NEJS 194a: Reading Identity, Politics, and Society in Modern Arabic Literature
Brandeis University
Spring 2016
Allison Blecker
Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Email: ablecker@brandeis.edu
Class: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:00 – 6:20 pm (Location: TBA)
Office Hours: TBA, and by appointment (Location: TBA)
This course will provide an introduction to modern Arabic literature through the study of texts in
translation. We will survey a wide range of novels, short stories, autobiographies, poems, and
films from across the Arab world, with a focus on the second half of the 20th century. These texts
will be supplemented by secondary readings that will provide the necessary political and
historical background and literary framework. The course is divided into three topics, East-West
Encounters, Literary Representations of War, and Social and Political Critique, through which
we will study a variety of themes, perspectives, experiences, and historical, political, and social
moments. We will ask questions like: How do major ruptures such as colonialism, East-West
encounters, and war each shape individual, national, and regional identities? What kind of a
forum does literature provide for the negotiation of gender and sexuality and the challenging of
social norms and political oppression? And how does the political merge with the poetic in
Arabic literature? This course will be discussion-based, with some brief lectures.
Course Goals:
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to Arabic literature through the survey of texts
from across the region. By the end of the course, students will:
 Be able to comfortably navigate the landscape of modern Arabic literature. They will be
able to identify major authors and texts, as well as their contexts, from Morocco to Saudi
Arabia.
 Understand how Arab writers represent war and violence and engage with political realities
through literature.
 Understand the history of East-West encounters in Arabic literature.
 Understand the ways in which Arabic literature has challenged oppression, be it political,
gender-based, economic, or otherwise.
 Be able to read Arabic literature critically by engaging in close readings and analysis.
Evaluation:
30%
Attendance, Preparation, and Participation: Students are expected to attend all classes
and participate actively in classroom discussions and activities. Students should notify
the instructor of any planned absences. All readings and films should be read or viewed
in advance, so students are prepared to engage meaningfully with the materials during
class.
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25%
Weekly response papers (500 words): Response paper assignments will be posted on
LATTE. Some weeks, students will be asked to respond to a prompt. Other weeks,
students will be asked to select a theme or topic on their own. Response papers should be
analytical. Arguments should be supported with evidence from the text. The intended
audience should be thought of as a casual reader of the text who is familiar with its
central themes and ideas but has not taken the time to think critically, do close readings,
make connections between its different sections, or analyze rich or unique passages.
20%
In-class presentations: Each class, one or more students will be asked to give a short
presentation or lead a discussion on an assigned topic. Students will be notified of the
date and subject in advance.
25%
Final Paper (10 pages): Students will submit a final paper on a subject of their choosing,
in consultation with the instructor. Paper topics should be finalized no later than April
14, 2016. Final papers are due May 2, 2016 at 5:00 pm. Papers should be typed in size
12 Times New Roman font (or equivalent).
Other Policies
Academic Honesty: You must complete all assignments alone. In your writing, you must
follow rules of attribution, meaning that you must cite all sources consulted in preparing your
papers. As stated in the Student Handbook, “Every member of the University community is
expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty. A student shall not receive
credit for work that is not the product of the student’s own effort.” Examples of penalties for a
student found responsible for an infringement of academic honesty are no credit for the work in
question, failure in the course, and the traditional range of conduct sanctions from disciplinary
warning through permanent dismissal from the University.
Students with documented disabilities: Students with disabilities certified by the Coordinator
of Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities in the Office of Undergraduate
Academic Affairs and First Year Services will be given reasonable accommodations to complete
required assignments. Disabilities that are not documented and approved by the Office of
Academic Affairs will not be given accommodations.
Preparation time: Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students
will spend a minimum of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings,
papers, discussion sections, preparation for exams, etc.).
Required Books
The Lamp of Umm Hashim: And Other Stories, Yahya Hakki
Season of Migration to the North, Tayeb Salih
The Bleeding of the Stone, Ibrahim al-Koni
Palestine’s Children: Returning to Haifa and Other Stories, Ghassan Kanafani
Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories, Ghassan Kanafani
Touch, Adania Shibli
Memory for Forgetfulness, Mahmoud Darwish
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The Story of Zahra, Hanan al-Shaykh
The Corpse Exhibition: And Other Stories of Iraq, Hassan Blasim
Wolves of the Crescent Moon, Yousef Al-Mohaimeed
Metro: A Story of Cairo, Magdy El Shafee
Leaves of Narcissus, Somaya Ramadan
Weekly Schedule:
Week 1 – Introduction
1/14/16
Zakaria Tamer, “Tigers on the Tenth Day”
Hanan al-Shaykh, “The Women’s Swimming Pool”
Part I. East-West Encounters
Week 2
1/19/16
Yahya Hakki, “The Lamp of Umm Hashim”
1/21/16
Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North (I)
Secondary reading: Wail S. Hassan, “Postcolonial Theory and Modern Arabic Literature:
Horizons of Application” in Journal of Arabic Literature (pp. 45-64).
