Arab authors were the guests of honor at the world’s biggest book fair, in Frankfurt this
fall.
December 29, 2004
By Isabelle de Pommereau Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
FRANKFURT
Iraqi novelist Alia Mamdouh has a message for the West: “How can you expect me, an Iraqi,
whose country is being subjected to destruction, to trust Westerners – Americans – and to
accept that they’re the only ones on Earth and in the universe to possess the truth, when
they don’t take a step toward my culture, my existence, my language?” she asked in an
interview with the International Parliament of Writers, a support organization for persecuted
scribes.
Ms. Mamdouh is trying to bridge that cultural divide. She was one of 200 Arab authors who
presented works at the Frankfurt Book Fair this fall, the world’s biggest annual publishing
event.
Since then, she has been touring Europe to promote her newest novel, “Passion.” Set in
England, where four Iraqi exiles meet after the US invasion of Iraq, the book explores the
relationship between a polygamous man and his second wife. It’s just one of 50 Arabic novels
translated into German this year.
Far from the geopolitical battlefields that have brought Islam and the West face to face
since Sept. 11, 2001, Arabic literature, unexplored in Europe just a decade ago, is making
significant inroads here – and is helping to break down long-held stereotypes.
While still relatively small, the number of Arabic works translated into German, French, and
English has been rising. Previously confined to specialized publishing houses, Arabic
literature is now reaching mainstream publishers. “For the first time in the history of
German publishing, there is a public debate about what Arab literature is,” says Peter
Ripken, director of the Society for the Promotion of African, Asian, and Latin American
literature, in Frankfurt.
Since 9/11, books that deal with Arabic and Islamic issues have abounded. But they are often
written by European experts and present “a false image of the Arab world,” says Hachem
Moawiya, head of Avicenne in Paris, one of Europe’s biggest bookstores devoted to Arab
authors.
“There is not only very latent but also very manifest racism when it comes to Arab
literature,” says Mr. Ripken. “That’s why it’s so important to read books by Arabic authors,
because they have a different perspective than the Arab ‘experts’ who explain the Arab world
to us.”
The heightened profile of Arabic literature comes against a backdrop of controversy following
complaints by the Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish rights groups, that at least
eight books at the fair contained blatant anti-Semitic messages. “A book fair must celebrate
the values of tolerance and not allow itself to endorse a cult of racism and hatred,” Shimon
Samuel, the Center’s director for international liaison wrote in a letter to the book fair’s
president, Volker Neuman, urging him to remove these books and examine the shelves of all
exhibitors.
Frankfurt prosecutors reviewed the claims but said they didn’t have enough information to
open a formal investigation. Tom Forrer of Lenos, one of two main publishers of Arabic
literature in the German-speaking world, stresses that the Arab authors translated into
German shied away from political themes.
At a time when much of the world associates Arabic culture with oppression, terror, and
contempt for women’s rights, Arabic novels are tackling such universal themes as love, death,
and women’s issues. Many of the new writers are women. In “The Hatred,” for instance,
Palestinian novelist Sahar Khalifa tells of the prohibited love between a Muslim and a
Christian in a village near Jerusalem, presenting a woman’s view on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
In Mamdouh’s most successful novel, “Mothballs,” which is available in English, the plot
focuses on a young girl’s relationship with her father in 1950s Baghdad. Meanwhile, “Passion”
tackles the issue of identity, exploring what it means to be an Iraqi.
Ripken, whose organization promotes little-known writers, says reading Arab authors should
allay fears among many Europeans that Turkish accession to the European Union will mean that
a river of Islam will flow through Europe. “Good Arab writing is against prejudices and
clichés,” he says. “Most of good fiction is critical fiction.”
Mr. Neumann says he chose to showcase Arabic writing at the fair because it is still so
rarely translated into English, German, or French. “The West and the Arab world are largely
foreign to each other when it comes to literature, philosophy, or political debate,” he says.
As she went from stand to stand at the book fair, Jordan’s minister of state, Asma Khader,
said she hoped that this budding interest in Arabic novels would “show the world the reality,
the richness of our culture.”