Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer

Alon Fragman

doi:doi:10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15

| Peer-Reviewed

Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer

Alon Fragman

Published in Arabic Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 2, Issue 1)

Received: 22 January 2017 Accepted: 8 March 2017 Published: 23 March 2017

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

This article seeks to examine the image of women as reflected in the short stories by the important Syrian author Zakaria Tāmer, which were written in the second half of the twentieth century. In light of the theoretical debate on the extent to which men can faithfully represent the female experience, this article seeks to present Tāmer’s work as writing that is by and large free of the chauvinistic male perceptions that were prevalent in Syria at the time, and as writing in which feminist perceptions are expressed with regard to the woman’s place and status at a time when “the female voice” had not yet been formulated in writing in Syria. In many of his stories Tāmer positions the woman as a central figure and creates a new (fictional) world, wherein men and women possess equal rights and status; in other stories in which the motif of the woman’s oppression is manifested, she surprises with her resourcefulness and by “breaking the rules” in protest. These perceptions are expressed even in Tāmer’s early stories. Given that the writing prevailing in Syria up to the mid-twentieth century, and to a considerable degree later as well, writing that ignores female endeavor and creativity on the one hand, and mainly presents women as maidservants or mistresses on the other, Tāmer’s work can be viewed as writing that extracts “the female voice” and accords it unique weight even in his first stories. As a writer who presents a high degree of feminist awareness in his writing, he conducts a literary-social-historical reform that embodies a challenge to intellectual and literary writing in the Arab world.

Published in	Arabic Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 2, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15
Page(s)	18-28
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Zakaria Tāmer, Syrian Short Story, Feminist Writing, Modern Arabic Literature

References

[1]	Abu-Lughod, L. (1998). Remaking women: Feminism and modernity in the Middle East. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
[2]	Accad, E. (1990). Sexuality and war: Literary masks of the Middle East. New York and London: New York University.
[3]	Al-Khaṭīb, H. (1972). A modern Syrian short story. Journal of Arabic Literature, 3, 96-105.
[4]	Al-Nowayhi, M. M. (2001). Resisting silence in Arab Women’s autobiographies. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 33, 477-502.
[5]	Al-Sa'daāwi, N. (1982). Women and Islam. Women’s Studies International Forum, 5 (2), 193-206.
[6]	Al-Sa'dāwi, N. (1988). Behind the veil (S. Paz, Trans.). Givatayyim: Massada (Hebrew).
[7]	Aṭiyya, N. (1988). Khul khāl: Five Egyptian women tell their stories. London: Virago Press.
[8]	Badran, M. (1993). Independent women: More than a century of feminism in Egypt. In J. E. Tucker (Ed.), Old boundaries, new frontiers (pp. 129-148). Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press,.
[9]	Badran, M. (1995). Feminism, Islam and nation: Gender and the making of modern Egypt. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
[10]	Badran, M., & Cooke, M. (Eds.) (1990). Opening the gates: A century of Arab feminist writing. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
[11]	Barakāt, H. (1990). The stone of laughter. London: Riyad al-Rayyis.
[12]	Brownmiller, S. (1976). Against our will: Men, women and rape. New York: Penguin Books.
[13]	Butler, J. (1999). Gender trouble. New York and London: Routledge.
[14]	Cohen-Mor, D. (1993). An Arabian mosaic: Short stories by Arab women writers. Potomac, MD: Sheba Press.
[15]	Cooke, M. (1988). War’s other voices: Women writers on the Lebanese civil war. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[16]	Davies, M. (Ed.) (1983). Third World – Second sex: Women’s struggle and national liberation, Third World women speak out. London: Zed.
[17]	De Beauvoir, S. (1949). The second sex. London: Picador.
[18]	Duben, A., & Behar, C. (1991). Istanbul households: Marriage, family and fertility. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[19]	Efrati, N. (2003). The study of women and gender in the Middle East: Developments and directions. In O. Bengio (Ed.), Women in the Middle East between Tradition and Change (pp. 29-37). Tel Aviv University, Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies (Hebrew).
[20]	Fragman, A. (2012). Paper Tiger: The Writing of Zakaria Tamer. Tel Aviv: Resling. (in Hebrew).
[21]	Fragman, A. (2017). Women Write Revolution Writes Women. Tel Aviv: Resling. (in Hebrew).
[22]	Golley, N. (2003). Reading Arab women’s autobiographies. Austin: University of Texas Press.
[23]	Ḥijāzi, A. (1993). A woman is not an imperfect man. 'Ibdā' 1, 4-7.
[24]	Kandiyoti, D. (Ed.) (1996). Contemporary feminist scholarship and Middle East studies. In D. Kandiyoti (Ed.), Gendering the Middle East (pp. 1-27). London and New York: I. B. Tauris Publishers.
[25]	Keddie, N. R. (1991). Introduction: Deciphering Middle Eastern women’s history. In N. R. Keddie & B. Baron (Eds.), Women in Middle Eastern history: Shifting boundaries in sex and gender (pp. 1-22). New Haven: Yale University Press.
[26]	Kilpatrick, H. (1985). Women and literature in the Arab world. In M. Schipper (Ed.), Unheard words. (B. Potter Fasting, Trans.). London and New York: Allison & Busby.
[27]	Kozma, L. (2003) Women write history: Feminism and social change in Morocco. Tel Aviv University, Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies (Hebrew).
[28]	Kristeva, J. (1991). Strangers to ourselves. (L. S. Roudiez, Trans.). New York: Columbia University Press.
[29]	Mead, M. (1970). Sex and temperament in three primitive societies (M. Ohel, Trans.). Ramat Gan: Massada (Hebrew).
[30]	Melman, B. (1995). Freedom behind the veil: Viewing the ‘other’ in the 18th and 19th centuries: Western women look at Mediterranean women. In Y. Atzmon (Ed.), A view into the lives of women in Jewish societies (pp. 225-243), Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish Studies (Hebrew).
[31]	Meriwether, M. L. (1999). The kin who count: Family and society in Ottoman Aleppo 1770-1840. Austin: University of Texas Press.
[32]	Paidar, P. (1995). Women and the political process in twentieth-century Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[33]	Palmer, P. (1989). Contemporary women’s fiction: Narrative practice and feminist theory. Jackson and London: University Press of Mississippi.
[34]	Roded, R. (2000). Ideological influences on the literature on women and Islam and Middle Eastern history, Hamizrach Hahadash, 41, pp. 132-149 (Hebrew).
[35]	Sansarian, E. (2000). Religious minorities in Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[36]	Sha'bān, B. (1999). One Hundred Years for Arab Women Novel. Beirut: Dār al-Ādāb (Arabic).
[37]	Shukri, M. (1972). Bread Alone. London: Dār al-Sāqi (Arabic).
[38]	Snir, R. (1996). Armed with roses and sweet basil: The emergence of feminist culture in the Arab world. Motar, 4, 65-72 (Hebrew).
[39]	Tāmer, Z. (1963). Spring in the Ashes. Damascus: Syrian Ministry of Culture.
[40]	Tāmer, Z. (1973a). Damascus on Fire. Damascus: Arab Writers Union.
[41]	Tāmer, Z. (1973b). Why the River Fell Silent. Damascus: Syrian Ministry of Culture. (translated into English by Denys Johnson-Davies, 1985, Quartet Books).
[42]	Tāmer, Z. (1994). Noah’s Summons. London: Riyāḍ al-Rayyis.
[43]	Tāmer, Z. (2000). Sour Grapes. Beirut: Riyāḍ al-Rayyis.
[44]	Tāmer, Z. (2002). Breaking Knees. Beirut: Riyāḍ al-Rayyis.
[45]	Tucker, J. E. (1985). Women in nineteenth century Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[46]	Werbeck, W. (1987). Epilogue (D. Amit, trans.). In W. Werbeck (Ed.), Spring in the ashes: Syrian stories (pp. 107-118), Basel: Lenos (Hebrew).
[47]	Westney, E. (2000). Individuation and literature: Zakaria Tamir and his Café Man. In R. Ostle (Ed.), Marginal voices in literature and society. Strasbourg: ESF, 189-199.
[48]	Yadlin, D. (1987). Interpersonal relations in Egyptian culture: Their reflection in the contemporary short story. Doctoral dissertation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Hebrew).

