The Arab world has a vibrant and rich literary scene. Al Majalla picks out some choice titles in our fortnightly round-up of the latest Arabic books, which aims to highlight some trends and thinking in the Arab world.
Le Discours Philosophique (Philosophical Discourse)
By: Michel Foucault
Translator: Al-Zawaoui Boughoura
Publisher: Dar Al-Saqi – Lebanon
Paul-Michel Foucault, who died in 1984, was a renowned and influential French philosopher, historian, literary critic, teacher, and political activist, who authored several widely-read books, so to publish another more than half a century after it was written is clearly a cultural event.
Foucault left behind many unpublished works, which were neither destroyed nor released during his lifetime. Written in 1966, Philosophical Discourse has finally been published in Arabic, and despite his will expressly stating that these manuscripts should remain unpublished after his death, they have gradually made their way into print.
This book is among them, and the French publisher says it is up to scholars to interpret why Foucault withheld certain works from publication. That aside, the general reader will be interested to hear what the philosopher had to say about philosophy itself after all he had written on the subject.
“When we say that philosophy today has a diagnostic task, do we mean anything other than to tie it back to its ancient destiny?” Foucault asks. “For what can the word ‘diagnosis’ signify if not a penetrating gaze, an acute attentiveness, and a heightened sensory awareness that transcends the audible, visible, and tangible, ultimately revealing the brilliance of meaning in the text and the presence of evil in the body?”
Philosophy, then, is the diagnosis of the present. It is something to be lived, not merely defined. Through philosophy, discourse and epistemic structures (the systems, institutions, and practices within a society that govern how knowledge is created, disseminated, and validated) are deconstructed. It is not a matter of rehearsing ready-made maxims. Philosophy does not claim to possess truth but rather to question it.
In this book, Foucault addresses criticisms levelled at the concept of the “death of man,” arguing that this notion does not herald the death of philosophy but rather its continuation. He considers both classical and modern philosophers’ ideas, including Nietzsche, Heidegger, Althusser and Sartre, with a particular focus on Nietzsche.
Foucault highlights Nietzsche’s critique of fixed origins in favour of evolving beginnings, a perspective clearly aligned with his own theory of the archaeology of knowledge, from one of his best-known works, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, published in 1966, the same year as he wrote Le Discours Philosophique.
Foucault presents a new approach to understanding philosophy as a material discourse aimed at diagnosing the present. He also examines the boundaries that separate philosophical discourse from other forms of discourse, including scientific, literary, and religious. It offers an insightful exposition of his intellectual project.
Feminist Political Philosophy: A History of Elusive Justice
By: Ikram Talaat El-Badawi
Publisher: Bayt Al-Hikma for Culture – Egypt
This book examines the political engagement of the feminist movement, portraying it as an ideological commitment to equality on multiple fronts across the world.
It explores the intellectual evolution of feminism, particularly in countries that have established political democracy. Often seen as a manifestation of equality, democracy serves as a cornerstone for feminist demands for rights traditionally granted to men.
The book explores what defines and distinguishes feminism as a political system, identifies the structural problems underpinning gender inequality, and examines the challenges faced by gender-based analysis within political theory.
El-Badawi’s use of the term ‘elusive’—as she explains in an interview—stems from her decision to delve into the roots of classical political thought to uncover how women have historically been portrayed as the ‘other,’ or as subordinate entities.
She introduces the concept of ‘elusiveness’ to describe the philosophical, religious, and legal accumulations that have perpetuated perceptions of women as less competent or significant, perceptions that have persisted even after major reform and enlightenment movements.
The author argues that feminist political theory emerged from the feminist movements of the 20th century, its primary aim is to push the boundaries of political discourse, with feminism more generally aiming to combat discrimination and various forms of subjugation—whether social, cultural, economic, or political—that affect women.
The book asks whether feminism has managed to unify its efforts to bring about social and political change, and illuminates a wide array of concepts and issues concerning women (both in the past and now), thus contributing valuably to feminist theory.
Bitter Sumac
By: Hasiba Abdulrahman
Publisher: Ninawa Publishing – Syria
In Bitter Sumac, Syrian novelist Hasiba Abdulrahman chronicles the long era of dictatorship in his home country through a constellation of characters, each following a narrative arc that ultimately revolves around the late dictator, Hafez al-Assad.
In the novel, Assad is depicted through a blend of realism and fantasy, at times appearing as a something from the realm of science fiction. He is also portrayed as both the ‘doting father leader’ and the ruthless tyrant who would crush even his closest allies at the slightest whiff of dissent.
Echoing many, the author asks: “How can one write the story of the dictator who robbed you of the best years of your life? And what he didn’t steal by imprisoning you, he took through terror, intimidation, and relentless harassment, until your life became a waking nightmare, haunted by the constant fear of dawn raids that could strike at any moment.”
