The Arab world has a vibrant and rich literary scene. At Al Majalla, we highlight some of our favourite picks—from philosophy and history to science, politics, and culture. Our fortnightly round-up of the latest Arabic books aims to highlight some trends and thinking in the Arab world.
Mother’s Room
Author: Laila Al-Juhani
Publisher: Dar Athar – Saudi Arabia
A family of five—a mother, a father, two daughters, and a son—is shattered by an irreparable tragedy. The young son, Ziad, embarks on a trip to Abha, Saudi Arabia, against his mother’s wishes and with his father’s hesitant approval. But the journey turns fatal. Ziad dies in an accident, and in that instant, everything changes. The family is plunged into an endless abyss of grief. This unravelling is recounted through the voice of Ghada, the eldest daughter and the central character in Mother’s Room, a novella by Saudi writer Laila Al-Juhani.
The tragedy fractures the family's cohesion, leaving scars that never fully heal. Consumed by sorrow, the mother directs her anguish at her husband, blaming him for allowing Ziad to embark on the ill-fated trip. Meanwhile, the father is overcome by crushing guilt, causing him to withdraw into himself. His personality, habits, and even his presence begin to fade away.
Ghada poignantly describes this transformation to her younger sister Alia: "You saw how his body shrivelled, his temples greyed, and the light in his eyes dwindled. Silence enveloped him, and he abandoned the rituals that once defined him—the ones you knew so well, and I knew even better." Ultimately, the weight of his grief becomes too much to bear, and the father abandons the family, leaving behind a chasm of sorrow.
The mother, ravaged by sorrow, succumbs to illness and dies in the hospital. Left behind, Ghada stands alone, confronting emptiness, while Alia departs on a scholarship to study abroad. It is here, amidst the devastating aftermath, that Ghada's story truly unfolds—an intimate and poignant exploration of a family's disintegration, its members torn apart by death, distance, and despair, leaving behind a home that stands as a haunting reminder of all that has been lost.
The heart of the story unfolds in the mother’s room, a space haunted by absence and memory. From within its walls, Ghada reflects: “You began to understand then how Ziad’s death had torn your parents apart, how it had driven each of them in opposite directions, leaving you and Alia stranded in the void between—two frightened teenagers, powerless to bridge the chasm that had suddenly cleaved your lives in two.” Grief saturates every moment, every object she touches.
Upon her father’s suggestion, she decides to sell the house furniture and return to her husband, daughter, and life. Once teeming with voices, movement, and warmth, the house stands empty, stripped of its people, belongings, and past.
A novel steeped in sorrow, Mother’s Room is an unflinching meditation on loss. Death lingers in every line, every sentence, staring the reader in the face with relentless finality. It is a story that does not merely recount grief—it immerses the reader in its depths, forcing the reader to reckon with life's fragile, fleeting nature.
Semiotics: Concepts and Trends
Author: Dr. Monzer Ayachi
Publisher: Mosaic Studies and Publishing House – United Arab Emirates – Turkey
In Semiotics – Concepts and Trends, Dr Monzer Ayachi presents a nuanced exploration of semiotics, offering what he terms a "thesis" on its essence. He defines it as "a material through which existence becomes a sign, an image, or an example. This is because nothing in existence can stand alone without a sign to represent it, an image to depict it, or an example to indicate it. A sign is a necessity of existence." In other words, without the sign as a signifier, the signified would not exist.
Ayachi delves deeper into this notion, distinguishing between substitution and inference. He explains that signs substitute for things because objects themselves cannot be physically present in speech or the speaker’s mind. Instead, what is present is an image of them, which stands in for the actual object within human cognition.
Likewise, signs allow for inference because things do not exist in the mind as they are in reality but only through their representations, perceptions, and conceptualisations. Thus, they require a sign—whether a sound, a symbol, or another form of expression—through which they are conveyed and understood. Signs, therefore, do not derive their meaning from external reality alone; instead, they draw their significance from within the very structure of language and discourse itself.
The author then turns to Arabic intellectual heritage, tracing the roots of semiotic thought long before it was given its modern terminology. He highlights Imam Al-Ghazali’s perspective, which posits that existence is divided into three distinct forms:
Existence in objects: the tangible, external reality of things such as mountains, rivers, trees, the sun, and the moon.
Existence in language: the linguistic form wherein words, phrases, and texts serve as symbolic stand-ins for the things they represent.
Existence in the mind: the conceptual, pictorial, and even imaginary existence of things within human cognition.
Building upon this foundation, Ayachi extensively explores semiotics through multiple dimensions, examining its intricate relationship with culture, communication, and the formation of semiotic acts and signs. He also delves into the semiotics of literature, among other critical inquiries, offering a deeper understanding of this cultural, intellectual, and analytical discipline.
Drawing on his extensive experience as an academic, translator, and author, he presents a rich and sophisticated study that sheds new light on the profound interconnectivity between signs, meaning, and human perception.
Palestine in Modern Arabic Prose – Selected Images
Author: Rashid Al-Najjab
Publisher: Dar Al-Aan Publishers and Distributors – Jordan
In Palestine in Modern Arabic Prose – Selected Images, Rashid Al-Najjab embarks on a literary journey through 24 texts, spanning novels, travel literature, autobiographies, and essays, tracing the presence of Palestine in modern Arabic prose and examining how different writers have portrayed it.
The idea for the book, as Al-Najjab explains, emerged after he read On the Paths of Andalusia by Samih Masoud, a work of travel literature. He initially wrote an article about it, but the Palestinian novelist Mahmoud Shocair encouraged him to expand his scope from a single article into a full-length book.