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Alon Fragman. (2017). Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer. Arabic Language, Literature & Culture, 2(1), 18-28. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Alon Fragman. Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer. Arab. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2017, 2(1), 18-28. doi: 10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Alon Fragman. Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer. Arab Lang Lit Cult. 2017;2(1):18-28. doi: 10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15,
  author = {Alon Fragman},
  title = {Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer},
  journal = {Arabic Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {2},
  number = {1},
  pages = {18-28},
  doi = {10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.allc.20170201.15},
  abstract = {This article seeks to examine the image of women as reflected in the short stories by the important Syrian author Zakaria Tāmer, which were written in the second half of the twentieth century. In light of the theoretical debate on the extent to which men can faithfully represent the female experience, this article seeks to present Tāmer’s work as writing that is by and large free of the chauvinistic male perceptions that were prevalent in Syria at the time, and as writing in which feminist perceptions are expressed with regard to the woman’s place and status at a time when “the female voice” had not yet been formulated in writing in Syria. In many of his stories Tāmer positions the woman as a central figure and creates a new (fictional) world, wherein men and women possess equal rights and status; in other stories in which the motif of the woman’s oppression is manifested, she surprises with her resourcefulness and by “breaking the rules” in protest. These perceptions are expressed even in Tāmer’s early stories. Given that the writing prevailing in Syria up to the mid-twentieth century, and to a considerable degree later as well, writing that ignores female endeavor and creativity on the one hand, and mainly presents women as maidservants or mistresses on the other, Tāmer’s work can be viewed as writing that extracts “the female voice” and accords it unique weight even in his first stories. As a writer who presents a high degree of feminist awareness in his writing, he conducts a literary-social-historical reform that embodies a challenge to intellectual and literary writing in the Arab world.},
 year = {2017}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer
AU  - Alon Fragman
Y1  - 2017/03/23
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15
T2  - Arabic Language, Literature & Culture
JF  - Arabic Language, Literature & Culture
JO  - Arabic Language, Literature & Culture
SP  - 18
EP  - 28
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2639-9695
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15
AB  - This article seeks to examine the image of women as reflected in the short stories by the important Syrian author Zakaria Tāmer, which were written in the second half of the twentieth century. In light of the theoretical debate on the extent to which men can faithfully represent the female experience, this article seeks to present Tāmer’s work as writing that is by and large free of the chauvinistic male perceptions that were prevalent in Syria at the time, and as writing in which feminist perceptions are expressed with regard to the woman’s place and status at a time when “the female voice” had not yet been formulated in writing in Syria. In many of his stories Tāmer positions the woman as a central figure and creates a new (fictional) world, wherein men and women possess equal rights and status; in other stories in which the motif of the woman’s oppression is manifested, she surprises with her resourcefulness and by “breaking the rules” in protest. These perceptions are expressed even in Tāmer’s early stories. Given that the writing prevailing in Syria up to the mid-twentieth century, and to a considerable degree later as well, writing that ignores female endeavor and creativity on the one hand, and mainly presents women as maidservants or mistresses on the other, Tāmer’s work can be viewed as writing that extracts “the female voice” and accords it unique weight even in his first stories. As a writer who presents a high degree of feminist awareness in his writing, he conducts a literary-social-historical reform that embodies a challenge to intellectual and literary writing in the Arab world.
VL  - 2
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Alon Fragman