Abdulrahman writes: “Time intertwines like silken threads, and here I am, returning to the moment I brought the bird into the sacred dome, let it sink into the earth and peck at the incense, desecrating the sanctity of the place, becoming accustomed to it. I held the Qur’an and opened it: ‘He will surely grant you victory.’”
She continues: “I kissed the stone tomb—one of the incarnations of the migrant sheikh—then stepped back, my back to the door, facing the long tombstone. They say it belongs to a Hashemite descendant. Just as I used to do in my childhood, with the strange bird in my hand... as if I couldn’t believe I possessed it. I re-entered the dome, lit the incense burners, opened the Qur’an: ‘He will surely grant you victory.’”
The repetition of the Qur'anic verse within a single passage is laden with meaning; it could signal belief in the Syrian people’s eventual triumph over tyranny, a fervent plea for that victory, or perhaps both, simultaneously and without contradiction.
Importantly, the author wrote Bitter Sumac before the fall of the Assad regime, when Hafez’s son Bashar finally realised the game was up and fled to Russia. She had intended to publish it prior to his downfall, even if it meant her arrest, yet delays (caused by editors fearing to review it) postponed its publication.
This novel is a powerful reckoning with one of the darkest chapters in Syria’s modern and contemporary history.
Al-Burkhisa
By: Mahmoud Abdel Ghani
Publisher: Al-Mutawassit Publishing – Italy
In this novel, ‘Al-Burkhisa’ becomes the epithet of a woman so enamoured with the celebrated Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges that she is named after him. “I became a little Burkhisa, though I am neither educated nor well-read,” she says. “I became filled with Borges, even though I know nothing of him beyond his name.”
The protagonist, Sarah, describes the late short story writer (who died in 1986) as “the child of my imagination, the son of my dream... I remember a long silence between us before he waved at me, carrying his books. I remained lost in thought, contemplating every word. I longed to walk beside him, to wherever he was heading, but a strange fear gripped me. How could I go with a man I only knew by name?”
Sarah is a divorcee who works in a library and gradually develops a keen ability to read people through the books they request and purchase. One day, a colleague introduces her to Borges, with the comment: “Don’t forget that name!” Thereafter, Sarah meets him in dreams and engages in long, imaginary conversations.
While Sarah’s child lives with his grandmother, she carries on living with relative ease and serenity, but her peaceful rhythm is disrupted when her manager, a misogynistic figure filled with resentment and spite, begins harassing her by snooping, collecting personal information, and generally making her work life unbearable.
Eventually he terminates her employment, calling her “a foolish girl (who) wanted to be like Borges,” adding: “I will indeed make her like Borges. I’ll fire her from the library just as Borges was fired from the Buenos Aires Municipal Library, and I’ll have her selling chickens and rabbits in the market, just like him.”
Though Al-Burkhisa is narrated entirely through the voice of Sarah, what is particularly striking is that it was written by a man. This demands sensitivity, insight, and attentiveness to the psychological, emotional, and existential dimensions of a woman’s life. In that, and other ways, it is a bold literary undertaking.
Echoes of Al-Ghathami
Compiled and Edited by: Abdulaziz bin Ali Al-Nassafi & Rahma Al-Qurashi
Publisher: Rashm Publishing – Saudi Arabia
This book explores the intellectual and cultural imprint of Saudi thinker Abdullah Al-Ghathami, 79, on Arab culture in general, and Saudi cultural discourse in particular.
A professor of criticism at King Saud University in Riyadh, his body of work spans literature, philosophy, cultural criticism, and theory. Many of his books continue to stir conversations and stimulate debate.
Echoes of Al-Ghathami gathers articles written about Al-Ghathami and his work, both from within Saudi Arabia and beyond. While it does not aim to cover the entirety of his career, it focuses on essays published in Arab newspapers.
It also brings together previously unpublished essays on various topics, with a diversity of authors and intellectual or cultural backgrounds. The inclusion of these essays enriches the volume, both in terms of content quality and through the participation of leading Arab academic and literary figures.
In his introduction, co-editor Rahma Al-Qurashi calls the book “an effort to document a vibrant and valuable record of a distinguished scholar whose ideas have illuminated research paths and generated varied readings of texts.”
Al-Qurashi describes the selected articles as “serious and thoughtful,” written in celebration of a critic who “gave so much to Arab criticism and elevated it to a prestigious status worthy of the richness and depth of Arab thought”.
This book offers a comprehensive and insightful look at Al-Ghathami’s intellectual journey, from a position of genuine admiration for a major figure in modern Arab thought, that stands as both a tribute and a critical engagement with his legacy.
