Mansour El Souwaim was born in 1970 in the town of Nyala in south Darfur. He has published two novels and two collections of short stories. A collection of his short stories was published in Arabic and French in 2004. Souwaim’s first novel is titled Tukhoum Ar-Ramad (The Boundaries of Ash), while his second novel, Dhakirat Shirrir (Bad Boys Memories), won the Tayeb Salih Award for Creative Writing. El Souwaim talks to Beirut39 about the novel in Sudan and the dangers of cultural centralities.
When did you first start writing?
I will choose 1990 as the year when I became aware of my tendency towards fictional writing. During this year I was in high-school and I got to meet one of my schoolmates, Jamal Ghallab, a writer, who despite his young age seemed to have been treating writing and fiction in a semi-professional manner. This incident of meeting the writer helped me discover my interest in telling fiction and narration. It pushed me towards taking my first steps in fictional writing. This period represents to me a “starter struggle”, pulling me between the option of becoming a professional writer or else treating the matter as a passing whim for a young person.
I first published in 1995, which was the time I chose writing as one of the many alternatives in life. By publishing, I got to examine what I write in a more technical way (reading and criticizing), a process that spurred me to keep on writing. I must point out to some initial indications, which I may confidently say, were some of the main reasons why I chose to write professionally. First was the family (with its tendencies towards literature) a base over which I grew up, paving my way towards the amazing worlds and settings of writing; this, add to it a beautiful coincidence of having met two friends during the early nineties whom were responsible for charging my “taste palettes” in literature, and whom were capable of expanding my writing tools through deep conversations and shared readings and criticism of what we wrote. Those friends are: novelist and writer Abdul Hafez Marioud, and translator Nasser As-Sayed An-Nour.
Finally comes the role of my friends at the Sudanese Literature Club, whom I met and got to join after having moved from Nyala to Khartoum. I think of the fictional writing, study and criticism activities, and events the club carried out as the main reason that had me slide deeper into the world of writing. To them all I give all the love and gratitude.
Of the writers you grew up reading, who influenced you most as a writer?
In my previous answer I touched on the affect my family had on my cultural enrichment. I was one of the lucky ones to have been brought up in a Sudanese family that considered the home library as a basic of any house. This was due to my father, Idriss El Souwaim, and his interest in literature and politics. Anyhow, I cannot specify the books that had effects on my writing tendencies since I started reading at a very young age, whether written in Arabic or translated from Russian and other languages. However, I can touch upon those beautiful fantastic hours that encompassed me as I read books such as One Hundred Years of Solitude, Season of Migration to the North, Light in August, For Bread Alone, Al Harafish, The Silent Under, Children of Gebelawi, Festival of the Old School, Memoirs of a Thief, Al Mahdi, Happiness, Rama and the Dragon, Intruder in the Dust, The Name of the Rose, The Other City, Perfume, Tattoo, and many other amazing novels. Here I speak about my novel-ficton readings, not my knowledge in other topics.
What are your thoughts on the novel in Sudan?
The Sudanese novel is considered young compared to the world novels and even Arabic novels. The Sudanese novel is half a century old or younger. Years that faced varying waves (both in the quality and the quantity) in publishing and distribution, thus, affecting reading inside Sudan itself. During the past 40 years, we can count the number of novels that have been published and distributed inside and outside of Sudan. However, with the start of the 21st century, Sudan has faced an unprecedented leap in the number of novels published and produced. In one year, the number of novels published exceeded those of the 40 years that preceded it. This may be attributed to the relative ease that became available, which facilitated the publishing process due to the acceleration of the latest technologies. Nowadays, there are numerous young Sudanese writers who nobody has heard of, or at least have not been giving the fair chance of having their works read. Their writings are amazing and carefully written, which confirm the eligibility of the Sudanese fiction writers.
