced,
and untransmitted.
In one of
Zakariya's
sections,
he broods over the new controversial muh-
tasib
,
al-Zayni
Barakat:
From what earth has this Barakat been created. Has the Antichrist come
incog-
nito? . . .He ascends to the
Citadel,
in
disguise,
he
prostrates
in front of the
Emirs,
he
weeps,
real tears. . . he
says
what causes
Zakariya
to
pace up
and
down till this minute.
(P. 36)
Reactions that are introduced in character sections add another dimension to
the
organizing principle
action/reaction.
They supply personal
reactions to
actions announced in the texts of documents.
The documents within the
surdaqs represent
two
categories: authority/peo-
ple documents, i.e.,
documents accessible to the
public,
and
authority/author-
ity documents, i.e.,
documents not accessible to the
public.
The
juxtaposition
of these two
categories
of "conventional forms"
generates
two levels of real-
ity
in the text of
al-Zayni.
There is a
reality
that is common to
all,
which is
represented by
the content of oral
proclamations
and
royal
decrees
(authority/
people documents).
There
is, however, another,
secret
reality
shared
only by
characters in
positions
of
power (authority/authority
documents).
The contra-
diction that exists between these two
realities,
the obvious
discrepancies
between
appearance (authority/people
documents)
and
reality (authority/au-
thority documents),
generates irony
in the text of
al-Zayni
The oral
proclamations
involve the
people
in a
very trivial,
mundane real-
ity.
One of the
longer
oral
proclamations
within the
surdaq
sections
begins
with the formula:
Oh
people
of Cairo
We ordain what is
just
And
prohibit
what is forbidden. . . .
It then announces the
following messages
to the
people
of Cairo:
Al-Zoyrii
Barokot 1 37
1. The Sultan has taken off the black
wool,
and is now
wearing
his white
outfit.
2. The chief of the
police
force has ordered the
public
execution of a man.
The
corpse
is to be
displayed
for three
days.
3. Coffee houses and
pastry shops
must close after
evening prayer.
Those
who
disobey
will be
whipped fifty
lashes.
4. News of the battles between the Mamluk Sultan and the Ottoman soldiers:
the Mamluks killed
forty
of the Ottoman soldiers.
The
proclamation
ends with:
Take heed
O,
people
of
Egypt.
Oh,
people
of
Egypt.
The above oral
proclamation
is
typical
of the level of
reality
that is
presented
to the
people by
the authorities. Still another
proclamation
announces to the
people
that the Sultan
(who
had been in bed with a
cold)
is
feeling
better and
playing polo.
When
proclamations
do not include news of the
Sultan, they
are
either threats or
impositions
of new
regulations.
There are seventeen oral
proclamations
in
al-Zayni,
all
announcing messages
that
keep
the
people busy
with their
very
immediate
reality
(taxes,
new hours for
shops,
the
Sultan,
executions, etc.).
At the same
time,
another level of
reality
is channeled
through
authori-
ty/authority
documents. The above oral
proclamation
mentions the battles
between the Sultan and the Ottomans in
Syria.
The
proclamation
makes the
situation
appear
favorable to
Egypt,
for the Mamluks are announced to have
killed
forty
Ottoman soldiers. That is the
reality
announced to the
people.
The
next document within the same
surdaq
is a confidential
report-
an authori-
ty/authority
document- sent to
Zakariya,
the chief of
police.
The
report
announces a
catastrophic
event,
which remains concealed from the
public:
Friday
15 Sha'ban 922 A.H.
The
Secretary
of the
Diwan, deputy
to the Great
Shihab, Zakariya, responsible
for the situation with the Ottomans:
A Great
Calamity
A
great
misfortune has befallen us. The details are as follows: Sultan al-
Ghawri has been overtaken
by
the soldiers of the Ottoman Salim I on
Sunday
25
Rajab
(a
day
of continuous misfortunes). (P. 213)
The above
report
announces the most critical event in
al-Zayni,
the even-
tual defeat of the Mamluk Sultan and the
prospect
of an Ottoman invasion
of
Egypt.
However,
it is an
authority/authority
document and
is, therefore,
1 38
Arab Studies
Quarterly
not available to the
public.
This crucial event is not
presented
as
part
of the
people's
immediate
reality.
