War and Literature in the Arab World
Dr. Yasmine Khayyat
B-309 Lucy Stone Hall (Livingston Campus)
yasmine.khayyat@rutgers.edu
Course description
This course examines the nexus between war and literature through a multifaceted approach:
by reading texts from a variety of genres and regions in the Arab world, students will be
exposed to the diverse experiences and perspectives that helped shape the creative process
of writing during times of high conflict and crisis. This course includes a comparative
component that explores the interconnections between Arabic wartime fiction and several
major historical events such as the Holocaust, Argentina’s ‘Dirty War,’ the Algerian War of
Independence and the theoretical questions they raise. Do they each have their own unique
structure and idiom, or can we think about individual and collective trauma through a
translocal, cosmopolitan literary lens? Topics include: the individual and collective nature of
trauma; the study of embodied practices such as testimony and witnessing; their uses in
literature; the social role of sites of memory; performances of protest and resistance.
While this course takes a global approach to the study of literature produced during and
about wartime experiences, it does so through site-specific ‘case-studies’ of fiction emanating
from the Arab world and in Arabic (translated into English) thereby offering an in-depth
account of select regional concentrations. Emphasis will be placed on contemporary Arabic
novels and memoirs produced in the 21st century and especially during the recent Arab
Spring Uprisings. The course asks the following questions: How do writers and artists
engage and/or create narratives in times of war? How does fiction recreate, revise and reexamine the past during times of crisis? How do our human memories and imaginations
give rise to the stories we tell in the aftermath of a traumatic event? In this course we
consider the nature of writing and its relationship to war, both in the evolving life of the
writer and in the development of the larger group or culture. This course will address these
questions by tracing the interconnections between war and literature through close readings
of memoirs, novels, poems, short stories, films, graphic art and sites of memory.
Course objectives
By the end of this course, students will gain a deeper understanding of the interaction
between literature and its environment, namely in the context of war and conflict. By
analyzing several contemporary 21st century historical moments through a literary lens and
multiregional lens, students will come to appreciate the idiosyncrasies of literatures born
across local and global contexts that nonetheless interconnect in universal ways.
Core Curriculum Learning Goals Met by this Course
This course fulfills the SAS Core Curriculum Arts and the Humanities (AHo) and (AHp)
learning goals. In regards to goal AHo, upon completion of this course students will be able
to critically evaluate philosophical and theoretical issues concerning Arabic literary
expressions of memory, war, nostalgia, and imagination as seen through novels, film, essay
writing, lyric poetry, drama, the novel, and the short story. In regards to goal AHp, students
will be able to analyze the production and continuation of several canonical Arabic literary
traditions in relation to their specific historical, cultural contexts.
This course also fulfills 21st Century Challenges learning goal [21c]. By reading selected
fictions from a variety of regions and languages (in English translation) students will enrich
their understanding of the ways in which global conflict shapes an author’s experience of
literature and perspective on his/her surrounding environment. Students will also gain an
understanding of larger global questions of war and the creative process through local
contexts by following the interconnections between war and literature as it migrates across
national borders and languages since this course draws from classic and recent readings at
the juncture of literature, war and memory.
Required Texts
Course readings uploaded to the Sakai course website at https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal
--Huyssen, Andreas. Present Pasts: Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory. Cultural –
Memory in the Present. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2003.
--Kanafani, Ghassan, Barbara Harlow, and Karen E. Riley. Palestine's Children : Returning to
Haifa & Other Stories. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2000.
--Mosteghanemi, Ahlem. Memory in the Flesh. Cairo, Egypt: The
American University in Cairo Press, 2000.
--Sacco, Joe. Footnotes in Gaza. London: Jonathan Cape, 2009.
--Yazbik, Samar, and Max Weiss. A Woman in the Crossfire : Diaries of the Syrian Revolution.
London: Haus Pub., 2012.
--Cathy Caruth, Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History
Course Requirements
Attendance:
Each student is allowed two unexcused absences for the semester, after which a letter for
each additional unexcused absence will lower your attendance grade. This means that your
attendance grade will drop to a B if you miss three classes and to a C if you miss four classes,
and so forth.
If you expect to miss one or two classes, please use the University absence reporting
website https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/ to indicate the date and reason for your
absence. An email will automatically be sent to me.
Excused absences include religious holidays (please notify me in advance), family
emergencies, transportation emergencies, health emergencies, and scheduled visits to the
doctor (in which case, students should bring a note from their doctor). Students who find
themselves needing to be excused for a long period of time for medical or other reasons
should contact their college dean and ask the dean to notify all their professors of their
absence.
Participation:
As class participation is a requirement of this course, students must come ready to discuss
the texts chosen for that day. Not having read the assigned texts for class is equivalent
to an absence. Please make sure to have ordered and received all the relevant texts
in time for the start class. Tardiness, inattention, and not participating actively detract
from the learning experience of others and will not be tolerated.
Participation is assessed through your in-class questions and comments, completion of inclass quizzes and exercises, small group work, and office hour visits.
Reading Responses:
Each week you will hand in a short (1 page) response paper to the reading. The purpose of
these responses is to help you engage critically with the readings and to formulate questions
and ideas that will inspire both class discussions, as well as your paper writing process. Each
response must discuss one or more of the readings for the upcoming class and will be
handed in at the beginning of class. No late responses will be accepted.
Oral Presentation:
Each student will give one 10-minute oral presentation over the course of the semester. The
presentation should engage with all the readings assigned on that day, discussing their main
arguments, and raise one or two guiding questions for class discussion. I strongly encourage
you to come talk to me during office hours before your presentation day.
