AL-SQ AL AL-SQ - A GENERIC DEFINITION

BY

MATTITYAHU PELED

N his article 1'auteur et 1'homme Boris Schloezer quotes Potebnia's famous saying that a literary work is first of all an event in the life of the language and adds : il s'ensuivait que 1'etude de 1'aeuvre devait commencer par celle des particularit6s de son langage. As a guiding principle this can certainly be considered of universal validity. But in some cases the peculiarities of language appear to be the essence of the work and al-Sidiaq's book of al-Fdridq is clearly one of them 2. First published in Paris in 1855, it was presented by the publisher as a book of many advantages primarily on account of the abundance of synonyms, alliterations, metonymies, allusions and other figures and tropes. Not concealing that some aspects of style were less than orthodox he felt that on balance it was a book to be liked by readers of high literary taste.

The author himself had less qualms about testing the receptiveness of his readers. Except for the French title of the book which is strictly informative, all the preliminaries in Arabic constitute an undisguised challenge. After describing his book as

ayydm wa guhi7r wa al-'arab wa-l-aji7m- he immediately goes on to satirize:

ta'lif zayd wa hind fi zamdnika dd asha ild al-nds min ta'lf sifrayn

wa dars taurayn qad suddd ild qaran aqnd `wa anfa min tadrts habrayn

1 Les Chemins Actuels de la Critique, dir. George Poulet, Publications du Centre Culturel de Cerisy-La-Salle, Union Gnrale d'Editions, 1968, p.128. 2

al-Sq al al-sq f m hua al-Friq. All references will be made to the edition of Dar Maktabat al-Hayt, Beirut 1966, prepared by al-ayx Nasb Wahba al-Xzin.

3 La Vie et Les Aventures de Fariac Relation de Ses Voyages avec Ses Observations Critiques sur Les Arabes et sur Les Autres Peuples par Faris El-Chidiac. 4 The alternative reading would be ajam al-arab etc. meaning the corrupt Arabic spoken by Arabs and others.

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Days months and years concerning intelligent people - Arabs and others.

The writing of Zayd and Hind these days Is desired by people more than the writing of two volumes

And the threshing of two bulls tied together Is better sold and more profitable than the teaching of two clergymen.

This motive is not entirely unfamiliar; in fact we find it in Hazz where the author complains:

faqad yaltaddu al-sdmi bikalmfihi al-dahk wa'l scald `a wa/ yamtlu ild qaul fihi al-baldka wa'l bara-'a

The listener often finds more pleasure in a tale of laughter and wan- tonness and favours not talk distinguished by rhetorics and brilliance.

This book of mine, graceful to the witty - unbridled of tongue - and silly to the fool.

However there is a difference: Hazz al-quhi7f is supposed to be an interpretation of a vulgar poem (f?awajadtuhu qasiddn ya lahu min qasid)?' whereas kitdb a/-friq is presented as a book of history and travel. The incongruity becomes even more glaring in a/-kitb, which is an introduction in verse. Strangely enough this introduction has received less critical attention than

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duction does not indicate how far does the author intend to challenge the conventions of his time; this is done in the Fdtihat

1 hidd kitabi li'l zartf ?arif talig al-lisdn wa /i'lsabif sabif

2 auda'tuhu kaliman wa alfazan halat wahasautuhu nuqatdn zahat wa hurufd

3 wa baddhatdn wa fakhatn wa nazdha wa xala `tan wa gand `atan wa 'azi7fj

4 ka'ljismi fihi gayru `udwin ta`sigu al-mastura minhu wa tahmidu al-maksufa

5 faSSaltuhu ldkin 'ald 'aqll fam miqydsu 'aqlika ki5na IT ma'ruf

2 I lodged it with agreeable words and expressions and stuffed it with radiant details and peculiarities

3 And spontaneity and jesting and decency as well as wantonness and temperance and abstention

4 Like the body it has more than one member you will love hidden and (others) you will praise uncovered

5 But I have cut it to the measures of my own mind since the measures of yours were unknown to me

In a somewhat more ominous note the author later adds:

