A TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH OF KHALIL I. AL-FUZAI’S “AFTER THE HURRICANE”
Abstract
The protagonist’s land has been taken from him. His land is the symbol that connects the past to the present. And today’s people have to experience the consequences of the past: “everything spread across the coast of the city reminds him of the past...” To Abdul-Haleem, the past cannot be forgotten but will be passed to the next generation. And this is what he is going to do. Psychologically, Abdul-Haleem is worried and distraught. His chief concern is how to transfer his worries to his little sons who, as he points out, “have not seen the land for which they have to struggle.” Culturally, only males face difficulties and take revenge for their relatives. That is why Abdul-Haleem “feels sorry for [his wife] ... she is tortured but in vain and without any benefit,” and later he tells her, “You do not understand these matters.” The society enforces patriarchy and belittles women’s role in public life. However, Abdul-Haleem’s land is not a small personal property as much as it is a tragic and national cause, for it turns out that “it is the tragedy of a nation and the calamity of a generation ...” Here the story suggests Palestine. Many Palestinians scattered all over the Arab world after they found it difficult to live in their own territory: houses were “destroyed by the artillery of betrayal and treachery and atrocity ... The lives of many innocent people were over.” The innocent people’s relatives, after witnessing those atrocities, had no other option but “to bomb the enemy’s camps.” In other words, their enemies made them react in such a way. In brief, Khalil I. Al-Fuzai presents in this story the Middle East cause; a dilemma that has led to more than half a century of pain and chaos and is still without a solution. Every now and then, we hear of a resolution or a plan, but none has been implemented. On the other hand, the story refers to “the sojourners” who come “from the Far East.” They are those people who come from East Asia. They include Filipinos, Indonesians who work — men as drivers and women as maids — in homes, Koreans and in some cases the Chinese who have recently come to work as electricians in Saudi Arabia.
Keywords: Khalil al-Fuzai, Saudi, short story, “After the Hurricane”.
References
KHALIL I. AL-FUZAI (1940- ) is a literary writer from Saudi Arabia. In his writings, he introduced his culture, addressing many social, cultural, and religious issues he saw in his society.
This story was translated from the following Arabic source: Al-Fuzai, Khalil I.Thursday Fair. (سوق الخميس). Taif: Taif Literary Club, 1979: 37-42.
An introduction a reader may need to connect the text to its context.
... Every now and then there are few dots found in the source text.
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