Strange Incidents from History: Youssef Rakha and his Sultan’s Seal

This chapter offers a reading of Youssef Rakha's novel Kitab al-tughra (Book of the Sultan's Seal), set in the spring of 2007 and completed at the start of 2010. It begins with a discussion of Rakha's attempt to produce a contemporary equivalent of the ‘middle Arabic’ used by noted Cairo historians al-Jabarti and Ibn Iyas. It then considers the tension between heritage and modernity in Book of the Sultan's Seal and the novel's main theme: the contemporary Arab/Muslim's (and in particular, the Egyptian/Muslim's) search for a sense of identity. It also examines the contrast between the hedonistic atmosphere of Beirut and the creeping Islamisation of Cairo in the book, as well as the inherent tension between the traditional values of Muslim society and the West.

The ‘Second Journey’ (Al-Rihla al-thaniya) of Muhammad al-Muwaylihi’s Hadith ͑Isa Ibn Hisham Revisited

In this chapter, the author discusses the second part of Muhammad al-Muwaylihi's Hadith ʻIsa Ibn Hisham, the ‘second journey’ (Al-Rihla al-thaniya). The author published his Oxford DPhil thesis of 1968, a translation and commentary on Hadith ʻIsa Ibn Hisham, in book form upon the suggestion of Mustafa Badawi. It appeared in 1992 as A Period of Time (Fatra min al-zaman). Later in the 1990s another Egyptian scholar, Gaber Asfour, requested the author to prepare for publication the complete works of Muhammad al-Muwaylihis and his father Ibrahim. These also appeared in Cairo in 2002 and 2007 respectively. The author first provides a background on al-Muwaylihi's ‘first journey’ in Hadith ʻIsa Ibn Hisham before turning to Al-Rihla al-thaniya, al-Muwaylihi's account of his visit to Paris.

Beginning and End: Exploring the Qur͗anic ‘Grand Story’

This chapter discusses the Qur'anic ‘grand story’, which refers to the underlying, basic conceptual scheme that informs Qur'anic stories and bestows meaning and coherence on them. Ths basic conceptual scheme is predicated on a relationship between humankind and God that leads to either salvation or damnation. In expressing this relationship, the Qur'anic narrative form turns God into a person with a dramatic presence and human attributes. The chapter reflects on the beginnings as expressed by the creation story and on the eschatological future. It cites the cosmic beginning as the seed of the Qur'anic grand story; this beginning is a preparation of the physical stage for the climactic moment of the human beginning when God creates Adam. It also explains how the creation story and the specificity of the ‘Adamic beginning’ relate to the grand story.

Muhammad Mustafa Badawi in Conversation

This chapter presents a 1997 interview with Mustafa Badawi and includes sections relating to his early life and education until 1947 when he was sent to England to pursue further studies in English. Badawi first talks about the years of his early formation in the family, the neighbourhood and his various schools in Alexandria before discussing his cultural formation in the city. He reveals that he decided to specialise in English language in order to deepen his study of English literature so that he could see Arabic literature in the wider context of world literature. Badawi also describes his attitudes towards literature and criticism, which he says involved three essential questions: the relationship between literature and politics; the relationship between literature and morality; and the nature of language and its function in poetry, and consequently the relationship between poetry and science, or between poetry and thought or knowledge in general.

From the Shadow Plays of Ibn Daniyal to the Poetry of Philip Larkin: Mustafa Badawi as Editor and Translator

This chapter focuses on Mustafa Badawi's career as editor and translator. It discusses two works with which Badawi was connected, and both of which demonstrate his deep concern with and interest in language and with making works of literature available to the Arabic reading public: the shadow plays of Ibn Daniyal and the poetry of Philip Larkin. Badawi believed that Ibn Daniyal's plays played an essential role in the formation of Arabic drama. He analysed three of them: Tayf alkhayal, ʻAjib wa-gharib and al-Mutayyam wa'l-yutayyim. As for Larkin, Badawi's interest in him stemmed from his early days in England and in the poetry of T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden and others. Badawi published his translation of Larkin, Mukhtarat (Selections), in Cairo in 1998. He translated sixty of the 245 items in The Collected Poems of Larkin.

