The writing style of Tawflq AL-Haklm Elham al Shallal

Elham al Shallal

Abstract

The purpose of the article. The purpose of the article is to identify characteristic stylistic features in the Tawffq al-Hakfm writer's dramatic heritage and analyse the reasons that caused them. Methods. To achieve the purpose, the following general scientific methods were used: analytical (to understand the process of the writer's concept focus's development and formation); typological and structural (to study the components of the writer's tools and artistic techniques); phenomenological (to determine the features of style of the author's work). The scientific novelty consists in a theoretical substantiation of the characteristics of the al-Hakfm's creative literary style as a playwright. It was formed under the influence of both Western and Eastern civilisations: socio-political transformations, achievements of culture and art, religious worldview, which could not but affect its originality. Conclusion. Despite al-Haklm's prolific output in the field of literature and drama, he has not been given enough attention by European writers and critics. Although there are many admirers of his literature, philosophy, and thought, his works have not been studied in a manner commensurate with their quantity, variety of sources, and philosophy. One of the reasons for this might be a large number of his works, amounting to over eighty, which he wrote over a period of sixty years. Most of his works represent the different educational, political and social development stages in Egypt, which would make their analysis somewhat difficult. Al-Haklm was influenced by religious, political, social, and even psychological factors, both Western and Eastern. They constitute some of the reasons that render al-Haklm difficult to study unless the critic or researcher chooses a specific feature of al-Hakfm to analyse. Al-Hakfm laid down the foundation for every type of modern Arabic literature; his works proved different from the literature preceding him, for it followed in the steps of European literature. Thus, he has gained a reputation as an author and playwright who used a number of mythical, historical and social sources, different world and religious-philosophical approaches, and various styles.

Keywords: Tawffq al-Hakfm; literary style; drama; western, eastern civilizations

ЛІТЕРАТУРНИЙ СТИЛЬ ТАУФІКА АЛЬ-ХАКІМА

Ельхам аль-Шаллал кандидат мистецтвознавства, доцент;

Вищий інститут драматичного мистецтва, Салмія, Кувейт

TawfTq Al-HakTm's theatre comprises both comedy and tragedy, which contributed to the development of his theatre. He has his own style in comedy, which has various forms in the plays. One such form set up by Al-HakTm is "deviating from the familiar or expected", where he keeps the audience or the reader attracted to the dialogue, and suddenly changes the course of usual talk and come down to another meaning that contradicts what characterises the character. For example, in the al-Na'Jbah aJ-Muhtarama play where he ridicules the candidacy of women for the parliament, we find the father trying to invent tales to lull his child with, while his wife, the representative, is outside the home. The father, rather than the child, is about to sleep. He then links his wife to the parrot and speaks his mind about his wife unknowingly:

Child: Where is the parrot? Father (sleepy): in the parliament (Al-HakTm, 1960)

Another element of arousing laughter is the repetition of a word or an expression, which a certain character repeats now and then, as in the Arafa Kaifa Yamout play (Imeel Kibba, 1997, p.31). In it the editor of the newspaper repeats the phrase 'the most authentic source" and uses it in various contexts and various situations. Yet, despite its repetition, its effect is different each time.

Another element is that of "foolishness". A minor character is made a fool or one pretending to be so, which would arouse the audience's laughter. The foolishness is manifested through confusion of some affairs, which they know but the character on the stage does not know. Thus, the character appears foolish, and the audience cannot help laughing at such a character. These are some of the styles of the well-known French comedian, Moliere, whose comedies influenced al-HakTm. Al-HakTm's French old friend, Monsieur Hab said to him: "I see you have intensely squeezed (the works) of Moliere, Bumarshei and Morevaux (Imeel Kibba, 1997, p.159). Al-Hakim uses the element of "the deep-rooted habit". He may use a concept familiar to society and is difficult to change to arouse the audience's laughter. The character of the minister in the Al-Nna'ibah al-Muhtarama play is an example, where Al-Hakim uses the prevalent public view on the woman in the minister's speech with the representative.

