Arab dystopian novels

Dr..

Kamal Abdul Malik

February 03, 2023

It is not strange for humanity to dream of an ideal world in which love prevails, happiness pervades, and its peaceful atmosphere fragrant among people.

There are many dreamers, some of whom we enjoyed with the vastness of his imagination and the spaciousness of his visions of a better world, such as Plato in his ideal republic, Abu Nasr al-Farabi in his virtuous city, and Thomas Moore in his island, which he called "Utopia".

And “the hungry dream of a loaf of bread,” as the parents in Egypt say.

We dream of what is perfect, virtuous, and utopian, because our world is not perfect, virtuous, or utopian.

This nightmare is called by some "dystopia".

During the first two decades of the 21st century, an increasing amount of so-called Arab dystopian novels appeared in the Arab literary scene, most of which were written by Egyptian writers.

Let's look at some of the Egyptian literary works, within the framework of the narrative tradition of the world of bitter and miserable reality, and highlight the differences and similarities between them and the literature of the Western dystopia.

He has published many novels and short stories that have been described as "dystopia" in press articles, on the web and in blogs.

This phenomenon deserves some attention. It is especially popular nowadays, for the simple reason that hope for a better future is always followed by disappointment: “Dystopia follows utopia as lightning follows thunder,” Gilles Lepore (2017) told The New Yorker.

In his 2017 book on dystopia, Gregory Claeys lists five main themes of Western dystopian novels (a) the advent of the nuclear age and the potential for total devastation that it entails;

(b) environmental threats such as climate change and population increase;

(c) the overpowering nature of machines, leading to a loss of individuality and freedom;

(d) the cultural degeneration of non-totalitarian liberal societies resulting from excessive indulgence in the gratification of instincts;

(e) Anxiety caused by terrorism.

On the other hand, the field of Arab literary criticism still lacks an equivalent and organized theoretical approach to dystopian literature, as there is no specific term for it, and the English word dystopia is often used, along with various forms of phrases, such as “the literature of the corrupt city.”

We note the close relationship between utopia and dystopia. In the novel “Ibn Fattouma’s Journey” by Naguib Mahfouz (1988), Ibn Fattouma begins on a journey, in search of the ideal country, but all the five countries he visits, despite their appearance at the beginning as ideal societies, are in The reality is disguised dystopian societies, endemic to slavery, conflicts and totalitarian politics, which prevent individualism, freedom and democracy.

The latter part of the 20th century also saw the publication of three Egyptian science fiction novels, all of which tell the story of a failed utopia.

The first is “Inhabitants of the Second World” by Nihad Sharif (1977), which is the story of a group of young scientists who build a utopian city at the bottom of the sea in order to escape a difficult life on land.

The second novel is “Escape to Space” by Hussein Qadri (1981), which tells the story of three inhabitants of planet Earth who crash-land their spaceship on an ideal planet.

The third novel is “The Master from the Spinach Field” by Sabri Musa (1984), and its events take place on Earth in the 23rd century.

It is noticeable here that these stories express the concern of their authors about the fate of their country, and that their questions revolve around the problem of social and political systems, and not imitating the traditional Western dystopia. 

Visiting scholar at Harvard University

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