Does Literature Matter? The Relationship between Literature and Politics in Revolutionary Egypt

This chapter explores the complex relationship between literature and politics in revolutionary Egypt. The 2011 revolution (and its ongoing aftermath) has sparked a wave of literary activity that is generally subject to two assumptions: first, it gave expression to the pulse of the Egyptian nation; second, it formed an integral part of the uprising, and possibly even played a role in inspiring and fuelling it. The chapter analyses both of these assumptions by discussing the ways in which politics can influence literature and vice versa. It also considers how the consumption of literature (particularly poetry) in contemporary Egypt affects political participation and democratic views. Drawing on the results of a survey conducted from December 2011 to January 2012, it shows that poetry consumers, whilst sharing with the general population their strong support for democracy, were more likely to support a strong leader taking non-democratic measures if necessary.

Jewish Arabs in the Israeli Asylum: A Literary Reflection1

This chapter examines the lives and writings of a few Mizrahi Jews who succeeded in Israel despite the challenges they faced there. Focusing on the first wave of immigration and its aftermath through novels, poetry, autobiographies and films, this chapter uses the asylum metaphor to describe Israel. Initially, Israel was an asylum for European Jews (Ashkenazis) until they turned the asylum into their state. From that point on, they created asylums for various constituencies, including Jewish Arabs. The chapter also considers the process of acculturation in the asylum of Israeli transit camps, which has figured prominently in Mizrahi literature; how ‘foreigners’ in Israel achieved nationalisation through religion and not-religion; and the exodus of thousands of Iraqi Jews to Israel; the role of language in Jewish Arabs' self-fashioning in Israel; and the political awakening of Jewish Arab intellectuals.

Modern Arabic Literature as Seen in the Late Nineteenth Century: Jurji Murqus’s Contribution to Korsh and Kirpichnikov’s Vseobshchaya Istoriya Literatury*

This chapter discusses modern Arabic literature as seen in the late nineteenth century by focusing on Jurji Ibrahim Murqus's contribution to Vseobshchaya Istoriya literatury (Universal History of Literature), edited by V. F. Korsh and A. I. Kirpichnikov. Murqus was a Syrian academic migrant who left Damascus in 1860. He studied at the Faculty of Oriental Languages of the University of St Petersburg and taught Arabic at the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages in Moscow. This chapter presents a slightly abridged rendering of Murqus's text, which concentrates on the evolution of the Arabic language, on prose writers and on translators. It also considers Murqus's position where prose genres are concerned, with particular emphasis on his recognition of the significance of travel writing, as well as his views on translation. Finally, it suggests that Mustafa Badawi would have disputed some of Murqus's statements on sound scholarly grounds.

Badawi: An Academic With a Vision. A Personal Testimony

In this chapter, the author offers a personal testimony about his interaction with Mustafa Badawi as well as the latter's contribution to the study of both Arabic and English literature. The author remembers the day he returned to Oxford University to take part in a colloquium commemorating Badawi's life and work; it was also the fortieth anniversary of his arrival in Oxford for the first time in March 1973, thanks to Badawi's insight and initiative. He also cites two Egyptian critics who studied in the West before Badawi's generation, Muhammad Mandur and Luwis ʻAwad. In addition, he discusses Badawi's cultural formation and university education, particularly in Alexandria University, and talks about how Badawi opened new venues for Arabic literary criticism and modern Arabic literature in Oxford, and later in London. Finally, the author shares some of the many lessons he learnt from Badawi.

The Cosmopolitan Alexandrian

This chapter describes Alexandria and Mustafa Badawi's early life in the city. Badawi was born in Alexandria in 1925 and spent most of the first half of his life there. He was one of the first cohort of students in the new University of Alexandria (then known as Faruq I University), which became an independent university in 1942. After providing a background on Alexandria, the chapter considers some of the authors who contributed to the rise of modern Arabic literature, including Adib Ishaq, Georges Zananiri, Michel de Zogheb, and Constantine Cavafy. It then turns to one of the most influential Alexandrian personalities on the young Badawi, Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi, best known for his contribution to Arabic poetry in the Romantic period. It also looks at two Alexandrian painters, Mahmud Saʻid and Muhammad Nagi, whose works depict social life in the city between the two world wars.