Minister: Yes ... and your other reverend fellow representative who always insert a deep purple nylon comb (Imeel Kibba, 1997, p.40).

The minister, as a man, does not distinguish the personalities of the representatives except through what they wear and the hairstyle in which they arrange their hair, for this is the way the society is used to distinguish the woman by her outer appearance.

In this play, we notice the satirical aspect of the modem Egyptian woman Om Al- HakTm's point of view. This will be discussed in the chapter on the plays' analysis to illustrate the woman's personality in Al-HakTm's works and what portrait.

Al-HakTm satirises exactly, and whether he satirises the woman as a whole or he satirises her, being part of a society that has a lot that can arouse ridicule.

In addition to what has been mentioned, Al-HakTm's style in comedy has other features, such as movement. For instance, the actor may make a sudden laughable movement. Ambiguity is another feature; a major or minor character may misunderstand something and thus does irrelevant deeds, which arouses the audience's laughter and ridicule. All these styles which Al-HakTm uses constitute the basics of the classical European comedy theatre, which indicates al-HakTm's understanding and comprehending all Western types of theatre, and his realisation of the humour or fun-making in which excelled such authors as Moliere and the Russian writer Deghule and others.

Since we are dealing with the Western influence, we may discuss the matter of the influence of Western literature on Al-HakTm, which is not confined to the field of comedy but covers both comedy and tragedy, as well as classical music.

The Influence of European Music and Arts on Al-HakTm

Although Al-HakTm was influenced by and fond of Eastern music, his taste, when he was in France, was greatly impressed by classical music that he regarded as addressing the mind and urging it to soar in the world of imagination. Western music contributed to his transfer from one mental world to another. While living with his friend, Andre, in Paris, he got acquainted with Western music through his friend's mother's playing of some pieces on the piano. He then started regularly visiting the Comic Opera House and the halls where classical music was played. His artistic taste for music developed, and started eagerly frequenting concerts so much so that he might have attended two concerts in a single day. That is because this kind of music inspired him with a charming fantastic world he'd not experienced before, which increased the fertility of his imagination and creativity writing during the same period. Among the types of music, he listened to during that period were the works of Wagner, Berlioz, Beethoven and Chopin.

During his presence in Sirance cafe, where he used to sit, he wrote his masterpiece Shahrazad while listening to Stravinsky music. Al- HakTm says about that:

"I do not listen to music to benefit by it or to have an idea about it or for a mental need or spiritual elevation, but for life itself. I live among its melodies as a bee lives among the colours of flowers. The beauty emanating from its artistic harmony is perceived within the self with a device finer than the conscious mind". (Fawzi, 1990, pp.104-105)

Shahrazad is the main character in the play; she is the most important character that is going to be dealt with latter in this study. Here we notice the al-HakTm links the play with music, for music has inspired him with the general atmosphere of the play, emphasising that Shahrazad, the character, is also influenced by the musical atmosphere which Al-HakTm is conscious of. We would point out that the very musical atmosphere had influenced him early in his life when he would listen to the female singer Osta Ha- midah. It means that his interest in music was linked to the woman Osta Hamidah who influenced him in his early years.

Al-HakTm's Philosophy in the East and West, (Religion and Art)

Al-HakTm's presence in Europe made him feel the gap between the East and the West because of the difference between the two civilisations on the material and literary levels. Al-HakTm began to wonder whether we could catch up with the most recent trends in world art through our art and popular heritage. When talking about Awdat al-Ruh, we showed how his main concern was to see Arabic literature rise to the world level, even if it carried the popular Eastern spirit. Therefore, Al-HakTm developed a psychological conflict between the East and the West, not only because he admired both trends, but because he realised the world level which Western literature had attained and, meanwhile, he was convinced that Arabic literature had enough spirit and depth to attain the same level. It only needed someone to push it forward to appear clearly.

Hence Al-HakTm believed that East heritage had a lot to present, and thus most of his sources were either religious or traditional, coloured with a Western feature, that is, the structure of the novel or the play.