10 allaftuhu wa'llaylu aswadu hdlikun fa liddlik jd'a musaxxaman masjufd

10 I wrote it when the night was pitch dark therefore it came out blackened and dark.

Thus we find in the introductory poem a fair warning as to what should be expected in the book itself. We are faced with a kind of writing described by Hasan al-Alati in his TarwTh al-nufus wa mudhik al-'abi7s 10

as fann a/-mufraqt. The great writers of this genre, according to al-Ald ti, are sidna 'auqal bin 'arTn)),

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that this genre became fann rabih ji hddi al-zamin suquhu (i.e. an art of much demand) he goes on to explain that many of those writing is this genre were not as good as they should have been. Then, boasting of his own talent, he enumerates where he excells in comparison to others being

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Satire, as has been recognized, operates on several levels and is completely free of any formal conventions. This is probably the reason why critics have never felt happy about applying (formal) criteria to the Protean body of satirical literature 13. Perhaps the term used by al-Aldt7i (fann al-mufdraqat) too is expressive of the feeling that no formal rules are applicable to Arabic satirical writing. The difficulty, as explained by R.C. Elliott, is that the word Satire signifies, on one hand, a kind of literature, and on the other, a spirit or tone which expresses itself in many literary genres 14. However, there has always been a distinction between satire of the more limited scope, revolving around the person or persons of certain individual or individuals - the type of satire termed by Hodgart as lampoon' and satire embracing the wider scope engaged in a world vision referred to as travesty. It has been suggested that the hija' poetry of the Arabs would fall under the lampoon heading 16 and by the same token a work such as ibn Mamati, ?ukm qardqi7.?, would also be classified as lampoon. Travesty is seen in such works as Gulliver's Travels or the Fourth Book of Rabelais 17. Much more comprehensive in scope, to qualify as satire, a travesty must contain ... the direct attack on human vice or folly; it must contain lampoons on individuals or critical and hostile comments on political and social

In short, satire demands, as Northrop Frye has put it a militant attitude to experience'9. Based on this definition we can undoubtedly classivy Hazz al-quhuf as satirical travesty and the same would also apply to Kita-b

This, however, is not readily admitted by most writers on al-Sdq 'ald a/-sq 20. The problem of defining generically this unusual work is faced with two clearly discernible obstacles. The one is that of tending to define it formally as a kind of a latter-day maqdma and the other is that of reading into it al-Sidiaq's own biography.

13 Matthew Hodgart, Satire, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London 1969, p. 13. 14 Cf. Satire in Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, ed. Alex Preminger, Princeton 1965, p. 738. 15 Op. cit., p. 14. 16 R.C. Elliott, The Power of Satire, Princeton 1966, pp. 15 et. seq. and Hodgart, op. cit., p. 19. 17 Hodgart, op. cit., pp. 24-31. 18 Ibid., p. 31. 19 Northrop Freye, Anatomy of Criticism, Atheneum, New York, 1969, p. 224. 20 Imd al-Sul in Amad Fris al-Sidiq, Dr al-Nahr, Beirut 1980, p. 179, adduces the argument that al-Sq al al-sq is not a satirical book thus refuting a brief remark by Luis Awad referring to al-idiq the inventor of the satirical maqmt style ; cf. Luis Awad, al-Muattirt al-ajnabiyya fl adab al-arab al-adt, Cairo 1962, p. 28.

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Sawqi Daif discusses, in his book al-M aqmt 21, al-Sdq 'a/ al-sdq among those maqmt written at various times after al-Hamadani and al-Hariri, all of which he lumps together under the heading maqdmdt muxtalifa. He observes that as a literary work, supposedly modelled after the classical maqmt, al-Sidiaq's work falls short of successfully emulating his great predecessors especially when compared to Ndsif al-Yaziji's Majma'al-bahra?yn which is a far more successful imitation of the classical models. The possibility of examining this unsuccessful imitation as a work utterly unrelated to the maqama genre is not even mentioned by the writer. Such an omission is not readily understandable since al-Sidiaq went to great length in order to impress upon his readers' minds that he was not writing another maqdmi7. Of the many statements leading to that conclusion it should suffice to quote the following two verses of the

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the novel,* by writing the way they did. As a consequence the writer took refuge in the maqmiit genre ... that is to say, he ended up doing nothing original**.

