Siraaj: An Arab Tale by Radwa Ashour. Trans. by Barbara Romaine.
Siraaj: an Arab Tale, part of our Lost in Translation
collection, is a fictional account of a small island sultanate in the late
nineteenth-century. A tyrannical sultan is caught between maintaining his
power, based on slave labor and making concessions to a vast Victorian
Empire. On might be tempted to
sympathize with the Sultan were it not for his equally evil, childless wife,
his weekly romps with concubines, his stereotypical fondling of his precious
gems or the bloody coup against his brother.
Told from multiple points of view, this novella is a densely
layered volume of the inter-relationships that can be found among Arabs in the
Arab world, the very essence of which is buried in a tale-within-a-tale, “The
Ringdove”: “Don’t you know that nothing of good or evil befalls any of us other
than that which is enjoined upon us by fate? In the full course of our days,
whatever our weaknesses or our strengths, each of us will be tested, whether in
poverty or prosperity. So it is destiny that put me in this predicament, that
drew me to the bait, and hid the net from me so that I got caught in it,
together with my companions” (37).
Against the backdrop of a British naval base being built on
the island, rumblings of discontent among the slaves on the island begin, and
those who formerly had no reason for revolt find themselves caught up in a
revolution for reasons only they can tell.
Post-Arab Spring, this “Arab Tale” is more radical than
ever. The Sultan. The People. The West. Who wins?
Sadly, Radwa Ashour passed away in December 2014. For more
on her life and literary career, please check out the links below. She was a remarkable person and should remain
in our literary conscience.
Vital Stats:
Ashour, Radwa. (2007). Siraaj: an Arab Tale. Trans. By Barbara Romaine. Austin: Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
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