Midterm:
There will be one in class midterm exam organized around several short-answer essay
questions.
Final Paper:
There will be one short final paper of 5-7 pages. In advance of this paper, you will hand in
an outline of your argument and supporting claims. Late papers will lose one letter grade for
each week they are submitted after the deadline.
Sakai
You are expected to check the Sakai site for the course as I may post additional readings,
revisions to the syllabus, and course announcements.
Grading
Attendance/Participation:
Reading Responses:
Oral Presentation:
Midterm:
Final Paper (5-7 pgs.):
Extra Credit
20%
20%
10%
20%
30% (including Outline and Annotated Bibliography)
You may receive extra credit (up to 2% of your final grade) by attending literature oriented
extra-curricular events scheduled throughout the term. To obtain extra credit, you must 1)
receive approval from me for the event in advance of the event, 2) write a one-page
summary of the event, and 3) prepare a list of 4-5 critical questions prompted by the event
that relate to this course. You may exercise this option only once per term.
Plagiarism
Rutgers University views plagiarism as a very serious offense. Plagiarism is the use of another
person’s words, ideas, or results without giving that person appropriate credit. To avoid
plagiarism, every direct quotation must be identified by quotation marks or appropriate
indentation and both direct quotation and paraphrasing must be cited properly. Some common
examples of plagiarism include copying something word for word (from an oral, printed, or
electronic source) without proper attribution, paraphrasing without proper attribution, or
submitting a purchased, downloaded, or one’s own already-submitted paper. Cases of
plagiarism will be pursued following university regulations, which can be found at
http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/integrity.shtml.
Wikipedia and other non-peer reviewed websites are not acceptable sources for papers and
reading responses.
Use of Electronic Devices
Computers, cell phones, and all other technological devices (beepers, iPods, MP3 players,
etc.) must be turned off during class out of respect for the instructor and fellow students.
Disability Support Services
Students who may be requesting accommodations due to disabilities are encouraged to
familiarize themselves with procedures and policies regarding disability support services at
the following website: http://disabilityservices.rutgers.edu/. It is recommended that
students seeking accommodations begin filing paperwork as soon as possible as the
documentation review process may take up to 30 business days. Students are encouraged to
speak with teachers about these issues at the beginning of the term. All such conversations
will be kept strictly confidential.
Reading Schedule
Please note that the following reading schedule may change according to the pace and
interests of the class.
Week 1
Introduction to the course
Week 2
Case study: Writing War Across Paradigms
Read:
Jacobo Timmerman, Prisoner without a Name
Selections from Alicia Partnoy, The Little School
Week 3
Staging Trauma and Transmission
Read:
Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz, Read “Shame”
View: Anthony Sherr, Primo
Week 4
Social role of sites of war and memory—Auschwitz, Campo Atlético, ESMA.
Read:
James Young, The Texture of Memory, Intro and chpt 5
Andreas Huyssen Present Pasts (chpts. 1, 2)
Literary Case studies from the Middle East
Week 3
Palestine: Literature and Ongoing War(s)
Read:
--Khoury, Elias. “The Memory of the City” in The Novel, the Novelist and the Lebanese Civil War.
--Ghassan Kanafani “Returning to Haifa” in Palestine's Children: Returning to Haifa & Other
Stories.
Week 4
Read:
--Joe Sacco, Footnotes in Gaza. “Foreword” and pp. 30-60.
--Listen to interview with Elias Khoury (select the full interview) “The Key to Memory: An
Interview with Elias Khoury” http://www.opendemocracy.net/artsLiterature/khoury_3462.jsp
--Required background reading: Makdisi, Ussama Samir, and Paul A. Silverstein. Memory and
Violence in the Middle East and North Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.
Print. Read “Introduction” and pp. 1-24.
Week 5
Read:
-- Abu Loghud, Lila, “The Return to Half-Ruins: Memory, Postmemory, and Living History
in Palestine” in Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory.
Week 6
Watch:
--Film Screening “The Time That Remains” (2012, 109 minutes), Arabic with English Subtitles.
Directed by Elia Suleiman.
Week 7
Read:
--Makdisi, Saree. “The Architecture of Erasure.” Critical Inquiry, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Spring 2010),
pp. 519-559.
Week 8
Iraq: Of War and Memoirs
Read:
--Noha al-Radi, Baghdad Diaries. Selections.
-- http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com
Week 9
Algeria: Literary and Filmic lenses of War
Read:
-- Mosteghanemi, Ahlem. Memory in the Flesh. Modern Arabic Writing. Cairo, Egypt: The
American University in Cairo Press, 2000. Pp. 1-80.
Week 10
Read:
--Film Screening: Pontecarvo, “The Battle of Algiers” (1966).
--Benjamin Stora, “The Algerian War in French Memory” in Memory and Violence in the Middle
East, p: 151-174.
Lebanon: War and the Challenge of Fiction
Week 11
Read:
--Sune Haugbolle, War and Memory, “Prologue: A Hiatus of History” p: 1-28.
--Darwish, Mahmud, and Ibrahim Muhawi. Memory for Forgetfulness : August, Beirut, 1982.
Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1995, pp. 1-40.
Week 12
Read:
--Haugbolle, Sune. War and Memory in Lebanon. Cambridge Middle East Studies. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2010. Selections.
-- Selections Pamuk, Orhan, and Maureen Freely. Istanbul: Memories of a City. London: Faber
and Faber, 2005.
Week 13
The Arab Spring: Revolution and Spontaneous Creativity
Read:
--Samar Yazbek, A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution.
--Background reading: Gelvin, James L. The Arab Uprisings : What Everyone Needs to Know.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Selections.
--Review of course
--Final papers due