Classifying al-Sdq 'ald al-sa-q as a maqma raises a serious difficulty of a different nature. It is inconceivable that a work meant to be a maqama would contain so much obscene language. In fact one of the main objections voiced against this work in particular was that its style sank sometimes so low as to make its reading an ordeal. As stated by Ahmad Hasan al-Zayyat 23 there are those who criticise the author (al-Sidiaq) for his insolence, his excessive bufoonery and his use of words which are not to be expected from some one like him and are not becoming in a person of his positions. Muhammad 'abd al-Gani I:Iasan 24 provides a list of critics who would not forgive al-Sidiaq his style while he himself, though expressing admiration for his writing, adds: and indeed I am amazed at Sayx Paris al-Sidiaq : how could he sink so low like that. Even the latest editor of al-Saq 'ald al-sjq, Nasib Wahiba al-Xazin, who prepared the most recent edition of the book, apologizes for allowing certain parts to be reprinted25. Evidently we are witnessing a persistent refusal to see in al-Sdq 'ald al-sdq a satirical work where, unlike the maqa-ma, obscenity invariably figures as a constant element26.

* * *

Certainly, open admiration for this work too can be met with in abundance. Yfsuf Najm, for example, has no hesitation to declare that al-Sidiaq was the greatest Arab writer of his time 27. Mrn 'Abd is also

23 Ahmad Hasan al-Zayyt, Ta'rx al-adab al-arab, Mabaat al-Risla, Tenth Edition, p. 454. 24 Muhammad 'abd al-n Hasan, Amad Fris al-idiq, Alm al-arab series no. 25, p. 113. 25 Op. cit., p. 30 explains: I had already read this Chapter and believing it to be a demonstration of its author's erudition and width of linguistic knowledge I had sent all of it to the publisher. However, now that the entire book is printed and I am summarizing it chapter by chapter so that I may lead the reader in its trackless expanses, perilous spots and serpentines I realize how tasteless are the first six pages of this Chapter. 26 Hodgart, op. cit., p. 27. 27 Ysuf Najm, al-Qissa f'l adab al-arab al-hadt, Beirut 1961, p. 225.

* kdnF4,?i yurdn al-taufiq mi7 amkana bayna al-adab al-garbf wa'l adab al-'arabT. ** lidalik wajadnhu yalja'u i/ tartqat al-magdmat ... ay innahu lam yafal ay'in

ntubtakaran.

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a great admirer of al-Sdq. In a book devoted to al-idiaq called Saqr /ubnn he writes z8 :

I do not know why I admire so much this man. When I read his al-Fdridq I cannot accept that it is an autobiography; for me this is simply a marvelous story, or rather the most marvelous story. For do we write anything other than our own lives when we write the life story of others?

In these words of praise for al-Sidiaq we find an allusion to the problem already mentioned earlier namely that insofar as this book is accepted at all as having any merit, such acceptance is based upon the assumption that it relates in some original manner the life story of its author. The most recent and the most decisive affirmation of this attitude is found in the otherwise very valuable study by Tmad al-Sulh, Ahmad Oris al-sididq, where the following observation is made29: a/-Sq 'ali al-saq is the author's own biography and al-Fdridq is the main figure of this biography. And indeed, Tmad al-Sulh quotes freely events and situations described in al-Sdq to illustrate episodes of the author's life as if it were a historical document. He replaces fictional names with real ones and interprets symbolical descriptions as disguised accounts of events which actually ocurred to the author in real life. Consequently he attempts to interpret the entire story of al-Fariaq in the light of the history of al-Sidiaq's own life. He clearly applies historical criticism thereby missing most of the esthetic value of the book. The alternative approach is that of the formalist or stylistic criticism which insists that a literary work should be read primarily as a unique work of art independently of the circumstances under which the author laboured at the time of writing it.