At this
point
it becomes clear
just
how al-Ghitani builds
up
the
analogy
between 1517 and 1967. If we are to reflect on the idea that the modern
press
functions on the same level as the
authority/people
documents in
al-Zayni (royal
decrees and oral
proclamations),
we will understand that
al-Ghitani is
pointing
at the role the media
played
in 1967 when it tried to
mask the defeat in order to
delay
the shock. As
Rugh
indicates,
"Politically
important
issues are not treated from various
angles
but are
represented
from the one
point
of view which is
acceptable
to the
government."33 By
confronting
us with these
"authority/people"
documents,
al-Ghitani leads
us,
through al-Zayni,
to
question
the discourse of the authorities.
In one of the narrative sections
bearing
his
name,
Zakariya
describes the
function of the
proclamation
and voices the means
by
which it can become
effective:
Since the time of the Great Shibab
Ja'far,
the chief of the
police
force
during
the
reign
of al-Ashraf
Kayetbay,
all the
proclamations
heralds have been under the
supervision
of the chief of the
police
force. The texts of
proclamation
are sent to
him. The
way
in which an incident is announced
may
lead to serious matters.
Indeed,
the chief of the
police
stresses the
importance
of the herald's enthusiastic
tone of voice in
announcing
a certain incident. He
equally emphasizes
the
importance
of
feigning grief
or
indifference.
All such elements
influence
the
peo-
ple. (P. 52;
my
italics)
The above statement
suggests
that oral
proclamations,
like
newspapers,
are
designed
to
manipulate people
rather than inform them of the
reality.
The
heralds are actors who
feign grief,
indifference and enthusiasm. It is the
authorities'
responsibility
to match the
desired,
feigned
emotion with the kind
of news to be announced. It is in this manner that the authorities can control
the reactions of the
people. They
can involve them or disinvolve them accord-
ing
to the
general
tone and
wording
of the selected incidents that are
actually
announced.
By contrast,
the character sections in
al-Zayni
sometimes function as a
zoom lens for the camera
eye
of
third-person
narration. The character sec-
tions,
which focus on the character whose name
appears
in the
heading,
represent very complex layers
of narration. Sometimes
they begin
with a
camera-eye report,
a
transparent presence
that seems to be
closely watching
the character's
movements,
in the
present.
The camera
eye,
a
type
of external
narrative
mode,
describes the events and the character from the outside. At
times, however,
the camera
eye suddenly slips
into the character's conscious-
ness. In one
passage,
for
example,
the scene is set in the
private quarters
of
Zakariya,
who has been
pacing up
and down the
room,
anxiously awaiting
a
AUZayni
Borakot 1 39
reply
to a letter he has sent to
al-Zayni
Barakat. The
reply
does not
come,
and
Zakariya's
mind
wanders,
trying
to resolve the
mysteries
behind
al-Zayni
Barakat. He
picks up
a
report, presented
to him
by
one of his chief
spies,
that
concerns the rumors
surrounding
Barakat.
Zakariya
reads the
report
to him-
self. The
activity
of
reading
is, therefore,
still
part
of the internal narrative
mode. The whole
passage
is a narrated
monologue, representing
the
unspoken
thoughts
of
Zakariya
narrated in his own idiom but
through
the use of a
third-person pronoun.
The act of
reading
to oneself remains within the realm
of the
"unspoken thoughts
and words" of a "fictional mind":
At the same time the chief
spy
continued to search for this woman who
appeared
in front of
al-Zayni's procession
... she
yelled.
..You wicked one
. . . hence she knows
him, perhaps tracking
her down will reveal the hidden in
al-Zayni's past.
The chief
spy
said in his first
report
she is a woman without
family,
the residents of
Bayn al-Sayarij
and 'Amir
al-Juyush
street and Bab
al-Sha'riyah
know her.
They
have seen her around since their childhood. No
home is known for her. It was said that she
sleeps
in cemeteries that lead outside
Bab al-Nasr. Her name is Umm
Suhayr.
Others said her name is
Miska,
and she
has no
daughter by
the name of
Suhayr.
She insulted
al-Zayni
twice in al-Saliba
street and al-Mu'izz
street,
she was not seen. It is as
if
the earth
opened
and
swallowed her. It was said in the
report of
one
of
the reliable
efficient spies
that an
old man who
always
sits near the water fountain of
Bishtak,
with his
eyes
blind-folded,
said this woman
goes
to
al-Zayni
Barakat Ibn
Musa,
she embraces
him,
they cry,
she holds his head in her
hands,
she
whispers
the softest words to
him,
then she tells him about the
future,
and
everything
that
happens
to him and
what is
being plotted against
him. The old man said she is in close contact with a
number of
jinn
who serve her and
bring
her true
prophecies.
