Cultural Conundrums: Suggested Reads

Illustration: Nidal el-Khairy

Illustration: Nidal el-Khairy

The BBC recently ran a piece, titled Close encounters of the Arab kind by Lydia Green, about Arab Sci-Fi that spoke to Ameri-Euro-centrality of most published science fiction. She went on to explain the impact that Arab literature has had on Western literature and even had the first recognizable Sci-Fi story. She doesn’t mention that science and science fiction would be nowhere without the contribution of Algebra and many other developments from the Arab world, but she does talk about the increased discussion of the development of Arab Sci-Fi. The problem with the article arises from the three recommended reads as two of them are written by American authors.

Lydia Green (presumably) recommended Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (winner of the 2013 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel; Greg’s review), which also started off the article, and Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (Locus Award for Best First Novel) both of whom are Americans by birth. G. Willow Wilson is an American, who as far as I can tell identifies herself as such. She just happens to have spent time in Egypt and be a Muslim. Saladin Ahmed identifies himself as an Arab American, and rightly so as both he and Wilson have the right to identify themselves anyway they so choose.

The problem is that their works are not necessarily reflective of Arab Sci-Fi literature, they just happen to be easily accessible and well-known works set in worlds very much like that of the Middle East. First, the idea of Arab Sci-Fi is ill defined, but so is that on any literature ascribed to a culture. Does Arab refer to works by Arabs, or is it simply set in Arabia, or was it written in Arabic? The third suggested reading, Utopia by Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, is from an Egyptian and the only one originally written in Arabic. Some may say that makes his works Arab literature, others may not because they consider Egypt to be North African and not Arab. I cannot speak to what Ahmed Khaled Tawfik would identify himself as, beyond I suspect Egyptian.

In all three presented works there have been elements that are certainly Arabic and others that may be Islamic, yet one does not signify the other. Islam has certainly influenced Arab literature, Turkic/Turkish literature, Persian literature, North African literature, Jewish literature, and more, just as those very cultures have influenced Islam. Yet it is common to misconstrue Arab or even Persian or Turkic/Turkish for Islamic – not that Lydia Green meant to do such on purpose or has even done so. Though midway through her article she did switch from discussing Arab literature to Islamic, and not all Arabs are Muslim.

The issue presented by Lydia Green’s article, as it always seems to these days, comes back to labels – their importance and perceived need. They are inevitably constraining, but surely cultural labels are the most confusing. After all, if I who was born in the United States yet grew up in Europe and am currently living in Southeast Asia (though moving to the Middle East by the time this is published) write a book what label would be ascribed to it? Is it American literature, and if it is do I also get to give it the cultural label of my ancestors – Swiss, Norwegian and Italian? Or should I launch a new label for Third Culture Kids and Adults (TCKs/TCAs)? Can the label of where the book was written be attached?

For example, Ernest Hemingway and his work For Whom The Bell Tolls is consider by most to be American literature, yet the novel is set in Spain. So could it not be considered Spanish literature, though it was not written in the Spanish language. Language may be the determining factor for what culture, ethnicity or nationality a book is ascribed to. By that argument Alif The Unseen and The Throne of the Crescent Moon would both be categorized as American and not Arab literature. Yet there have been authors, such as Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote in English even though it was not their native tongue. A Pale Fire and Lolita are both classics of English literature and they are only considered that because they were written in the English language not because they were written by an Englishman or for that matter in England.

In the end, nothing created by humans is created in a vacuum. There are undoubtedly countless influences on every single work that go far back into uncounted histories of humanity and cannot be named. Trying to isolate a work or group of works on cultural grounds for discussion is a difficult task. Lydia Green’s article, and the switch from discussing Arab literature to Islamic, highlights the nebulous nature of attempting to qualify any cultural product. Yet, we will continue to do so and inevitably it will be a dialogue waged not between critics and historians but authors and their readers – for each will have their own views and experience of the work.

The choice of works Lydia Green presented illustrates the difficulty in determining which culture, ethnicity, language, location or nationality a particular work and its author belongs to. That’s not even mentioning the quagmire of determining a work’s genre either – The Throne of the Crescent Moon most would consider fantasy and not Sci-Fi. Granted Lydia Green’s article was speaking of the works published in English and their propensity for a white dominance – not just in terms of who is being published but their leading characters – and advocating that readers go beyond to read literature from every country, ethnicity, religion, etc and that include characters from different backgrounds.

Only 3% of all literature published in the United States are translations, which has something to do with the difficulty of reading books from elsewhere. Setting out to read the works the rest of the world is not an easy task given the inherent difficulties in finding them. The great but now sadly defunct World SF Blog was a fantastic resource for that finding more of what the world has to offer, while the Locus Roundtable Podcast and the Small Blue Planet series presents a series of great discussion about works from a particular country. Sadly they’ve only done six so far and haven’t updated since August, but I’m personally hoping for more.

(*Editor’s note: Skiffy and Fanty announced the 2014 World SF Tour, including a call to “Authors, publishers, editors, filmmakers, and translators from all over the world” to contact them.)

All of that said how do you categorize the books you read when it comes to culture? Does it even matter or do you prefer to simply read an interesting story? What other resources do you turn to when trying to find works that aren’t so Ameri-Euro-centric?

For Further Reading Check Out:

Arab Science Fiction at the World SF Blog (no longer being updated)
Arabic Science Fiction: A Journey Into the Unknown at Al-Akhbar
What happened to Arab science fiction? on The Guardian
Science Fiction in Arabic: ‘It Was Not Born All of a Sudden’ at Arabic Literature (In English)
Luminary thinkers gather to explore future of Arab Science Fiction on the Middle East Online

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Greg Pellechi ThumbnailReview by: Gregory Pellechi

Gregory Pellechi is a freelance journalist, communications consultant and science fiction fan currently living and working in Cambodia. He wishes he had more free time to read and write – the latter of which he does far too little of for himself. Greg will read just about anything including pamphlets in Spanish about influenza (always as if it’s a script from a Telenovela), but prefers Cyberpunk, Speculative Fiction and Star Wars. You can visit his blog at www.gregorypellechi.com but be warned he hasn’t posted anything to it in months. He’s more active on Twitter (@SvenNomadsson); just remember the time difference if you’re expecting a prompt reply.

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