The latter approach seems to present exceptional difficulties to many of al-Sidiaq's critics. Perhaps the reasons for that are related to the very strong feelings of hostility which are still felt towards him - feelings which are vividly described by Jabur 'abd al-Nur in his introduction to

book 30 :

He (al-gididq) lived to hurt people, to cause them to bleed and to contest them. Consequently his enemies, their sons and grand-sons and their supporters after them could not but fight back and take revenge for their forebears by drawing the curtain of silence on anything connected with him.

28 Mrn Abd, Saqr lubnn, Beirut 1950, p. 129. 29 Imd al-Sul, Amad Fris al-idiq, Dr al-Nahr, Beirut 1980, p. 171. 30 Op. cit., p. 6. See also John A. Haywood, Modern Arabic Literature, Lund Humphries, London 1971, p. 53 et. seq.

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Curtain of silence is probably too strong a metaphor since many did write and many are still writing on al-Sidiaq. But certainly a sober and impartial evaluation of his artistic achievement is still hard to come by.

The situation is not altogether unfamiliar. The confrontation between the two schools of criticism mentioned earlier seems to continue un- abated whenever the problem of evaluating a controversial writer is facing the critics. The nature of the difference has been summarized by Gerard Defaux in his doctoral dissertation submitted to the Sorbonne in 1973 under the title Pantagruel et les Sophistes 31. The greatest exponent of the stylistic school of criticism is Leo Spitzer who led the campaign against the historical school of criticism, after the publication of the book commemorating the fourth centenary of Rabelais32, in his article Rabelais et les rabelaisants, published in 196033. In this article Spitzer has formulated what may be considered the basic premise of his school 34 :

Pour lire Rabelais il faut savoir lire, c'est-a-dire refuser les tentations d'une imagination historique peu disciplir.ee par le gout, savoir ne pas s'appesantir sur la valeur documentaire d'une uvre qui a une valeur en soi: une valeur artistique.

Perhaps it is natural that the dispute between the two schools of literary criticism has reached its peak in a debate over Rabelais. The problem the French writer of the sixteenth century posed before his readers are no different, in essence, than those posed by al-Sidiaq before his namely, how far ought we to come forward in order to accept a literary work which transgresses practically all stylistic and conceptual boundaries. And it is not uncommon in literary criticism to deprive a literary work of esthetic value by looking upon it rather as a historical document . This is usually the more convenient reaction to a work that transgresses all norms beyond that which is conventionally considered acceptable. When seen as a historical document, relating the personal adventures of the writer, his bad language and insults can be dismissed as indications of some personal traits which in turn can explain his strained relations with his contemporaries. Thus reading Kitdb al-fdria-q as an autobiography, as done by Tmad al-Sulh, is in fact reading it as a historical document not as a literary work written in the genre of the autobiographical novel. Such reading does indeed deny it any esthetic

31 Cf. the dissertation at the Sorbonne library, p. 1-2. 32 Franois Rabelais : Quatrime centenaire de sa mort, Genve, Droz 1953. 33 Reprinted in Leo Spitzer, tudes de style, Gallimard, 1970. 34 Ibid., p. 135. 35 Cf. R. Wellek and A. Warren, Theory of Literature, ch. 19.

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value and in this sense it draws the curtain of silence on the artistic achievement of al-Sidiaq.

The insistence that al-Saq 'ald al-sdq is an autobiography can be supported by the fact that its main scheme is based on events that actually occurred in the author's life. This can be easily proved by his real autobiography, covering the period of his life paralleling that of al-Siq Iald al-sdq, that is his book called Kitdb al-rihla al-mausuma bi'l wdsita ild ma'rifat mdlta wa kasf al-muxabbd 'an funun aiirub (The Book on the Journey Branded as Instrumental to the Knowing of Malta and the Uncovering of the Hidden Aspects of Europe). The relationship between these two books needs clarification. Had al-Sidiaq really meant al-Sdq to be his autobiography it is not likely that he would have written another autobiography only ten years later covering the same period. It is entirely senseless to read the first as if it were merely a first draft of the second.