As to who she
is,
the old man does not
know,
when she sees
al-Zayni
in
private,
he has no
idea,
why
she cried out in his face in front of the
people,
that is what no
living being
will
find
out. The old man alluded to the
possibility
of the existence of a hidden
link between
al-Zayni
and the world of the
jinn, al-Zayni ignored
the
letter,
it is
as if he hadn't received it.
(P. 78;
my
italics)
This
passage
demonstrates a
highly
elaborate and rich narrative
process.
The first seven lines as well as the final line
represent Zakariya's
narrated
monologue.
The
indications,
in the
opening
lines,
that we are within Zaka-
riya's
mind are obvious. There follows a whole "narrated"
process
of reason-
ing,
one that is
internal,
unspoken. Zakariya
recalls to himself the incident of
the old woman who
yelled
at
al-Zayni,
which had been
reported
to him earlier
by
his chief
spy.
He reasons out the
dynamics
of the situation in an
attempt
to
make sense out of it. This
process
of silent
reasoning
is marked
by
the
unspoken
"hence" followed
immediately by
the use of the indicative "she
knows him." This
reasoning
is followed
by
the introduction of
possibility
through
the word
"perhaps."
Possibilities are
projections
into the future.
1 40 Arab Studies
Quarterly
"Perhaps"
is followed
by
the
simple
future "will
reveal,"
which marks that
projection
of an event that has not
yet
occurred. The elision of all
punctuation
in the
passage
leads us to
glide very comfortably
into a silent
reading
of an
actual
report. Zakariya
reads the
text;
he does not
just
remember its contents.
This is indicated
by
the use of the
present
tense: "The chief
spy
said in his first
report
she is a woman without a
family."
The elision of
punctuation
misleads
the reader and he finds himself in the external narrative mode
(the
narrated
discourse in the
spy's report)
within the
larger encompassing
internal narra-
tive mode
(Zakariya's
narrated
monologue).
The
spy's report presented
within
Zakariya's
narrated
monologue
is an
interesting example
of interwoven
layers
of the
quoted
and the narrated dis-
course,
both
aspects
of the external narrative mode. It is obvious from the
passage
that the
spy presented
information which he received
orally
from the
residents of a certain area. It is a collective narrated
discourse,
marked
by
the
use of the
passive
form of the verb: "It was said that." No
specific person
relates this information that the
spy
narrates,
and the idea of
collectivity
is
further
emphasized by
"others said
"
Another marker of the collective
narrated discourse is the idiom. Narrated discourse is the
spoken
words of a
character in that character's idiom but
presented
in the third
person.
When the
chief
spy
includes in his
report
the statement: "It is as if the earth
opened
and
swallowed
her,"
we know that he is
narrating
a "collective" idiom. These
words are not the words of the
reporter.
Rather,
they
are the words of the
informants.
To further
complicate
the
dynamics
of
narration,
al-Ghitani
presents
another
report
within the first one that
Zakariya
is in the
process
of
reading.
A
subordinate
spy
had
presented
a
report
to his chief on the same
subject
of the
woman who
yelled
at
al-Zayni,
and the chief
spy
has included this second
report
as
part
of his own
report.
He does not summarize
it,
he
quotes
it;
and
the subordinate
spy,
in
turn,
has
quoted
an old man in his own
report.
No
punctuation
alerts the reader.
However,
the
quoted
discourse of the old man is
introduced
by
the demonstrative "this" followed
by
a series of verbs in the
present
tense:
"goes," "embraces," "holds,"
"whispers,"
"tells,"
and so on.
The final section of the second
report by
the subordinate
spy
is a
ques-
tion/answer,
narrated discourse. The
question/answer
format took
place
be-
tween the subordinate
spy
and the old man. We know that it is narrated
discourse because of the narrated idiom of the old man: "This is what no
living being
will find out." From the old man's allusion to
al-Zayni's
link with
the world of the Jinn we are
transported
from this
passage
of
"seemingly"
external narrative mode to the
larger
context of the whole
passage, namely
Zakariya's
narrated
monologue.
The final line is in the internal narrative
mode,
represented by Zakariya's unspoken thoughts: "Al-Zayni ignored
the
letter."
Finally,
what do we as
readers,
or even
Zakariya,
as a "fictional
character,"
really
know about the incident of the old woman and
al-Zayni?
Al-Zayni
Borokot 141
The use of "narrated discourse" in the novel is
symbolic
of al-Ghitani's
political strategy
vis--vis an
increasingly repressive political system.