He had a special philosophy and a view on religion different from that prevalent in the West. It might have been the cause of his conflict with the West, for he believed that religion and popular heritage had a lot to present on the world level. In contrast, Western literature had got free from religion and traditional features a long time before. But Al-HakTm realised that Islam is different. The Holy Qur'an is the main source of the stories of the Prophets and ancient peoples and nations. It contains lessons from the story of humanity since its creation by Allah. Therefore, Al-HakTm had his own philosophy on religion, a philosophy that was also criticised by some scholars when he turned the stories of the Prophets into plays.

Al-HakTm thinks that religion and art are closely related. In this respect, the says: "In many of my works I place art and religion in juxtaposition and say that both religion and art light from the same lamp. In both religion and art heaven is the source. I mean by "art" here the very elevated art that makes us feel soaring over our own selves (Al-Sayid Shusha, l948, p.126).

So, he regards religion as a source of inspiration. That is what we wanted to emphasise through Ahl al-Kahf, whose story he derived from the Qur'an and the Old Testament. He, being a Muslim author, did not find any restriction in religion itself. Religion did not constrain him mentally; his religious knowledge helped him taste art and have a wider range of fertile imagination in his works. He illustrates this, saying: "I remember now, regarding form, how Qur'an would urge us to contemplate its unique style, for it is neither poetry nor prose, but poetical energy and miraculous music (Al-Sayid Shusha, l948, p.138).

Al-HakTm's interest in religion and heritage does not mean abandoning the Western heritage. On the contrary, he regards it as something that should be added to the East, for the West, in his view, possesses the material and has the skill in fields of art, literature and theatre, but it lacks the spirit that he finds in the East. Thus, he thinks that they complement each other.

Al-HakTm sees that art is a legacy from ancient and modern civilisations. It represents the conflict between the power of man and external powers or Gods. Hence, we find the religious vision in al-HakTim's art. No civilisation or art is free from this conflict, particularly the ancient Western theatre, i.e. the Greek theatre, where the main theme, on which all plays were based, was the struggle between the hero and the Gods. The Greek theatre was the basis for whatever development took place later in Europe.

In other words, the East and the West, to Al-HakTm, are equal to religion and art respectively. That was the philosophy he came out of France with. In addition, he had a firm belief in the honourable Al-Sayyidah Zaynab Al-Sayyidah Zaynab, she's the prophet Muhammad granddaughter, died and buried in Egypt.. He did not replace belief in religion with his belief in art, as most European artists did, but he kept his religious belief and argued with art through it. He would often address the honourable Al- Sayyidah Zaynab in his works and regarded her as his patron.

Besides his faith, he had a Sufi (mystic) tendency, not by following Sufism (mysticism) in practice, but imitating it in seclusion and contemplation and speculation, which influenced him more by religion. Sufism, as well known, is different from other religious disciplines in that it prefers seclusion or what is called the "Seclusion Order". The purpose of such seclusion or retirement is to contemplate and think over both religious and secular affairs. Al-HakTm tended seclusion and retirement. He wrote most of his works while sitting alone in a cafe, contemplating what was going on around him, as if looking at people through his special binoculars. Thus, his seclusion here was mental with a Sufi flavour in the way of contemplation.

Al-HakTm, who was very appreciative of Western literature, thinks that we should recognise Western literature and follow its example as a developed type of literature, on condition that it be produced coloured with the history, culture and tinge of the East and clad in its dogmas and beliefs.

On this basis, al-HakTm wrote the myth of Oedipus. he does not believe in absolute predestination that harms man, but man must have a will that makes him harm himself, for Allah, Almighty is just and does not harm anyone who has not committed a crime. This is Islamic logic on which is based al-HakTm's philosophy in the legend of Oedipus, which made him marry his own mother and insist on that marriage even after he knew that it was his mother that he had married.