But more decisive than this common sense question is the actual difference between the two works which is revealed not only in the information given but also in their styles. By way of illustration let us look at two passages, one from each work, describing the same moment in the lives of the two main figures, al-Sidiaq in his autobiography and al-Fariaq in al-Sdq. The moment is that of the first arrival in Paris.

In Kitab al-rihla we read the following 37 :

*tumma sdfarnd minhd fabalagni brs layln fadahistu lim ra'aytu fa innf wajadtu jami al-hawdntt maftaha Ji- al-sd'a allatt ld yuftah Jihd say' fi lundra gayr handt al-mizr wa fifin mararna bi'l buljar ra'ayna min al-anwir fi'l diydr min fawq wa fi mahal I al-qaliwa min tahtihd wa fi fawnfs al-turuq min bayn al-a,jjr wa fi-favt,C7nTs al- 'awji/ al-wqifa 'an al-yamtn wa'! Sim.51 md xayyala IT inni fi jannat al-na'fm fa qultu fi nafsf bax bax inna hddihi madfnat bahjat wa anwdr tatafattah fih akmam al-ma'nffi riyd4 ?ajc ?jc /!aJ/A! anK'ar aA'AKaw al-ajkdr wa tanjalt bihd 'ard'is al-qasd'id fi axddr fal'aj'alanna da'bf al-nazm fiha allayl wa al-nahr wa kullamd irtajja 'alayya say' ji'tu ild al-bulfdr.

36 Originally published separately, Kitb al-rila al-mawsma bi'l wsia fi- marifat awl mla, Tunis 1866, was later attached to the second part Kaf al-muxabb an funn arub, and published as one book in Istanbul 1881. 37 Op. cit., p. 221.

* Then we travelled away and reached Paris at night. I was amazed at what I saw. I found all the shops open at an hour in which nothing is open in London except the bars. When we passed the boulevard we saw lights in the houses above and the coffee shops below and in the street lanterns among the trees and in the lanterns of the coaches standing on the left and on the right. All this made me imagine that I came to paradise and I said to myself: how marvelous! This is indeed a city of lights and delights where the flowers of ideas open up in the gardens of thoughts and poetic brides become unveiled in the boudoirs of poetry. I shall therefore make it my practice to write poetry in it day and night. And each time something moved my feelings I came to the Boulevard.

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The same moment is described in al-Sag al-sdq as follows :

wusul alIrfq ili hddihi crl-madina al-sahiru f dat laylati qabb fa knat 'aynhu mu'masatayn 'an ru'yat md fih min al-xasd'is. falamm ajba/1a axada ya!i7A fi ,?awdri'ihd kalmutafarrig al-mutabaUilfa idd bihd mal'dna min wa'l-rawmij (a list of another thirty nine words meaning one kind or another of traps and snares). ja zahura lahu anna qiwm kull say' wa 'atdahu wa malkahu wa qu!bahu fi hddihi al-'d.Vima mutawaqqif 'al wujudi 'mra'atin.

Clearly we are not reading the same story in these passages. The first is an historical account of an actual event in the life of the autobiographer while the second is an imaginary story, invented by the writer to form part of a literary work of art of specific characteristics; nothing will be gained by reading it as an autobiographical account.

The difference between historical and artistic writing has engaged the attention of critics for a long time. The reason we insist on looking upon Kitdb al-rihla as history is that it has no pretence of being an autobio- graphical novel, which would make a big difference . To judge by the passage just quoted we may perhaps suggest that Kitb al-rihla can provide us with an explanation why al-Sidiaq had preferred to write his al-Sa-q in Paris, but the story told therein is by no means that of his biography.

In a very valuable article treating of the difference between historical and artistic writing Michel Jarrety makes the following observation 40:

Mais alors que le romancier travaille a brouiller les pistes, a faire de son texte la base d'une lecture infiniment multiplie par les lecteurs, l'historien travaille a produire pour les autres, et aussi pour soi-m8me, un sens unique et que chaque lecteur devra, dans la mesure de la russite m6me, retrouver identique. C'est dire que l'imagination du lecteur d'Histoire n'engage pas la responsabilite de I'auteur, qui n'a pas cherche a lui donner prise.

