The dialogues contained in the book “The Amazing Africa: Dialogues with the Book of Africans” published recently by Dar Al -Ain by Moroccan writer Hassan Al -Wazzani, about the aesthetic and intellectual richness that this continent abounds, despite the long marginalization and exclusion it lived, as it opens windows on the memory of pain cultivated in the continent’s body and spirit, where it includes 23 dialogue with a book of different geographies and cultures.
The new work opens, as its title suggests, to a number of prominent literary names on the continent, in a move that reflects the Wazzani’s interest in highlighting the cultural and creative pluralism within the African space, away from the stereotypes circulating about it, which is the trend that constitutes a continuation of a previous experience of the Moroccan writer in his book “They are distracted by the Gim” issued in 2018 by the publications of the Mediterranean, where poets interviewed 17 non -Arab countries, revealing an experience Unique listening to the other voice.
In his presentation of this book, the Palestinian writer Ali Al -Amiri considers that these dialogues illuminate the continent “the charming of its peoples, cultures, dreams, sorrows, heritage, languages, wounds, and amazing creativity in all fields,” adding that this book, which is an addition to the Arab Library “constitutes an invitation to restore cultural bridges between Arabs and Africans, and explore the light browned in history, present and future.”
Among the striking references in the book, that Africa, despite its literary and cultural richness, is still for many Arab and international readers an unknown cultural continent, absent from the circulating circles, and this absence is devoted to the weakness of the translation movement between Arabic and African languages, which remains rare when compared to the wealth of literary product in the two banks, which leads – according to Al -Amiri – to mutual cultural losses.
In addition to the reality of African literature that suffers from marginalization, these dialogues show the depth of cultural overlap between Arabs and Africans, by exploring the presence of Arabic and Arab heritage in Africa, as well as highlighting the position of the Palestinian issue in the awareness of a number of the most prominent writers in the continent, as a symbol of the struggle against injustice and colonialism, and an incentive to perpetuate cultural and human solidarity across continents.
Literature faces marginalization
Al -Wazzani sought, through the questions he posed in these lengthy dialogues, to explore African literature through his listening to multiple experiences within the countries of the continent, with the linguistic, cultural and historical peculiarities it carries, and the concerns, anxiety and links it reflects in reality and society.
In Madagascar, for example – writer John Luke Rharmanna does not hide his disappointment and frustration with the status of literature in his country, because he still lives in a state of fragility and exclusion, as only a few writers succeed in spreading their works, while many texts remain trapped, in the midst of a scene that describes it bitterly, saying, “We are like lips in a big vacuum.” However, this literature, although it seems limited to spread, carries with it a deep memory and resists silently in light of political corruption and the deterioration of the environment on the island.
As for the Congo Brazzaville (the Republic of the Congo), the literary experience takes a different direction, as the writer Kaya Makhili believes that part of the literature there is cutting with the stage of “Negro” and directed towards building a modern identity that does not remain captive of the tragedies of the past, indicating that post -colonial literature – in his view – listens to the transformations of society, touches the effects of revolutions and “ideological deviations” as it touches The repercussions of tyranny.
According to the same writer, Congolese literature was built about the concept of “brotherhood”, which is based on the ease of circulation of manuscripts between the book, whether it is devoted to them or the young men, and the ease of communication between them and the exchange of opinion away from what he described as “the language of wood” in addition to the distinction of this literature with a spirit of ridicule that is used to transform reality into what can be tolerated, in a way that is evasive in the face of censorship, and a way to preserve the freedom of individual expression within a common collective fate.
In Gabon, writer Eric Joel Pical notes that written literature was late to appear until the sixties of the last century, despite the introduction of oral cultural traditions, where the first novel published “The Story of a Baby Bit” in 1971, and since then the Gabonese writing has been quietly growing, with clear interest in the topics of rituals, traditions, social relations, exile and politics, but this creative vitality collides with the absence of support.
And if the literary scene in Cameroon began to be formed in a complex colonial context, as its writer Timba Pima tells, then its roots extend to before the entry of French and British colonialism in 1919, as early works such as “Yaondi’s texts” (1913) and the book “Sanjan” by Sultan Najwa indicate that the first texts there preceded the occupation. However, the current century defined a qualitative shift due to the decline in publishing costs, the emergence of local publishing houses, the increase in the number of printed books, and the multiplicity of their types, as the novel of crime and the romantic novel appeared. Literary awards, festivals and writing workshops have emerged, which contributed to finding a new dynamism in the literary scene in this country.