Week 3
1/26/16
Tayeb Salih, Season of Migration to the North (II, continued)
Secondary reading: Rasheed El-Enany, Arab Representations of the Occident: East-West
Encounters in Arabic Fiction (selections).
1/28/16
Baha’ Tahir, “Last Night I Dreamt of You”
Soleiman Fayyad, Voices (I)
Week 4
2/2/16
Soleiman Fayyad, Voices (II, continued)
2/4/16
Ibrahim al-Koni, The Bleeding of the Stone
Secondary reading: Rob Nixon, “Environmentalism and Postcolonialism” in Postcolonial Studies
and Beyond (pp. 233-51)
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Part II. Literary Representations of War
The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Week 5
2/9/16
Ghassan Kanafani, Returning to Haifa
Secondary readings: William Cleveland, “Israel and the Palestinians from 1948 to the 1970s” in
A History of the Modern Middle East (pp.336-358); Barbara Harlow, Resistance Literature (pp.
1-30).
2/11/16
Ghassan Kanafani, Men in the Sun
Film: Paradise Now or The Wanted 18
Week 6
2/23/16
Mahmoud Darwish, “Identity Card” and other poems
Film: Divine Intervention
Secondary reading: Elias Khoury, “Rethinking the Nakba” in Critical Inquiry (pp. 250-266).
2/25/16
Adania Shibli, Touch
Anton Shammas, “Autocartography: The Case of Palestine, Michigan”
The Lebanese Civil War
Week 7
3/1/16
Mahmoud Darwish, Memory for Forgetfulness (I)
3/3/16
Mahmoud Darwish, Memory for Forgetfulness (II, continued)
Film: West Beirut
Secondary readings: Fawwaz Traboulsi, “Part III: The Wars of Lebanon” in A History of Modern
Lebanon.
Week 8
3/8/16
Hanan al-Shaykh, The Story of Zahra (I)
Secondary reading: Ann Marie Adams, “Writing Self, Writing Nation: Imagined Geographies in
the Fiction of Hanan al-Shaykh” in Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature (pp. 201-216).
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3/10/16
Hanan al-Shaykh, The Story of Zahra (II, continued)
Emily Nasrallah, “A House Not Her Own”
Film: Where Do We Go Now?
War in Iraq
Week 9
3/15/16
Hassan Blasim, The Corpse Exhibition (I)
Secondary readings: Phebe Marr, Chapter 10, “The US Attempt at Nation-Building in Iraq,
2003-2006” in The Modern History of Iraq, 3rd ed. (pp.257-304).
3/17/16
Hassan Blasim, The Corpse Exhibition (II, continued)
Adnan al-Sayegh, “The Sky in a Helmet” and other poems
Week 10
3/22/16
Riverbend, Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq (selections) (I)
Secondary readings: Susan Stanford Friedman, “The Futures of Feminist Criticism: A Diary,” in
PMLA (pp.1704-1710).
3/24/16
Riverbend, Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq (selections) (II, continued)
Dunya Mikhail, “The War Works Hard” and other poems
Part III. Social and Political Critique
Week 11 (Autobiography as Critique)
3/29/16
Taha Hussein, The Days (selections)
Secondary reading: Fedwa Malti-Douglas, Blindness and Autobiography: Al-Ayyam of Taha
Husayn (selections).
3/31/16
Mohamed Choukri, For Bread Alone (selections)
Fadwa Tuqan, A Mountainous Journey (selections)
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Weeks 12 and 13 (Disillusionment with the State and Religion)
4/5/16
Naguib Mahfouz, “Zaabalawi”
Yusuf Idris, “House of Flesh”
Secondary reading: Fedwa Malti-Douglas, “Blindness and Sexuality: Traditional Mentalities in
Yusuf Idris’ ‘House of Flesh’” in Critical Perspectives on Yusuf Idris (pp. 89-96).
4/7/16
Yousef Al-Mohaimeed, Wolves of the Crescent Moon
4/12/16
Magdy El Shafee, Metro: A Story of Cairo,
Weeks 13 and 14 (Women, Gender, and Sexuality)
4/14/16
Somaya Ramadan, Leaves of Narcissus
4/19/16
Nawal El Saadawi (selections)
Yahya Taher Abdullah, “The Mountain of Green Tea”
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