The role of the reader's imagination when reading history of imaginative literature is certainly of prime importance and al-Sidia's consciousness of it cannot be doubted. In al-Sdq he not only invites the reader to excercise

38 Op. cit., p. 623. 39 Cf. Philippe Lejeune, Le pacte autobiographique, Editions du Seuil, Paris 1975, p. 25. 40 Valery: l'histoire, criture d'une fiction, in Poetigue no. 49 (Fevrier 1982/Seuil),

p. 76.

* The arrival of al-Friq to this famous city occurred in a foggy night and his eyes were therefore bleared and could not observe its peculiarities. When he woke up in the morning he began to walk along the streets like an idle onlooker and he found the city full of snares and traps ... It appeared to him that the foundation of everything in this capital city, its mainstay, its basis, its pivot - all depended on the presence of a woman.

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his imagination but he opens up for it limitless possibilities. This, of course, cannot be said of Kitb But there is another distinction which Jarrety is carefully registering, relating to the elements of truth in historical and artistic writings 41:

Valery fait donc grief a I'historien de jouer au romancier, quand c'est le romancier qui joue a l'historien, donnant pour vraie sa fiction, et utilisant la chronologie pour imposer une logique. Car tout evenement, dans un roman, a une fonction, qu'il s'agisse d'annoncer tel autre evenement a venir, ou de simplement creer une atmosphere. Au contraire, tout evenement n'a en Histoire d'autre fonction que d'etre Id. Et celui dont la presence est la plus lourdement ressentie est parfois celui qui reste inexplique et qu'on aimerait pouvoir passer peut-8tre sous silence. Car l'historien, s'il revele tel detail, ce n'est pas pour produire tel effet de verite, mais par simple souci d'honnete exactitude. Rien n'est gratuit en Histoire, parce que tout a du jouer un role - ne fut-ce que celui d'avoir lieu; rien n'est gratuit dans un roman parce que tout est 6crit pour jouer un role. Tout ce qui y est dit est important, mais en Histoire, tout ce qui est important doit etre dit. C'est ce qui fonde la difference - et la difficulte: Decrire ce qu'on voit, passe encore, dit Lucien Febvre; voir ce qu'il faut d6crire, voila le difficile.

It ought perhaps to be pointed out that the argument of 'Imd al-Sulh is quite the reverse of that alluded to in the passage quoted: whereas Valry preferred to consider all historical writing as fiction in our case the critic tends to read the fictional writing of al-Sidiaq as history. But all the same, the argument brought by Jarrety to meet the one position is perfectly applicable to the other. For even if some episodes related in al- Saq can be traced to events in the life of the author, the sum total of all the events told in al-Sa-q is meant to construct a fictitious history to be judged not by its verity but by its esthetic achievement.

* * *

A generic definition of al-Sa-q is required in order to enable the reader to define his own expectations from that work. As Wellek and Warren have said a genre is some kind of an institution, it is sufficiently flexible and unbinding to allow a very liberal attitude toward its exigencies 42. Philippe Lejeune has amplified this definition saying43: Comme les autres institutions sociales, le systeme des genres est gouvern6 par une force d'inertie (qui tend a assurer une continuite facilitant la communi- cation), et par une force de changement (une litterature n'tant vivante que dans la mesure ou elle transforme 1'attente des lecteurs). Yet, due to

41 Op. cit., p. 79. 42 Op. cit., p. 226. 43 Op. cit. p. 311.

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the particular circumstances in which crl-Sdq was written, both historical and personal, the lack of a generic definition seems to hinder a proper reading and consequently a proper understanding of it. It is a fact that Arab criticism has defined it, alternately, as a latter-day maqama, as an unhappy attempt to emulate the Western novel and as a pure autobio- graphy. All of this is probably responsible for the fact that no profound attempt has been made as yet to probe into this very unique work of art with the purpose of defining its structure, analyzing its styles, identifying the component elements of its humour and evaluating its influence on modern Arabic literature.

