Of unfairness in our literary life

 

Newspapers and magazines are full of articles and columns by writers or literates that should not be called so in my opinion, as they should not be writing in the first place. But because they keep writing and keep being referred to as prominent writers or literates, people believe they are.

 

Some of them may have written a good story forty years ago or more– God knows how– but have not been able to write anything else like it ever since. Others, in my opinion, were never able to write better than a mere composition barely good enough for an Arabic language school teacher. But because they did not read much or they did not finish their education, they sincerely believe they are great writers or literates. And because some leftist critics think that any leftist writer is gifted until proven otherwise, they have commended them and portrayed them as great writers. And they may even win the highest state awards.

 

Sometimes, however, an award goes to a writer or a poet of real talent who deserves recognition, but usually this happens when the sponsors feel embarrassed that this particular writer or a poet never won a prize, or when they want to add value to the other laureates who do not really deserve it.

 

Not only is this unfair, it also gives a bad example for young intellectuals who are asked to participate in the assessment of certain writers that they doubt if they really deserve recognition at all.

 

Those young intellectuals are put in the predicament of not knowing which to believe, the others or their own conscience? They are forced to suppress their frustration and go along with the tide perhaps to gain some benefit, or perhaps out of despair that justice is hard to find in this country.

 

From time to time, however, I stumble on works that are worthy of appreciation but find no publisher willing to publish them because their authors are unknown and our critics are unfair.

 

I am deeply disappointed at the literary critique in Egypt. For in addition to what I mentioned about some critics commending writers for political or ideological reasons, sometimes they are afraid of criticizing so as not to offend, and so their critiques become but a boring summary of a novel without evaluation, which neither helps the reader nor the author.

 

Some may wonder who I am to talk about literary critique. To them I admit that this is not my profession and that mine is but a personal opinion that may not be noticed. But we would have nothing to lose if I expressed my bitterness, for many others may well feel the same. And I admit that the evaluation of literature is subjective, as it pertains to taste, unlike the evaluation of scientific research.

 

But why is there a science of literary critique in the first place? Why are there conditions for good literary work, be they the clear style, the suspense element, the honesty of the writer, or the humanitarian, social or psychological importance of the subject?

 

So there are indeed conditions that we could agree upon, even if reluctantly. Therefore, each one of us has the right to evaluate, hoping to convince the other. Of course, there are those who are more qualified to evaluate, hence the different standards of critics. But even holding a doctorate in literary critique is in my opinion not enough to distinguish between critics, just as a doctorate in any branch of science is not enough to distinguish between scientists.

 

It is important to note that the situation in Egypt was not always like this, and that there is a degree of unfairness in the cultural life of any country and any era. There are many examples of great books that publishers declined in the beginning, and examples of other books that were widely liked without being worthy. Yet from what I know and read about the cultural life in Egypt in the thirties and forties of the twentieth century assures me that the degree of unfairness was less than today. 

 

Although some were unfairly neglected when the limelight was on Taha Hussein, al-Hakim and al-Akkad in literature, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, al-Sonbaty and Zakaria Ahmed in music, and Youssef Wahbi and al-Rihani in theatre, that era did not witness what we see today of a belittling of the worthy and a lauding of the unworthy.

 

The critics of today do not match the wisdom and impartiality of the great critics of that era, such as al-Akkad, al-Mazni, Sayyid Qutb, Mohamed Mandour and Louis Awad. Also, the state awards of that time were much more fair.

 

What has happened to Egypt in the past half century for us to see so much unfairness in our cultural life?