On the other end we find that the relatively short history of the Sudanese fiction writing has introduced major names into the history of Arabic fiction writing. Tayeb Saleh, for instance, has introduced new blood into the veins of the Arabic novel, and rescued it from the trap of repetitiveness and recurring themes. Novelist Ibrahim Isaac, regrettably unknown by the Arab literati, has created advanced examples of the modern novels through combining what is individual and local (Darfurian), and what is universal, using unique and artistic technical approaches. Bushra Habani, of the middle generation, has utilized fantastic and poetic language in what is erotic in Happiness.
Also, writers such as Issa Al Hilw in A Beautiful Invisible Face, Bushra Al Fadel in Locust symphony, Zainab Baleel in The choice, Marwan Hamid Ar-Rashid in Mandkuru. The new generation includes Abkur Adam Ismail (The master of marginal myths in the novel. The Route to Impossible Cities), others such as Baraka Saken in The Windmills, Al Hassan Al Bakri in The Case of The Vetran (Old Warrior). Mohammad Khair Abdullah in The Curse of Hamnyab, Jamal Mahjoub who writes in English, Rania Mamum in Green Flash, Tariq Tayeb in Cities Without Palm Trees. Mohammad Khalaf Suleiman, whose works focus on the worlds of Sufism and the supernatural heritage told by the Sudanese in Interpretations of the Shrine of Wird. There are so many creative writers whose names deserve to be examined critically for their uniqueness and high creativity…
What’s the response been like to your novels?
Before publishing my first book, my fictional pieces were favorably received by critics. I participated in many contests and achieved advanced rankings. Two critics, Muawiya Al-Bilal and Majzoub Eidrous, who wrote about my fictional pieces, anticipated the birth of a new writer. However, when I published my first novel, The Boundaries of Ash, it was a very different setting. The novel was received on two very separate ends of the criticism “spectrum”. While some, mostly young writers and critics, celebrated the novel considering it a new path in novel writing in Sudan (taking it up to the level of early prophecy of what was to come in the region of Darfur in the form of a destructive, annihilating and burning war), others on the other hand, mostly institutional critics, fiercely and violently attacked the novel. They used the horrid printing and editing mistakes inside the book. Despite the fact that I tried to clarify the technical errors that lead to those mistakes, the “oracle” of those critics continued attacking the book, announcing that the “writer is doomed, and as of now will no longer be capable of publishing a second work”. Such statements of attack (and liquidation) were faced by statements of defense. The case appeared more like a raging war between two camps, and me and my novel were the center of the war, rather than reflections and critical views concerning the novel.
As the writer, I found myself enticed to finish my second novel as quickly as possible. I was working on its final chapters when the raging war reached its peak. Then came the announcement of the Tayeb Saleh award for creative writing, a chance for the “oracle” camp that stood in defiance following the “contamination of the novel” (a clear hint towards my novel and other neo-experiences by young writers, abundant in the early 90s.) Later I joined the award. Memoirs of an Evil Person won, and this created a quandary for the attack frontier: They had to either praise a work that was awarded by the most important critics and jury, or remain silent.
Everyone celebrated the novel. It was natural to celebrate the writer and the novel by those who have maintained their belief in the writer. It was not possible to ignore a work that everyone agreed on its importance and dissimilarity. One of the old “oracle” camp members were asked about their opinion regarding the novel, and his answer was “He wrote a unique novel, despite the fact that I disliked his first novel, this is an important one”.
At a reading in Sudan, the late Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani mentioned a quote, “Cairo writes, Beirut publishes, and Khartoum reads.” Is this statement still valid?
I am not sure who started this saying. I used to hear it a lot as a child. I used to feel that people would brag about it in vanity. Later in my years I discovered it was an utterly absurd statement that turns the Sudanese into mere consumers; it also turns the Lebanese into mere cold technical tools (their only role would become the passive reception without a true reaction to what is being written and published.) True dialogue is certainly to debate what is read, and to debate is to write and publish, and also to incite others to read what you write the same way you read what they write. The Sudanese read well and write well, and others must read what they write. I believe this saying belongs to a long-gone age of cultural “centralities”. Nowadays, everyone thinks, creates, writes and publishes.