For its generic definition it would seem most helpful to search for other works, not necessarily in Arabic, of similar characteristics and see how were they defined generically. The remark made by Northrop Frye, at the conclusion of his discussion of the four genres of continuous forms of prose, is illuminating 44 : In every period of literature, he claims, there are many literary works that are neglected only because the categories to which they belong are unrecognized . This seems to be also the case of al-Saq. But Frye's proposal of a descriptive definition for a certain kind of such literary works may well enable us to place al-Sidiaq's great work within its proper generic field. His categorization of the various types of prose fiction seems to offer the solution we are seeking. Although Frye's scheme has been subjected to severe criticism, on account of certain logical and conceptual inconsistencies, by Tzvetan Todorov45, his basic classification is generally accepted because it is essentially inductive, taking into consideration the various types of prose fiction and classi- fying them in accordance with their common characteristics. Thus he has arrived to the conclusion that the Menippean satire is a genre which persists over the centuries though hardly recognized as such. His findings are based on the analysis of works such as Lucian's The Sale o/ Lives, Apuleus' The Golden Ass, Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, and of the works of Rabelais, Swift, Voltaire and others. Summing up the typical features of all of these works Frye enumerates some eleven of them which deserve repeating .

The Menippean satire deals mainly with mental attitudes and less with people as such. It resembles confession (i.e. autobiography) in its ability to handle abstract ideas and theories. Its characterization is stylized

44 Northrop Frye, op. cit. p. 312. 45 Tzvetan Todorov, Introduction la litterature fantastique, Paris 1970, pp. 7-27. 46 Op. cit. p. 309-312.

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rather than naturalistic and presents people as mouthpieces of the ideas they represent. A constant theme in the tradition of this genre is the ridicule of the philosophu,s gloriosus. The Menippean satirist sees evil and folly as diseases of intellect rather than social diseases. Its narrative structure is loose-joined since it is not primarily concerned with the exploits of heroes but relies on the free play of intellectual fancy and the kind of humourous observation that produces caricatures. This also makes for the digressive narrative so characteristic of the Menippean satire. The intellectual structure built up from the story makes for the violent dislocations in the customary logic of narrative. The dialogue in the Menippean satire focuses the dramatic interest in a conflict of ideas rather than character. One way used by the Menippean satirist to show his intellectual exuberance is piling up an enormous mass of erudition about his theme or in overwhelming his pedantic targets with an avalanche of their jargon. An instinct to collect facts in encyclopaedic dimensions seems to be closely linked to the ability of the writer of a Menippean satire that makes him a great artist.

Each and every one of these traits are found in al-Sdq which makes it indeed a typical representative of the Menippean satire. In fact some- times the similarities with certain of the more prominent works of this

genre seem to be inviting a special examination of the relations between the Arab work and its Western predecessors. That al-Sidiaq knew some of the Menippean satires we can deduce from references made to them in a/-Sq47. The question whether there is internal evidence proving that he

might have been influenced by any of them must wait for further study. At this point it will suffice to show briefly that caracterization, social criticism and dialogues in al-Saq are those of a Menippean satire.

Of the many characters portrayed the one met with most frequently is that of the qasis (priest or clergyman). He is invariably ignorant, lascivious and arrogant. Though different in appearances none of the qasdwisa is pleasant to look at. Described in two line verse this is how they are depicted by an anonymous poet48:

md bdl 'aynt ld tara min bayna man /abisa-a/-sawd min al'ibdd nahifa

ma kana min lahmin wa say' gayrihi fihim fa'aslab? md yakn vt,aqz7fd

47 Op. cit. Swift is mentioned on p. 584, Rabelais and Sterne on p. 585. 48 Op. cit., p. 105.

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How come my eye never observed a thin one among those of God's creatures who wear black

Of whatever flesh and other parts there are in them The hardest is that which is erect.

