Maghreb women's literature ... women's creativity in poetry and narration

Zubaida Al-Khawatri - Marrakesh

Maghreb women's literature is a modern literary phenomenon with distinction, and this literature appeared in the arms of modernity where its values ​​formed its most important principles in order to move forward to prove the existence of a distinct female creativity in its own right. Despite the disagreement over the idea of ​​describing a particular literature as masculinity and femininity, this writing remains an aesthetic dimension regardless of the difference of views, and in this context, the question arises about the position of women's Maghreb writing.

While some question the woman’s writings as a repetition or a tradition of man’s writing, others view Maghreb women's writing as a distinct addition to the level of literary writing, in form and content.

Moroccan literature
Women were not absent from Moroccan cultural creativity in important historical periods, including the era of French occupation and resistance. Historians of literature in Morocco consider that the Moroccan female presence has been present in the cultural scene for a long time, such as the poet Sarah Halaby, who was considered during the reign of the Marinids (between the 13th and 15th centuries AD) one of the best poets of the city of Fez.

But literary works have preserved for us only a few female productions, and some attributed this to several reasons, including historians' neglect and marginalization of female literature, although the history of Morocco knew the existence of many women scholars and scholars such as Amna Bint Khajo who lived in the Saadiyya period, and Mrs. Aisha, wife of Mukhtar al-Kanti She died in 1224 AH corresponding to the year 1810 AD.

During the occupation period, the woman became involved in the defense of the nation’s possession, and women's creations emerged as the works of the Queen El Fassi, who published a story entitled “The Victim” in the Moroccan “Culture” magazine in 1941, in which they addressed the topic of traditional marriage. In 1955, the author, Amna Al-Loh, published her story "Queen Shemales" in "Al-Anwar" magazine, which critics considered a short historical novel that reads Moroccan history from a feminist angle.

Talking about these two experiences is considered to be the first building block for the emergence of female writing in the field of storytelling in particular, but the true launch of Moroccan women literature dates back to the late sixties, with the release of the novel "Tomorrow the Land" for Fatima the narrator in 1967, and two sets of stories for Bannah's "to fall silence" and "Fire and Choice" in the same year, in addition to a fictional collection of the companion nature writer, titled "Man and Woman" in 1969.

The president of the Association of Moroccan Women Writers, Aziza Lahdah Omar, said in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net that Moroccan women's literature has witnessed an important development, and among the harbingers of that was the birth of this association in 2012, which over the course of eight years was able to establish a creative women's society through the representation of 70 branches nationwide.

The association embraced many creations in different literary genres, including essay, poetry, story, novel and criticism.

A Mauritanian "innovation"
In Mauritanian society, which appears to be somewhat different from Maghreb societies in its customs and natures, Salik Esnid writes to Al Jazeera Net that Mauritanian women have registered from ancient times a presence in eloquent poetry, contrary to what is said that their literary contributions were limited to folk literature and the poetry of "innovation".

And the literature of “inventing” was born as a deprivation of deprived female breaths, and the hunger of liberation was liberated with a flood of love and wandering after the accumulation of barriers and obstacles.

However, "inventing" was not just an attempt to break the silence, but rather a revolution in the form, stereotypes and classical literary purposes, whereby Mauritanian women invented a new color that differs from the male literary traditions within it, from clear and popular poems adhering to poetic and rhyming seas.

Algerian heritage
It can be said that feminist literature in Algeria is no different from that of Maghreb or Arab countries, and Algerian women writers were not recognized until the beginning of the seventies. Despite this delay, the female writers managed to impose themselves as Moroccan and Arab.

In this context, the Algerian poet Zineb El-Aouj said that her interest in Algerian, Maghreb and Arabic women's literature came from being a university professor, academic and researcher since the 1970s.

"I found that criticism books about feminist literature rarely talk about women's creativity, which made me feel a kind of marginalization and prejudice against women in general. But the creativity of Algerian women remains present, whether in Arabic or French, or all forms of The creativity associated with the Algerian popular heritage with its different and varied dialects.

"That is why we cannot talk about Algerian female creativity and forget about Algerian women institutions in this field, whatever the creative value of course, and by what measure we judge them, such as peacocks, Amrouch, Jamila Dabbash, Maryam Ban, flowers and Nessi, Asia Jabbar, Hawa Jabali, Yamina Mashkara, Safia Kato, Zulekhah Al-Saudi and others ... Also, we cannot lose sight of names from the seventies generation such as: Mabrouka Bossah, Ahlam Mostaghanemi and Jamila Zannir .. ".

Libyan literature
In his book, “Libyan Women’s Literature… Writing Bets and Dictionaries of Writers”, the Libyan researcher, Bouchoucha Bin Jumaa, addresses the first beginnings of the formation of Libyan women’s writings in the 1950s, which defined the emergence of novel literary races.

This book came to describe Libyan women’s writings, which went through important stages until they reached maturity.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, the Libyan poet Rehab Shanib says that Libyan women's literature has gone through many stages and was influenced by the nature of political and cultural transformations in the country, adding that Libya today knows the presence of many women in various types of literature.

Tunisian writing
The Tunisian women's literature leads to the mention of her pioneers, such as Najia Thamer, who published the novels "Justice of Heaven" and "We Wanted Life" and stories for children entitled "My Grandmother's Tales", Hind Azouz, author of the group "In the Long Path" stories, and Fatima Selim, whose stories were published in newspapers and magazines Tunisian since the year 1961.

Currently, several female writers, such as Rahma Bouzid, Nawras El Makshar, Ghada Kalaei and others, who produced Tunisian creations in the form of Nun Al-Nisaa, were the reason for the emergence of the term feminist literature, which is still the subject of many debates and controversy among many traders in the Tunisian cultural affairs.

The Tunisian poet Latifa El-Shabi considers that Tunisian women's writings should be recognized and creative, distinguished by their intellectual and creative interest in literature and poetry, in addition to their distinguished role in many cultural festivals.

Latifa added in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net that the contents of Tunisian women writing establish a significant foundation from an angle of view interacting with her surroundings and her community in the same way as men, and that is why we should be proud of the achievements of Tunisian women in the literary and cultural field.