Sudan has a rich history when it comes to literature. Long before the novel and the short story became known as literary genres, Sudanese literature existed in the form of oral stories and narrative poems that were transmitted from one generation to the next. How would you compare today’s Sudanese novel to the oral tales of the past?
The Sudanese novel, as it stands today, is the natural offspring of that rich legacy, which included stories, tales and riddles. The Sudanese memory maintains a large sum of this legacy; whether it is associated with chivalry and values, or tales and riddles rich with all that is magical and imaginary, which also intertwine with reality such as the case with the supernatural powers and superstitions of the saints and wise-men.
The Sudanese novel is an inseparable part of this legacy. It crosses at certain points and reproduces objectively as a novel would entail. This is clearest in the attempts by some writers such as Ahmad Hamad Al-Malek in Autumn Birds, Baraka Saken in The Ashes of Water, Dr. Bushra Habani in Happiness, Ibrahim Bashir in Az-Zandiya, Mohammad Khalaf Allah Suleiman in Interpretations of the Shrine of Wird and many others. The legacy of the Sudanese riddles is strongly present inside the Sudanese fictional scene (remember Mariud- Bandar Shah for Tayeb Saleh).
Will this be your first time in Beirut? What are you anticipating from the Beirut39 Festival?
Yes, this will be my first time in Beirut, an Arab city that we all owe much appreciation as one of the shiniest cultural centers in the Arab world. Beirut played a pivotal and central role in creating an Arab enlightenment. Beirut is the capital of books and serious and specialized periodicals; it is like a democratic and free orbit to publish one’s thought, sharing it and debate it. Beirut has a special place in my heart and I am happy that I will finally be able to visit.
As for what I anticipate from participating in Beirut39, I believe this would be a good chance to introduce Sudanese literature, and the modern Sudanese novel. It is also a chance to learn more about different experiences and diverse writings, which will enrich my personal experience. I am also eager to learn about publishing options for me and to other Sudanese writers. In order to further shed the light on the Sudanese novel, which I believe suffers an unexplainable absence in the Arabic front despite its grandiosity, beauty and its high-artistic value.
ولد منصور الصويم في العام 1970 في مدينة نيالا باقليم دارفور، وقد أصدر رواية (تخوم الرماد) في العام ٢٠٠١م، مجموعتين قصصيتين بالاشتراك مع مجموعة من كتاب القصة بالسودان؛ الأولى من اصدارات نادي القصة السوداني بعنوان دروب جديدة - أفق أول، والثانية بعنوان غابة صغيرة اصدارات وزارة الثقافة الجزائرية، كما وقد نشر رواية بعنوان (ذاكرة شرير) وهي التي فازت بجائزة الطيب صالح للإبداع الروائي. وصدرت له نصوص قصصية باللغتين العربية والفرنسية في العام 2004 عن المركز الثقافي الفرنسي بالخرطوم. يجيب الكاتب عن أسئلة بيروت39:
مَن مِن الكتاب الذين قرأت لهم أول ما قرأت وكان له الأثر الأكبر في كتاباتك؟
حدثنا عن الرواية في السودان؟
كيف كانت ردود الفعل حول كتبك؟
للسودان تاريخ حافل في الأدب، قبل أن تصبح الكتابة الأدبية كالرواية والقصة أجناساً أدبية معروفة، كان الأدب السوداني يتنقل شفوياً من جيل إلى جيل حكايات وقصائد. كيف تقارن الروايات السودانية اليوم بالأدب الشفوي المزخم عبر التاريخ؟
هل ستكون هذه المرة الأولى لك في بيروت؟ ما هي طموحاتك من خلال مشاركتك في مهرجان بيروت39؟
No comments:
Post a Comment