Al-HakTm did not only have the Sufi tendency, but he regarded himself as a Muslim author who was concerned with the problems and concerns of Islam, from his point of view as one who had got acquainted with Western literatures. He wrote the Muhammad play after reading Voltaire's Muhammad theatrical story, which he denounced, for Voltaire. However, a well-known writer, abuses the personality of the Arab Prophet in it and then dedicates it to Pope Benedict XIV. Voltaire wrote this drama in 1745. The drama aroused the question of how an author like Voltaire did not realise that this religion with millions of adherents cannot be false, but it is a heavenly religion like Christianity and Judaism. In his book Tahta Shams al-Fikr Al-HakTm wrote a comment on this issue illustrating that he wrote his Muhammad to refute the false claims in the first play and that he felt that it was his duty as a Muslim literary man to defend Islam in the West as he defended Western literature in the East, because he was aware of the reality of both of them.

Al-HakTm structured his drama Muhammad in 1936 as a dialogic biography, where he narrates the Messenger's life that is legally and historically documented, according to the situations and events of the life of the Messenger. His aim was to emphasise the Messenger's personality and his humanity and the psychological and human aspects of his life to show how false were the claims forged against the Messenger's personality in the first play. He was keen to show the human characteristics of the Messenger's personality, such as mercy, good nature, tolerance, mutual communication, care for the sick, gentle treatment of relatives, family and women, love for children and good treatment of the poor and the needy. He emphasised that the Messenger's task was not just to deliver a message, but to establish human principles among human beings.

Among his defences of the East in the face of the West was his criticism of the Western view that Islamic civilisation was not distinct from other Oriental civilisations, such as Chinese and Indian civilisations. He believed that Islamic civilisation is distinct and should not be mixed up with the other Oriental civilisations, for its features are completely different from those of other civilisations. Islamic art and architecture have their own characteristics in respect of interest in details and spirit of creativeness.

He also sees that ancient Egyptian civilisation was originally related to the Western civilisation through the Greek civilisation. Still, the Oriental civilisation civilisation lost this communication with the West when this contact ceased with the termination of the Greek period. The two civilisations of the East and the West were separated.

He thinks that the ancient Egyptian civilisation and pharaonic spirit are as important as the Greek civilisation by virtue of being immortal through their antiquities.

As for Arabic literature, Al-HakTm often derived his works from Arabic sources, such as the book Arabian Nights, from which he derived Shahrazad, the books of Al-Jahiz, Ibn 'Abd Rabbuh, Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi and Badi al-Zaman Al-Hamadhani. Al-HakTm gathered from these books the characteristics of the character of his famous novel Ash'ab, which he wrote while expressing his sorrow for Arabic literature as being ignored by the West.

In the introduction to the novel Al-HakTm (1938) says: "Ancient Arabic literature is one of the deep-rooted types of literature and most capable of drawing characters and depicting dispositions. This literature is the product of intelligent creative civilisation. Strangely, most of its relics and treasures remain beyond the reach of the Western World, which drank from the fountain of the Greeks and Romans.

Al-HakTm attributes this to the fact that Arabs and the West differ in their assessment of Aesthetics. While Arabs find artistic beauty expressed in concentration, the West finds it expressed in analysis. Arabs are satisfied with drawing a character or depicting a disposition or composing a poetic verse, whereas the West is not satisfied with a transient event, but with a complete panorama of connected events. The beauty of Arabic literature also lies in Arabic language in most cases, and cannot be perceived except through it. Therefore, most of Arabic prose and poetry, when translated into another language, would lose its beauty.

Al-HakTm thinks that both Arabic and Western views are correct, for each has its criteria of aesthetics and its own merits. It is often wondered whether the two views can be coordinated.

Al-HakTm's Thoughts on Politics and Society

A study for Fu'ad Dawarah (1968, p.11) considers that Al-HakTm responsible for the students neglecting his political plays, for he took care of the mental and intellectual aspect more than the political symbol in his works. Al-HakTm was keen not to be a member of any political party. He busied himself with the issues of art and literature and refused to engage in practical political activity. He applied his principle with the Artist's freedom and independence, which, he thinks, might be constrained because of belonging to a certain political party. The names and titles of his articles, which he collected in books, such as From the Ivory Towel, Tahta al-Misbah al-Akh'dar, Himari Qaala Li, and Qalat il-Assa, all suggest to the audience the portrait of an artist that is estranged from life and society, although those who study Al-HakTm realise that he is most interested in politics.

