YEAR IN REVIEW 1996: LITERATURE

ARABIC The 19th congress of the General Union of Arab Writers (GUAW), held in Casablanca, Morocco, in January 1995, voted unanimously to readmit Egypt. Readmission was conditional, however, on Egypt's Writers Union's adhering to the GUAW policy of opposition to normalization of relations with Israel. The GUAW split over the issue of its general secretariat, finally deciding to reelect its general secretary and maintain its headquarters in Amman, Jordan. Some members supported the head of the host Moroccan Writers Union, one of the few independent unions in the Arab world, and moving the secretariat to Rabat. The disagreement illustrated the conflict between the old centres of modern Arabic culture, in Egypt and the Levant, and the vibrant literature in North Africa and elsewhere. The debate over opposition to the Middle East peace treaties erupted again when the Syrian Writers Union suspended the membership of the poet Adunis for his call for normalization of relations with Israel and his participation with Israelis in several conferences. Several Algerian writers, dramatists, and journalists were assassinated by Islamic extremists in 1995. In Lebanon the three major works of the secular Libyan writer as-Sadiq an-Nayhum, who died on Nov. 15, 1994, were banned. The only Arabic magazine devoted to the literature of women and their cultural concerns faltered in 1995 and then ceased publication altogether. After its phenomenal early success, An-Katibah ("The Woman Writer"), which was published in London, was censored and banned in several Arab countries and encountered financial problems. The literary monthly An-Naqid ("The Critic") also was forced to close down. A platform for experimentation and an independent journal championing freedom of expression, it too was censored and banned. A number of outstanding novels appeared in 1995. The towering achievement was Baha` Tahir's Al-Hubb fi al-manfa ("Love in Exile"), an insightful reexamination of one of the recurring themes in Arabic literature, the relationship between the Arab "self" and the Western "other." It established its author as Egypt's most outstanding novelist after Naguib Mahfouz. An-Nakhkhas ("The Slave Merchant") by the Tunisian novelist Salah ad-Din Bujah was a remarkably innovative novel, praised for its profound dialogue in traditional Arab prose and its rich lyricism. 'Azizi as-Sayyid Kawabata ("Dear Mr. Kawabata") by Rashid ad-Da'if stood out for its poetic vision and its sensitive rendering of childhood in a Christian village in Mount Lebanon. Other important novels included, in Egypt, the erotic work Baydat an-na'amah ("The Ostrich's Egg") by Ra`uf Mus'ad, Ta'm al-Hriq ("The Taste of Fire") by Mahmud al-Wirdani, An-Naml al-Abyad ("White Ants") by 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Aswani, and Lahn as-Sabah ("Morning Tune") by Muhammad Naji; in Lybia, As-Saharah ("The Sorcerers") by Ibrahim al-Kuni; in Syria, Inanah wa `n-nahr ("Inanah and the River") by Halim Barakat; and in Iraq, Khatim ar-raml ("The Sand Ring") by Fu`ad at-Takarli. Novels published by women included, in Lebanon, Ahl al-hawa ("The Lovers") by Huda Barakat, Al-Jamr al-ghafi ("The Slumber Ember") by Emily Nasrallah, and Hayat wa alam Hamad ibn Silanah ("The Life and Pains of Hamad the Son of Silanah") by Najwa Barakat; in Iraq, Al-Wala' ("Obsession") by 'Aliyah Mamduh; in Egypt, Sahib al-Bayt ("The Landlord") by Latifah az-Zayyat, Maryamah wa `r-rahil ("Maryamah and the Departure") by Radwa 'Ashur, and Muntaha ("Muntaha") by Halah al-Badri; and, in Tunisia, Tamas ("Contact") by 'Arusiyah an-Naluti. The poetry collection Limadha ayuha al-madi tanam fi hadiqati ("Oh! Past Why Do You Sleep in My Garden"), by the Egyptian poet 'Abd al-Mun'im Ramadan, was published during the year. The new collection by Adunis was immodestly entitled Al-Kitab ("The Book"), normally reserved in Arabic for the Qur`an. (SABRY HAFEZ) CHINESE Fiction continued to dominate the Chinese literary scene in 1995. There was a trend toward promotion and "packaging" while taking care not to surfeit the reader with ideologies or avant-gardism. A fiction series labeled "Cloth Tiger" (a pun on "Paper Tiger") that was launched by Shenyang's Spring Breeze Literary Press met with an enthusiastic reception. Wang Meng's Ansha 3322 ("Assassination 3322"), one notable work in the series, entertained while not losing sight of the need for moral relevance. The story dramatized the ruinous aftereffects of a "crime" on a bright young man's future. Also in the series was Tie Ning's Wuyuzhi cheng ("The Rainless City"), a feminist work that pitted men's self-preserving instincts against women's capacity for self-sacrifice in their assertion of love. The popular success of "Cloth Tiger" spawned a number of imitators. Not to be outdone, literary journals also tried to rally the reader by casting an aura of mystique on their fiction selections. Beijing wenxue "Beijing Literature"), for instance, installed "xintiyan xiaoshuo" ("fiction of new experientialism") as a special feature. The desire to be noted, to reach a larger audience, and to secure a better financial return for his labour seemed to affect Yu Hua, a postmodern fabulist known for elliptical writing. In the eyes of common readers, he became a born-again storyteller with the publication of Huozhe ("To Live"), an old-fashioned narrative celebrating the virtue of the will to live. The novel was adapted by director Zhang Yimou into a movie. Baiye ("Pallid Night"), Jia Pingwa's first novel since the sensational Feidu ("The Ruined Capital"), documented the lethargic and purposeless existence of Xi'an's middle and lower classes. Su Tong's Chengbei didai ("North of the City") revisited the eruption of violence and manifestations of depravity on the