Masculinity and Syrian Fiction

Gender, Society and the Female Gaze

Lovisa Berg

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780755637645
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern Literary
• Index: Literature

What can novels tell us about masculinity in Syria? In this book, Lovisa Berg explores over 20 Syrian novels covering the last 50 years of the 20th century. Uniquely, she examines only female writers in order to gauge the changing ways in which Syrian women perceived the function of masculinity, and the impact certain attitudes towards masculinity have on men, women, children and Syrian society, from a female perspective. The works of writers from Kulit Khuri to Usayma Darwish are analysed to explore changing attitudes to gender in Syria and the Middle East, as well as the political upheavals within the country and region. We see the idealistically portrayed men in the novels of female authors in the 1950s give way in time to a more critical depictions of patriarchy. Above all, we see through the use of novels a plethora of critiques of masculine hegemony in Syrian society, the authors of which are able with the use of fiction to reorganise and question maleness in a way denied to them in reality. This book will be of interest to scholars of Contemporary Syrian and Arabic Literature, Masculinity Studies and Women's Studies.

1

Dream Masculinity – or the Male as a Vehicle for Self-Realisation

I dreamt of a lover who would grant me all that life [the days] had denied me.

The first female-authored novel in the Arab world is said to be Ḥusn al-‘awāqib: Ghāda al-zahrā’ (Good Consequences: Ghada the Radiant) by Zaynab al-Fawwāz, published in 1899.² At the time, Lebanon and Syria were combined in Greater Syria and this could therefore be seen as the first Syrian female-authored novel. With that said, as stated in the introduction, it was only after the formation of the Syrian state in 1946 that literature and culture began to play an integral part in the formation of national identity. Therefore, only works produced after this date have been considered for inclusion in this book. After 1946, the first female-authored novels were written by Widād Sakākīnī and Salma al-Ḥaffār al-Kuzbarī.³ Following these initial novels, published in a short time span, it took eight years until the next female-authored novel was published. It is this novel, Colette Khoury’s Ayyām ma‘ahu (Days with Him) published in 1959, that begins the period studied in this book.

The choice to start with this novel is based on several reasons. According to Ḥusām al-Khatib, it was received very differently and much more favourably than previous female-authored novels.⁴ This might be due to the fact that Sakakini’s and al-Kuzbari’s novels were, to some extent, seen as didactic and preaching in their tone. Khoury’s novel can instead be seen as an exploration of a personal relationship. The publication of Khoury’s novel, in addition to the Lebanese Laylā Ba‘labakkī’s Ana aḥyā (I Live) published in 1958, meant a new style of writing and the beginning of a strong ’I’ formulation in Arab women’s fiction.⁵ Correspondingly, Khalīl al-Mūsā argues that, in contrast to the few women writing novels before her, Khoury was the first Syrian woman writer to ‘free herself from the male language’⁶ and formulate a new, female, voice in her fiction. The voice that appears in the novel not only describes, but clearly states, what it wants regarding life in general and relationships in particular. Subhi Hadidi further defines the late 1950s as the time when women’s literary production began to seriously take shape in Syria and he states that this period includes a ‘qualitative leap’ in women’s writing.⁷ Without taking a stand on the question of quality, the decision to start with Khoury means that the first novel to be discussed in this chapter was, to some extent, considered, and treated by its contemporaries as a novel in its own right and thus also paved the way for other novels written by women.⁸

