On the occasion of the 75th birthday of the late writer Jamal Al-Ghitani, this conversation I had with him 10 years ago was republished in a library in Cairo.
The dialogue has two parts. In the first part, Al Gheitani explains his relationship as an Egyptian novelist with Algeria and Algerian literature, and we open political files with him regarding the situation in the Arab world at that time.
The second part, on drama and writing for television, in which al-Ghitani, who is one of the most prominent pillars of Arabic literature, has turned his work into TV series - explains the relationship that contributed to the separation of Egyptian drama.
The dialogue is a testimony of a distinguished novelist with his stances, among his most prominent works (Al-Zaini Barakat) that dealt with the phenomenon of oppression and fear and leaned on its causes and demonstrated its terrifying manifestations in Arab life, a novel that took wide Arab fame when it was adapted into a series with the same title, directed by the Egyptian Yahya Al-Alami, general 1995.
# Mohamed Allal.
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The first part of the dialogue, was published in the Algerian newspaper Al-Fajr.
The owner of a unique novel project, in which he drew inspiration from the Egyptian Arab heritage to create a strange fictional world that is today one of the most mature fictional experiences. He did not deny that Algeria has its merit in enriching its Arab culture.
First, let's start from history. What does writer Gamal El Gheitani mention about the history of the joint between Algeria and Egypt?
= My memory is full of the Algerian image, and it surprised you when I informed you that my teacher in the Arabic language during the elementary stage and who I learned on his hand the Arabic language was an Algerian from the sheikhs of Al-Azhar, and of course Algeria was in the presence of the Egyptians a struggling country, and Egypt was one of the countries supporting Algeria, and I still remember the arrival of Ben Sure to Egypt on the first day and it was a terrible sight when the Egyptian fans turned around him. The masses were very proud of Ben Bella to the point that they raised the car that he was riding, on a tour of the Abbasid Square .. I was still a student at that time and that was the sixties, and Ben Bella was not then elected president of the Algerian Republic yet.
How was your first meeting in Egypt with the books of Algerian literature?
= The beginning of learning about Algerian literature, it was through the identification of the trilogy of the great house of Mohamed Deeb, which was translated in Syria, and then the translation arrived in Egypt shortly after its publication despite the difficulty of moving the book in the Arab world in that period. It was in the beginning of the seventies or in the late sixties, then I read the novel “Najma” by Yassin and the novel “Not on the sidewalk of flowers to answer” to Malik Haddad, and also “Ibn Al-Faqir” by Mawloud Pharaoh .. And in my heritage interests I also read to Abdul Hamid bin Badis and Malik bin A prophet, during the 1960's there was no one who cared so much about Arab heritage. This is our first knowledge of Algerian literature, and Iraq had an important role to know. We in Egypt are the great Algerian writer Taher and Tarr, who printed his novel “The martyrs are returning this week” in Iraq. The truth is that our information and knowledge of us as Egyptians on Algerian literature and thought before independence was very little, because literature What was written in French was coming through Paris, and Algerian literature, which was written in Arabic, was very rare in Cairo.
Does this mean that Al-Tahir and Tarr were a decisive stop in Algeria's relationship with the literary East?
= Sure; and it was the beginning of our meeting with Al-Taher and Al-Tareh, the beginning of our knowledge of the literature of Rashid and Bugdara the translator, which motivated us to seek to get to know Al-Taher and Al-Tari who came to Cairo later on his own expense, and I was the one who organized literary meetings for him, and Al-Taher and Tari were the subject of A warm welcome from the Egyptians, and then I was keen to travel to Algeria in order to get to know the Algerian writers that we did not know and was keen to present them through the Egyptian Journal of Literature. For me, Algeria is an important country and I was keen to link relations with Algeria, given that Algeria enjoys With good literary writings in Arabic.
Algerian interest in the Levant also remained so important that some thinkers describe it as the complex of the Levant. What is your comment?
= I always hear in the Greater Maghreb this phrase “The East does not accuse us, the Orient we look to it and it does not look to us ..” This is not true, you may know that most of the poles of Sufism in Egypt are all Moroccans and from Algeria, such as Ahmed Al Badawi, who is considered The most important Sufi pole in the Dalta, and my master Afif Tlemceni, Sidi Abdel-Rahim Al-Qanabbasti in Upper Egypt, and many in the intellectual poles in the Egyptian villages are all from the Arab Maghreb, as a prerequisite of the conditions of holiness.
Does this mean that you are completely satisfied with the level of literary communication between Algeria and Egypt?
= Cultural relations are still weak, unfortunately despite the presence of communication, what is required is more communication with Algeria and Egypt in need of the literary new, and what is required is for the Ministry of Culture to play a role in this context with the new writers and not stop at adults, for the Ministry of Culture had a good role in this Context earlier with Al-Tahir and flew. I also admonish the Algerian press, which does not offer much about Algerian literature. We need Algerian literature today. Literary links are the ones that continue and are the deepest. One of the fools committed by the previous regime is the football crisis with Algeria.
Do you mention Egyptian studies dealing with Algerian thought?
= Yes there is. In the field of academic studies at Cairo University, there are many studies dealing with Algerian literature, as I told you this stems from the extent of the Egyptian people's awareness of Algeria's place and its revolutionary history, and Tahar and Tarr remain among the most prominent Algerian intellectual stations that the Egyptian people know, perhaps a generation. New youth from Algeria.
In the General Book Authority and I am a member of the Authority’s management, we are keen to publish Algerian literature and Algerian thought. The important thing is that we get good texts and Algerian youth can benefit from the services of the General Book Authority in Egypt in particular. I know the difficulties of publishing in Algeria, unlike Egypt, so the price of books is lower And the cost of printing is lower.
In another context, what is your assessment of free
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