This dynamic is also confirmed by citizenship, Djyli Amadou Amal, which proposes the division of the Cameroonian literary scene into 3 moments: a colonial stage with a protest, and the post -colonial stage burdened with the revolution and its repercussions, then the stage of the new generation that came on the winds of democracy, political pluralism and globalization. It is a generation that some of its members have succeeded in reaching the finest African literary and Francophone literary awards “despite the weakness of the actors in the series of books, and the internal production was affected by a well -inflated and well -protected field.”
Palestine is a joint wound
In the time of the extermination committed by Israel in Gaza, Al -Wazzani did not miss the opportunity to ask questions of concern to the Palestinian cause, so most of the answers came to reflect that Palestine is not just a local or Arab issue, but rather a global issue that affects the essence of human values, and is related to the concepts of justice, mercy and dignity that is supposed to unite humans, regardless of race or religion.
In the context of her answer to the question “What does Palestine mean to you?” “Palestine is a sad reflection of our collective lack of the values of humanity that must be based on love,” says South African poet Sinwoy McCona. The novelist – who was born in 1942 and held several international positions before returning to her country in 2003 to devote himself to writing – that the terrifying pain in Palestine and the large numbers of Israeli fire victims are evidence of “our failure to live according to our Creator Law,” adding that there is no religion calling for collective killing for children, innocent, women and unarmed elderly.
In turn, its citizen Shapir Banoubhai, who is from a Muslim family, is considered that Palestine is “our joint wound” and that it is “the place where genocide is committed in its most terrible forms”, stressing that the writer’s role in the midst of social and political conflicts is to be “a voice of no voice” by shedding bravely on the crimes that the wrongdoers want to hide, in order to “preserve the truth for future generations.”
The poet Nathan Tranterral returns the reasons for the connection and sympathy of the South African book with the tragedies of the Palestinians that the country also suffered from the apartheid, just as it is for Palestine, which makes the intellectuals more sensitive to the manifestations of injustice and colonialism, and thus they see in Palestine a mirror of similar suffering lived by their peoples, indicating that his political and social awareness arose out of the plight of the Palestinian people.
A close connection to Arab culture
Despite the weakness of the translation movement between Arabic and African languages, these dialogues show a close link between a number of African writers and Arabic culture, either from the proficiency of some of them reading in Arabic, or by contacting this culture through translated or written literature in French through a book of Arab, to the extent that the Senegalese writer Amadou Lamin has described it as the “torch that illuminates the universe” because “Arabic poetry says everything”.
The people of Madagascar are a mixture of cultures, among which the Arab influence appears in some of its coastal areas, where the families that came in the country left the 11th century cultural and religious heritage. In this regard, John Luke Rharmanna emerges as one of the writers who have a close link to Arabic literature, as he read the works of Abu Nawas and many Algerian, Moroccan and Lebanese authors, including Amin Maalouf, Al -Tahir Bin Jaloun, Mohamed Deeb and Rashid Boujdra.
Senegalese also shows Navisato Dia Diouf as one of the African writers who had an exceptional impact on their creative path, and critics such as Dinamo presented the new generation with Senegalese literature. She says that she has a close connection with music, cinema, writers, architecture and Arabic calligraphy, adding that the writings of Omar Khayyam were tightening them in the early stages of her life, and that she considers Maalouf her favorite writer.
For her part, the poet Catherine Body, who comes from the island of La Rionun and lives on the island of Mauritius, is a friendly friend of Arab culture and literature, noting that her great dream is to translate her poetic works into Arabic.
And if many of the Arab culture were launched from their politeness, then the Cameroonian Djayli Amadou Amal – the first African writer to reach the final of the French Goncourt Prize – stated to Al -Rozani that she was immersed in this culture thanks to her Egyptian mother, and Arabic learned the secondary school as a third language, but that her father who studies Arabic chose to call her “Amal” affected by the song of Umm Kulthum “Hope for my life.”