It is difficult to separate between Al-HakTm's political and social works, for they are closely connected. Politics was vital element in his social life, which was automatically reflected in his works. This is the clear picture in al-HakTm's social and political plays, for he used to criticise society and politics through his works as a literary man concerned with the issues of the society.

Al-HakTm was not interested only in-home politics but also in world politics as a whole. He used to think over many human issues and write on them. In this respect, he was criticised to some extent for not suggesting solutions to the political issues he discussed. Thus, some authors do not consider him a political critic.

Al-HakTm in his book Ta'amulat fi al-Siyyasah (1954) shows that he has a special perspective of the march of the whole world towards light or darkness. He thinks that the entire world will have a common fate under modem technology. He was worried not about the Arab nation only, but about humanity in general and about its destination.

Al-HakTm regards the Modern age or the twentieth century as the second brilliant age for humanity next to the Greek age, for science got vitalised and so did philosophy once again along with science. He has special ideas about the leaders' oppression against heavenly religions, which call for freedom of thought and human spiritual loftiness. This is attributed to Al-HakTm's continuous interest in the spiritual aspect of literature, art and civilisation.

Al-HakTm justifies his refrain from joining a particular party by saying that he does not want to find himself one day defending a certain party just because he is a member of it, even if the party is wrong. Despite his tendency towards democracy, he does not regard it as a political system but a human one.

He has an absolute belief in justice and the human community, whether locally or worldwide. He believes that the spirit of justice and equality must prevail over the human community for the sake of the progress of nations. Such were his hopes in the world and local politics.

In Ta'amulat fi al-Siyyasa, Al-HakTm argues with his donkey, with whom he used to discuss the problem of material powers and how they overwhelmed the human principles and caused them to lose the spirit. Among his opinions is that the Eastern society does not differentiate between the traditional costume and the national thought or personality. He believes there is a state of imbalance in the Eastern community. A free individual is one who is free from his thought, dress and style at the same time, without taking his nationality or belonging into consideration, thinking that this is what it means to be civilised. Another group of the society may be stem and afraid of becoming civilised and hence guards his traditional garb and rejects all that is new, whether it is a thought or behaviour, believing that this is the only way to salvage his national identity without having to actually develop his thinking.

Al-HakTm severely criticised the educational system in the Egyptian society because he noticed that people would learn and graduate, and start abandoning their own people, nationality and past, instead of becoming proud of their past, which has been the cause of their success and completing the march for the sake of their future, through using the knowledge they have acquired. In the West, the opposite is true.

The scientific novelty consists in a theoretical substantiation of the characteristics of the al-HakTm author's creative literary style as a playwright. It was formed under the influence of both Western and Eastern civilisations: socio-political transformations, achievements of culture and art, religious worldview, which could not but affect its originality.

Conclusions

Despite al-HakTm's prolific output in the field of literature and drama, he has not been given enough attention by European writers and critics. Although there are many admirers of his literature, philosophy, and thought, his works have not been studied in a manner commensurate with their quantity, variety of sources, and philosophy. One of the reasons for this might be a large number of his works, amounting to over eighty, which he wrote over sixty years. Most of his works represent the different educational, political and social development stages in Egypt, which would make their analysis somewhat difficult. Al-HakTm was influenced by religious, political, social, and even psychological factors, both Western and Eastern. They constitute some of the reasons that render al-HakTm difficult to study unless the critic or researcher chooses a specific feature of al-HakTm to analyse.

To conclude, al-HakTm laid down the foundation for every type of modern Arabic literature; his works proved different from the literature preceding him, for it followed in the steps of European literature. Thus, he has gained a reputation as an author and playwright who used a number of mythical, historical and social sources, different world and religious-philosophical approaches, and various styles.

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