The first qasis we meet turns up in Chapter 5 of Book One in the person of an official at the court of one whose name rhymes with ba'r

whose task is to look after matters of the world to come (al- umur al-ma- 'diyya). In that capacity he took charge of one of his lord's daughters, an unfortunate gril who was divorced of her deranged husband and returned to her father's house. Being very concerned with her mental and emotional condition the qasis paid special attention to her wellbeing, always inquiring and ordering her conduct 50 :

And he used to ask her about every laps and slip. He used to say to her: do your buttocks dangle and do your breasts vibrate when you go upstairs or as you walk? And does such vibration give you pleasure'? For it has been reported that there was such a one among the lusty who took pleasure in every kind of vibration. So much so that he often wished that the earth should quake under him and the mountains tremble above him.

In this manner each character is made to represent an idea or a concept which the author portrays rather bluntly, very often, but with a unique capacity for humouristic description.

His criticism of social evils takes always the form of ridiculing that which he feels should be changed as if it were mere indication of people's folly. The famous scene in Chapter 5 of Book One 51, where several notables are enjoying an evening gathering while bragging about their strong handed treatment of the weaker members of their families - a slave girl, a wife, a little boy and a young daughter ---- is at once a moving description of heartless brutality and a denunciation of stupid cruelty. Bringing out the stupidity of evil customs and habits is al-Sidiaq's preferred manner of fighting them. In Chapter 2 of Book Three 52 he attacks the custom of the bastra (demonstrating the virginity blood after consumation of marriage). The scene, taking place outside the room into which the newly wed retired, is a masterpiece of ridicule and verbal

49 Op. cit., p. 101. Imd al-Sul who is always on the search for the historical signifis of all signifiers in the book, reads this name as that of Amr Haydar. 50 Op. cit., p. 50. A second reference to the same is made on p. 138 where al-Friq is attempting to persuade a young monk to forsake a life of falsehood and become an honest private person.

51 Op. cit., p. 101. 52 Op. cit., p. 403.

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fireworks. But the chief argument, the one that is supposed to point to the inhuman aspect of the custom, is that brought in Chapter 3 of Book Three" namely that it is utterly cruel for the rich to tease the beggar by displaying before his eyes glittering dannr (dinars) while he owns nothing except his shreds, or for the sated to brandish his broth before the hungry wretch. The argument that the show proving the maid's virginity is usually performed before married men who have no reason to be envious in answered by the counter argument that if indeed such custom had been natural then the Europeans would have adopted it. But in fact the Europeans agree that the young groom and his bride should retire as soon as they can, away from people's eyes, to take their pleasure in private believing that the happiness of one person need not be the cause of grief of the many.

Arguments between characters who are mere personification of ideas necessarily cannot be anything but conflict of ideas. The exchange never results in persuading the other interlocutor to change his view, the purpose of the dialogue being to ridicule one or both parties. But even when there is an apparent change of positions of one party as a result of the dialogue it is not the one desired by the other party, but an acceptance of his arguments for the wrong reasons. Thus we see in Chapter 11 of Book Three" al-Fariaq explaining to his scandalized wife, al-Fariaqiyya, the custom of European dancing balls, where men and women move about holding each other in their arms. By the time al-Fariaqiyya is persuaded that the custom need not be condemned she has already developed a passion for the erotic experience involved, but never changed her view on the nature of the custom. And this, indeed, is a constant feature in dialogues recorded in al-Sdq : no one is ever persuaded to alter his or her view because convictions and beliefs never do change. People may be less adamant but ideas are always firm. Therefore conflict of ideas can never result in anything except reinforced adherence to the initial positions, with the fool remaining for ever a fool and the wise always delighting in ridiculing him. The only person who is capable of changing his views and develop his character is al-Fariaq who thus experiences the misfortunes of the bad luck under which he was born 55.

53 Op. cit., p. 419-420. 54 Op. cit., p. 455-456. 55 al-Friq's unique horoscope and its effect on his life is one of the main themes of

he story; cf. Ch. 1 and 18 of Book One.