As Mahmoud Jaradat notes on the book’s cover, these texts take the reader on a journey—from place to place, from one narrative to another, and across different historical stages—guiding them to unique literary landscapes that inspire curiosity and discovery. He describes the collection as "an engaging and graceful voyage that touches the heart, stirs memory and dreams, and excavates various literary, political, and cultural stations."
The book brings together the voices of prominent writers and thinkers, including Hanna Mina, Mahmoud Shocair, Elias Nasrallah, Samih Masoud, Ibrahim Ghubaish, Majdi Duaibes, Suad Amiry, Farouk Wadi, Bassem Al-Zoubi, Qassem Tawfiq, Safi Safi, Najati Siddiqi, Mahmoud Al-Atrash Al-Maghribi, Nadia Kamel, Youssef Zeidan, Abdul Majid Hamdan, Iman Yahya, Tarek Quddis, Hanna Abu Hanna, Samir Adib, and Bassem Khandji.
In the book’s introduction, Jordanian literary critic Muhammad Obaidallah highlights the depth and richness of Al-Najjab’s scholarly approach, describing it as a compelling form of literary composition that reflects the intimate and interactive nature of the reading experience. He emphasises that literary texts do not merely belong to their authors but become part of the reader’s own world, expanding in meaning and significance as they resonate with individual experiences.
Superior literary works, he argues, do not confine themselves to a single interpretation but remain open, allowing readers and critics to discover aspects of themselves within them. This dynamic engagement between reader and text is particularly evident in Al-Najjab’s work, as he intertwines his own reflections and personal experiences with his literary analysis, creating a highly interactive and participatory reading experience.
The Power of Reading from Socrates to Twitter
Author: Frank Furedi
Translation: Hani Hajjaj
Publisher: Academic Research Center – Lebanon
In The Power of Reading from Socrates to Twitter, Frank Furedi explores the profound impact of reading on the evolution of human thought, tracing its transformative role from ancient civilisations to the modern digital age. The book delves into how reading has shaped intellectual and cultural identities, particularly emphasising its contemporary form in the information era. It examines the symbolic significance of reading choices—how selecting a book, preferring a particular genre, or even the way one engages with a text serves as a powerful reflection of one’s cultural identity.
Furedi recounts how the renowned Roman writer Cicero— even before the advent of Christianity—classified readers into a hierarchical structure, granting privileged status to those at the top while relegating others to lower tiers. He argues that this elitist division has persisted throughout history, separating individuals into the educated and the illiterate.
Even today, modern reading culture categorises individuals into different reader archetypes—ranging from the ordinary reader to the conservative reader, the intensive reader, and the extensive reader. Looking back to the 19th century, the book reveals how "men of letters" were once regarded as an intellectual elite, while those outside their ranks were dismissed as non-intellectuals.
In contemporary times, Furedi distinguishes between instrumental readers, who read for functional or utilitarian purposes, and cultural readers, who engage with literature as a means of intellectual and artistic exploration.
The book explores the shifting meanings of reading across different historical epochs, culminating in a deep reflection on reading in the digital age—where instant access to information and the prevalence of social media and multimedia platforms have transformed how we consume knowledge. This rapid shift raises urgent questions about how we process, retain, and engage with information in an era of unprecedented information overload.
At its core, The Power of Reading from Socrates to Twitter is a thought-provoking call to restore the art of reading, which Furedi sees as fundamental to intellectual life—an art as vital and enduring as the act of writing itself.
Lexicon of the Novel
Author: Yves Stallone
Translated by: Mohamed Ait Mihoub
Publisher: Kalima Translation Project – United Arab Emirates
More than just a reference for researchers and literary critics, Lexicon of the Novel serves as a valuable resource for general readers eager to explore the evolution of the novel—from its earliest narrative forms to its ever-changing contemporary landscape in both form and content.
Translator Mohamed Ait Mihoub describes the book as encyclopedic, explaining in an interview that its scope extends beyond its lexicographical function, transforming it into a critical encyclopedia composed of essays that offer diverse perspectives—each of which can be read independently.
Mihoub elaborates on why he considers it an encyclopedia: it encompasses a vast number of entries, examines the novel from multiple angles, and offers an expansive analytical framework. The book also bridges numerous fields of knowledge, culture, and the humanities, ranging from mythology to advertising and touching upon literature, philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, anthropology, painting, and cinema.
Furthermore, its encyclopedic nature is reinforced by its wide-ranging literary references, drawing on hundreds of French and Western novels as examples, effectively guiding the reader through the rich and complex history of the Western novel.
Although the publisher has titled it a "dictionary of the novel," Mihoub argues that calling it an "encyclopedic dictionary of the novel" would not have been an overstatement.
Unlike concise lexicons that offer brief, one- or two-line definitions, this book presents a series of in-depth essays, each dedicated to a specific theme—whether exploring key elements of the novel as a genre, its most prominent figures, major phases of its development, or essential historical milestones.
These essays are highly interconnected, referencing and complementing one another, thereby enriching the reader’s understanding of the novel’s literary, historical, and theoretical dimensions. Through this meticulous approach, Lexicon of the Novel offers an expansive and multi-layered exploration of the art of the novel, tracing its origins from epics, folktales, poetic narratives, fables, and proverbs to its modern incarnations.
It highlights the immense expansion the novel has undergone, demonstrating how it has skillfully absorbed and adapted the tools of poetry, history, philosophical inquiry, and psychological analysis—transforming itself into one of the most dynamic and versatile literary genres.