legendary Xiangchun Street during the Cultural Revolution. Howard Goldblatt's translations of Tiantang suandaizhige (The Garlic Ballads) and Mi (Rice), novels by Mo Yan and Su Tong, respectively, were published in the U.S. In Taiwan the Chung-kuo Shih-pao (China Times) chose Chu T'ien-wen as the first recipient of its prize for fiction. Narrated from the perspective of a gay male, her Huang-jen shou-chi ("Notes of the Misbegotten") was a daring attempt to probe homosexuality both as an exquisite anguish and as an aesthetic experience. Su Wei-chen won an award for her Ch'en-mo-chih tao ("The Silent Isle"), essentially a tale about a career woman in conflict with herself. In Hong Kong the first part of the latest work by Xi Xi, Feizhan ("The Flying Carpet"), was serialized in Lianhe wenxue ("Unitas"). Framed in settings at once fantastic and realistic, the episodic work evoked memories of the British colony in its early days. (JOSEPH S.M. LAU) EASTERN EUROPEAN Perhaps the most eagerly awaited publication of the past decade in Poland was Jerzy Giedroyc's Autobiografia na cztery rece ("Autobiography for Four Hands"). It was an amazing revelation of the events that had inspired the monthly Kultura ("Culture") and the Publishing House of the Literary Institute, which published hundreds of banned books. At the same time, it was an intimate portrait of the writer. This was supplemented by Giedroyc's collection of letters, Listy 1950-1987 ("Letters 1950-1987"). Marek Nowakowski, a member of the so-called angry generation of the 1960s, regained his popularity with the younger audience with Powidoki: Chlopcy z tamtych lat ("Afterimages: Young Men from Those Years"). As in his earlier works, the 72 sketches were populated with pimps, prostitutes, crooks, beggars, and a panoply of the insulted and humiliated. Hanna Krall's new volume of 10 tales, Dowody na istnienie ("Proofs of Existence"), explored the Jewish experience in Poland in a prose style reminiscent of Tadeusz Borowski. In his novel Trzy razy ("Three Times"), Dariusz Bitner once again demonstrated his skill as a modern-day spinner of tales, replete with strong language and colourful situations. In the third volume of her memoirs, Wspomnienia i podrze ("Reminiscences and Travels"), Monika Zeromska lightheartedly related her thoughts about visiting England, Israel, and Italy. Science fiction and parapsychology formed the basis of three popular novels, Andrzej Sapkowski's Oko Yrrhedesa ("The Eye of Yrrhedes"), Jacek Natanson's MIB ("Men in Black"), and Joanna Chmielewska's Ladowanie w Garwolinie ("Landing in Garwolin"). At age 66 Serbia's greatest contemporary playwright, Aleksandar Popovic, had three premiers during the 1995 season: Ruzicnjak ("The Rose Garden"), Carlama, zbogom ("Farewell, Liars"), and Mrtva tacka ("The Dead Spot"). A number of his earlier works were revived, including Razvojni put Bore Snajdera ("The Evolutionary Road of Bore the Tailor"). His antiwar play Tamna je noc ("Dark Is the Night") was premiered in New York City in September. Two additions to the theme of World War II appeared: Nikola Moravcevic's Albion Albion, offering a rich mixture of historical authenticity and high literary quality, and Sava Jankovic's first volume of the epic, Na prelomu ("Turning Point"), a semihistorical account of the war years. With the distribution of print in the hands of government officials, Romania was still experiencing technical censorship. Even after six years of restricted freedom, television and newspaper coverage depended primarily on the vagaries of the print distributor. The appointment of Viorel Marginean as minister of culture was viewed skeptically by the country's intelligentsia. His predecessor, Marin Sorescu, was implicated in various financial scandals and was forced to resign. With the lifting of the embargo by Greece, Macedonia was quickly recovering from the shocks of economic and political turmoil. Nowhere was the change more evident than in the field of publishing. Ante Popovski's collection Prividenija ("Providence") won the Braca Miladinovic Award at the Struga poetry festival as the best book of poetry. The worlds of history and theosophy were intimately intertwined in these poems, which contained mysterious messages from the forefathers to posterity. Petre M. Andreevski's collection of short stories Site lica na smrtta ("All the Faces of Death") was considered his finest work. The stories, combining both modernity and folk wisdom, were read as metaphors for Macedonian life today. Dragi Mihajlovski's collection of short stories Skok so stap ("Pole Vault") won the Racin Recognition Award for the best book of fiction. The stories displayed an interesting union of the grotesque and fantastic, used to create insight into the nature of reality. The historical novel was also represented by Slobodan Mickovic's Aleksandr i smrtta ("Alexander and Death"). The novel was written in the form of notes that Alexander's armourer sends to Aristotle and covered the final two years of the Macedonian ruler's life. In the Czech Republic, Antonn Brousek was awarded the Seifert Prize for his collection of poems Vterinov smrti ("Deaths by Seconds"), a pessimistic view of the human condition at the end of the 20th century. Jan Trefulka's novel Sveden a opusten ("Misled and Abandoned") described the conflict between two approaches to life. Zdena Frbov's Polda ("Cop"), the best-seller of 1995, recounted the illegal activities of various entrepreneurs and of the Mafia after 1989. Lenka Prochzkov's Zvrhl dny ("Perverted Days"), a collection of short stories, presented life in a society that recently had discovered the meaning of freedom. Karel Steigerwald's drama Nobel was notable for its topicality and its attempt to explore the Czech past. (EDWARD J. CZERWINSKI; AGNIESZKA PERLINSKA)