Origin of Emirati novel (1970–80s)

Abstract

Origin of modern novel-writing in the UAE go back to the early 1970s, when the growing oil-revenues stimulated the development of national education and the press, thus, producing necessary conditions for literary activities. While short-story became the favorite genre among Emirati writers, the development of novel was relatively slow. From 1971, when the first Emirati novel was published, up to the end of the 1980s there appeared only nine novels. Most of these demonstrate the authors’ adherence to old styles that dominated in Arabic literature in the late 19th century and in the early 20th century. In “social” novels, such as “Shahanda” (1971) of Rashid ‘Abdallah al-Na‘imi, “Wounds on the wall of time” (1982) and “When the sorrows awake” (1986) of ‘Ali Muhammad Rashid, “The acknowledgment” (1982) and “The sword and the flower” (1984) of ‘Ali Abu al-Rish we find a lot of didactics and sentiments, but few realistic features and no clear attitude to the socio-economic transformations that swept the country in those years. A single historical novel “The coast of heroes” (1987) written by ‘Ali Muhammad Rashid bears features of early Lebanese historical novels, as well as heroic spirit of romanticism. Abdallah al-Nawiri’s police-novel “A neck in search of a necklace” (1978), devoid of any national color, is a primitive imitation of Western detective literature, meanwhile Muhammad al-Harbi’s novel “Affairs of a coastal town” (1986), on the contrary, is a somewhat allegoric story conveying the atmosphere of old Emirati days. Refs 19.

Keywords:

the United Arab Emirates, Arabic literature, Arabic prose