Bahraini writers’ works in British academic book

Manama : Bahraini writers’ works have been published by British publishing house Routledge with the release of an academic book for non-Arabic speakers titled ‘Advance Arabic Literary Reader’. The book included narrative Arabic texts of modern short stories and novels of 60 writers from various Arab countries. 

The writers were selected thoroughly and carefully to allow the students of European and American universities to follow up the latest cultural and literary developments in the Arab world and to introduce them to the richness of Arab culture. The texts were close to Western countries’ concerns to let the students differentiate between the two cultures. 

Among the texts that have been selected for the book, is “The Cursed Palace” (2010), a short story by Bahraini writer Dr. Masooma Al Mutawah. “The Cursed Place” is about a poor family dealing with the troubles of raising a sick child. This leads to their divorce and eventually the mother is forced to lead a life of hardship.

“The book is a collection of stories that reflect the social and cultural aspects of the Arab world,” said Dr. Al Mutawah, “It gives foreign students a different perspective of the Arab culture. My story shows the challenges we might face in the struggle of poverty and conveys the link between what is acceptable and not acceptable in our society. I think it can give them an idea to see us through a human lens that we can be flawed, but at the same time there is this contradiction and complexity in the cultural and religious influence in how we react and solve such issues.”

She affirms by saying that, “I think Yale University chose this story because it is considered to portray these complex difference between Western and Arab life.”

Dr. Al Mutawah confirmed that she is pleased that her story was published in this academic book with many other famous writers from the Middle East such as Abdulla Khalifa from Bahrain, Najeeb Mahfouz and Ehsan Abdul Quddus from Egypt, Tayeb Salih from Sudan, Ahlam Mosteghanemi from Algeria, Hanna Mina from Syria, Dr. Abdul Rahman Munif from Saudi Arabia, Rashid Al Nuaimi from United Arab Emirates, Laila al-Othman from Kuwait, Elias Khoury from Lebanon and others.

The academic book was edited by Dr. Jonas Busta and Dr. Mohammad Ali Aziz from Languages and Civilizations of the Near East Department at Yale University in the US.