The novels analysed in this chapter are from the 1950s and 1960s and are written by middle- or upper-class women. The plots are situated in different places of the world and the main characters go on holiday to Lebanon, Egypt and Paris or the setting of the novel is Spain. Whereas the places of narration are somewhat exotic and some of the novels include historical events of the era, at the core of the novels analysed in this period is the story of one woman’s development and her personal exploration of what she wants from life. Days with Him (1959) tells the story of Rīm, a well-to-do Damascene girl, who lost her mother at a young age and then later also her father. Rather than moving in with her uncle, which is what she is expected to do by society, she decides to stay with her sister and their maid in the family home. Although she does not need the money, she looks for a job to have something to do. Rim is engaged to her cousin Alfrīd, but neither of them is particularly excited about the engagement, and when she meets Ziyād she embarks on a relationship with him instead. Rim feels trapped in her life and she believes that Ziyad will be her saviour, the one who can grant her the life of art, music and freedom she longs for. In Layla wāḥida (One Night, 1961) by the same author, the novel takes the form of a letter from Rashā to her husband Salīm. For a long time, Rasha refused all the suitors presented to her by her family, hoping that she would be allowed to study instead of marrying, but in the end, she gave in and agreed to marry Salim. While he is an exemplary husband, in terms of position and wealth, according to the hegemonic norms of the fictional society they live in, Rasha is not content with her life. The couple are childless and Rasha is made to believe that it is her fault. During a trip to Europe, she takes the train by herself to yet another appointment with a doctor. On the train she meets Kāmil. They talk and laugh during the train ride and later end up spending a night together in a hotel. After their night together, Rasha tragically dies in an accident. In Thulūj taḥta al-shams (Snow Under the Sun, 1961) by Laylā al-Yāfī, the main female character, Rīma, is an orphan who is adopted by a judge and his wife who have no children of their own. Her adoptive father insists that Rima should receive a complete education and, when she is old enough, he takes time off work so the family can travel together to different Arab countries, to allow Rima to get to know the region. During the trip, Rima falls in love with an unsuitable person but, rather than punishing her for this, her father talks to her and shows her why her choice is inappropriate. Despite Rima’s mistake, her father later argues that she should be allowed to choose her husband. This time she chooses her cousin, a decision approved by both her parents. al-Ḥubb wa al-waḥl (Love and Mud, 1963) by In‘ām al-Musālima is another novel from this era featuring a father who has progressive ideas on education for his daughter, Inās. However, the father dies relatively early, and the main male character of the novel is instead Aḥmad. As in One Night, this novel is told in the form of a long letter, in which Ahmad, who has fallen in love with Inas, explains to a friend what has happened to him. Inas is accustomed to being seen as someone different because she has chosen education and work over marriage and family life. When Ahmad approaches her, she falls in love with him since he is different from other men she has met. However, due to previous relationships she has had, she cannot allow herself to believe that he will continue to love her and hence she refuses to marry him. ‘Aynān min ishbīliya (Sevillan Eyes, 1965) by Salma al-Haffar al-Kuzbari, also describes the relationship between a father and his daughter Carmen and how he tries to bring her up without her mother. However, in this novel, the actions of her evil stepmother force Carmen to leave her house and find work in another city. When Carmen leaves the house, her father breaks off all contact, seeing her as a fallen woman. Through hard work and luck Carmen marries well and manages to reconnect with her maternal uncle whom everyone thought was dead. Happily married and now also rich due to her uncle’s fortune that she will inherit, Carmen is reunited with her father who accepts her back as his daughter. In al-Riwāya al-mal‘ūna (The Cursed Novel, 1968) by Amal Jarrāḥ, the relationship between father and daughter takes a slightly different turn. Although it begins, as in the previous novels, with a motherless daughter and a father who is forced to step in and assume the role of both educator and companion, the novel continues with Ḥanān falling in love with her father. She begins to make plans to take her late mother’s place as love interest of the father. The father, who is seen by Hanan’s friends as an ideal man because he takes an interest in her studies, encourages her to make something of herself in the future and gives her the freedom to make her own decisions, slowly falls for Hanan’s plan of seduction. But before anything too scandalous happens, Hanan is taken ill and requires hospital treatment abroad. Hanan’s illness means that the relationship reverts back to that of a caring father and his daughter. The final novel to be discussed in the chapter, Arṣifat al-sa’m (Sidewalks of Tedium, 1973) by Hiyām Nuwaylātī and Umm ‘Isām, returns to the topic of lovers and tells the story of Mārīā who is unhappy in her marriage, mainly because her husband cannot fulfil what she holds as ideal masculinity. When her husband travels abroad, Maria begins to search for ways to change her life. At work she meets Ḥabīb, a younger man who falls in love with her. Maria is flattered by the attention and the fact that he is interested in her thoughts and opinions and he becomes her lover. The relationship develops and Habib begins to make demands on a future together but in the end, the secrecy and her fear of being found out, kill Maria’s feelings and she leaves him.

The men in these novels function as role models and facilitators for women’s emancipation and development. Whereas new performances of masculinity are suggested, the criticism of previous performances of masculinity are not developed, even when it is mentioned in passing. The novels echo the social reality of a well-to-do upper and middle class as seen at the time of creation, and key aspects of all the novels are men’s encouraging views on education and women’s role in society. However, the last novel included in the chapter, Sidewalks of Tedium, published ten years into the reign of the Ba‘thist government, shows that these ideals are beginning to change and that women are expected to work and contribute to society,⁹ something that the ideal masculinities in the earlier novels had proposed but did not expect.

As mentioned above, these early novels introduced a new voice and perspective to the Syrian novelistic scene, but they also introduced a new gaze, the female gaze, piercing through relationships and traditional mind-sets and focusing on the questions ‘Who sees?’ and ‘What does that person see?’ The term ‘Focalization’ is used in narratology to draw attention to the relation between that which is focalised (characters, objects, actions) and the focaliser, the agent who determines how the focalised person or item is perceived in the text.¹⁰ I will make use of Mieke Bal’s development of Gerard Genette’s original term of focalisation, which includes the relationship between the focalised and the focaliser. The connection here is particularly telling in the case of masculinities because it forefronts how masculinity is a constantly changing concept, depending on others’ actions and reactions to it; depending on ‘who’ sees the action, it may be condoned or condemned. Bal points out that in the discussion of focalisation, there are three important questions: What is the focalization aimed at, with what attitude is the focalization done, and whose focalized object is it?¹¹ The answers to the three questions are informative not only about the focalised item or person, but about the viewpoint from which these events are presented. In the novels analysed in this book, the analysis of the focaliser offers clues to the understanding of the masculinities presented and the characters’ acceptance or rejection of them.

The focalised ‘object’ in these novels is a man, a father or a lover, who is looked upon with an admiring attitude for most of the time. The main characters in all these novels are a man and a woman, and large parts of the novels are conversations between them, or individual thoughts developed through letters, diaries, or dreams. These choices make the novels appeal to the readers as some sort of truth, camouflaged as fiction. Colette Koury goes further. She begins b...