It is a
symbolic
act
against
the censor. "Narrated discourse" means that there is no
"I" to be held
responsible;
it also means that what is "narrated" is not
by
necessity
what was said. Since historical accounts and
reports rely primarily
on "narrated
discourse,"
al-Ghitani
poses
the
questions:
what is
history,
what
are
facts,
and what is
reality? By using
the
objective
tool of historical dis-
course, i.e.,
"narrated
discourse,"
al-Ghitani
challenges
the
objectivity
of that
historical discourse. We have
only
to return to Edward Said's remark on how
contemporary
Arab
history
was
"laboriously
created,"
"scene
by
scene,"
and
how after 1967 this whole version of
history
was "brushed aside" when
put
to
the test.
Al-Zayni
Barakat is indeed a
revolutionary
document. The text
is,
in
fact,
that
"signature
one affixes at the foot of a collective
proclamation
one
has not written oneself."
Notes
1 . Roland
Barthes, Writing Degree
Zero
,
trans. Annette Lavers and Colin Smith
(New
York: Hill and
Wang, 1967),
26-27.
2. Gamal
al-Ghitani, al-Zayni
Barakat
(Cairo: Madbuli, 1974).
3. See articles in Fusul 2
(
1
982);
Edward Said's review in TLS
(October
1
8,
1
985);
La Croix l-Evnement
(March 23,
1
985);
Libration
(April
2 1
,
1
985);
Le Monde
(March
29, 1985);
Le Monde
Diplomatique (January 1985);
Al-Ahram
(July 13, 1985).
4. For more details see
my
discussion of al-Ghitani's novels in
"Bricolage
as
Hypertextuality:
A
Study
of Narrative. .
(Ph.D. diss., UCLA, 1985).
5. In a 1980
interview,
al-Ghitani confirmed
my
thesis about the
relationship
between
carpet designing
and his
writing techniques.
6.
Among
al-Ghitani's works of fiction are:
Waqa'i'
Harat
al-Zafarani, Al-Rifa%
Khitat
al-Ghitani,
Awraq
Shabb,
Dhikr ma Jara and Kitab
al-Tajaliyat.
His works of
non-fiction include
al-Misriyun
wa-al-Harb,
Hurras al-Bawwabah
al-Sharqiyah,
and
Qahiriyat.
7. "Intertextual Dialectics: An Interview with Gamal
al-Ghitani," Alif
4
(1984):
71-82.
8. Edward
Said,
"Introduction" to Halim
Barakat, Days of
Dust
,
trans. Trevor Le
Gassick
(Illinois:
Medina
University
Press
International, 1974),
xi.
9. Nasser's
speeches
are
perfect examples
of this kind of rhetoric.
10. William A.
Rugh,
The Arab Press
(Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1979),
47.
11.
Ibid.,
8.
12.
Roger
Allen,
The Modern Arabic Novel
(Syracuse: Syracuse University
Press,
1982),
25.
1 3.
Rugh,
Arab Press
,
25.
14.
Ibid.,
48.
15.
Ibid.,
xi.
16.
Said, "Introduction," Days of Dust,
xxviii.
1 7. Nada
Tomiche,
Histoire de la littrature
romanesque
de V
Egypte
moderne
(Paris:
Maisonneuve et
Larose, 1981),
130.
142
Arab Studies
Quarterly
1 8.
Rugh,
Arab
Press,
62.
19. See Ceza Kassem's article
"al-Mufaraqah
fi
al-Qass
al-'Arabi
al-Mu'asir,"
Fusul
2(1982):
143-152.
20.
Hilary Kirkpatrick,
The Modern
Egyptian
Novel : A
Study
in Social Crticism
(London:
Ithaca
Press, 974),
14.
21. Samia
As'ad,
'"Indama Yaktub al-Riwa'i
al-Tarikh,"
Fusul 2
(1982):
67.
22. Ceza
Kassem,
"In
Quest
of New Narrative Forms"
(paper presented
at the
annual conference of the Middle East Studies
Association, 1979).
23. In "In
Quest
of New Narrative
Forms,"
Ceza Kassem identifies
al-Zayni
with
Gamal Abdel Nasser.
24.
Rugh,
Arab Press
;
62.
25. See al-Ghitani's use of
historiography
in
Awraq
Shabb and Khitat al-Ghitani
26. "Interview with Gamal
al-Ghitani," Alif.
79.
27. Gerard
Genette, Palimpsestes:
La Littrature au second
degr
(Paris:
Editions du
Seuil, 1982).
28.
Rugh,
Arab
Press,
17.
29. Samia
As'ad,
'"Indama Yaktub. . Fusul 69.
30. D.C.
Muecke, Irony (London: McThoem, 1976),
30.
31.
Ibid.,
54.
32.
Rugh,
Arab
Press,
xvii.
33.
Ibid.,
33.

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