Middle East Studies Department, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva, Israel

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Alon Fragman. (2017). Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer. Arabic Language, Literature & Culture, 2(1), 18-28. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Alon Fragman. Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer. Arab. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2017, 2(1), 18-28. doi: 10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Alon Fragman. Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer. Arab Lang Lit Cult. 2017;2(1):18-28. doi: 10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15,
  author = {Alon Fragman},
  title = {Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer},
  journal = {Arabic Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {2},
  number = {1},
  pages = {18-28},
  doi = {10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.allc.20170201.15},
  abstract = {This article seeks to examine the image of women as reflected in the short stories by the important Syrian author Zakaria Tāmer, which were written in the second half of the twentieth century. In light of the theoretical debate on the extent to which men can faithfully represent the female experience, this article seeks to present Tāmer’s work as writing that is by and large free of the chauvinistic male perceptions that were prevalent in Syria at the time, and as writing in which feminist perceptions are expressed with regard to the woman’s place and status at a time when “the female voice” had not yet been formulated in writing in Syria. In many of his stories Tāmer positions the woman as a central figure and creates a new (fictional) world, wherein men and women possess equal rights and status; in other stories in which the motif of the woman’s oppression is manifested, she surprises with her resourcefulness and by “breaking the rules” in protest. These perceptions are expressed even in Tāmer’s early stories. Given that the writing prevailing in Syria up to the mid-twentieth century, and to a considerable degree later as well, writing that ignores female endeavor and creativity on the one hand, and mainly presents women as maidservants or mistresses on the other, Tāmer’s work can be viewed as writing that extracts “the female voice” and accords it unique weight even in his first stories. As a writer who presents a high degree of feminist awareness in his writing, he conducts a literary-social-historical reform that embodies a challenge to intellectual and literary writing in the Arab world.},
 year = {2017}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Feminist Awareness in the Writing of the Syrian Writer Zakaria Tāmer
AU  - Alon Fragman
Y1  - 2017/03/23
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15
T2  - Arabic Language, Literature & Culture
JF  - Arabic Language, Literature & Culture
JO  - Arabic Language, Literature & Culture
SP  - 18
EP  - 28
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2639-9695
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.15
AB  - This article seeks to examine the image of women as reflected in the short stories by the important Syrian author Zakaria Tāmer, which were written in the second half of the twentieth century. In light of the theoretical debate on the extent to which men can faithfully represent the female experience, this article seeks to present Tāmer’s work as writing that is by and large free of the chauvinistic male perceptions that were prevalent in Syria at the time, and as writing in which feminist perceptions are expressed with regard to the woman’s place and status at a time when “the female voice” had not yet been formulated in writing in Syria. In many of his stories Tāmer positions the woman as a central figure and creates a new (fictional) world, wherein men and women possess equal rights and status; in other stories in which the motif of the woman’s oppression is manifested, she surprises with her resourcefulness and by “breaking the rules” in protest. These perceptions are expressed even in Tāmer’s early stories. Given that the writing prevailing in Syria up to the mid-twentieth century, and to a considerable degree later as well, writing that ignores female endeavor and creativity on the one hand, and mainly presents women as maidservants or mistresses on the other, Tāmer’s work can be viewed as writing that extracts “the female voice” and accords it unique weight even in his first stories. As a writer who presents a high degree of feminist awareness in his writing, he conducts a literary-social-historical reform that embodies a challenge to intellectual and literary writing in the Arab world.
VL  - 2
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download