“Kharaif” and myths spaces of interpretation and experimentation in Emirati literature

The Emirati novel, in its contemporary discourse, tended to expand the scope of experimentation and increase the contemporary narrative rhythm, by opening up to the popular and mythical heritage, with its symbolic horizon, cultural load, and value system, which expands the spaces of interpretation in the fictional text.

It allows the writer more space to move in this space, subject matter, style, and meaning, because the popular heritage has its purpose, which does not run out, and its narrative balance, which does not end. It is open to reading and interpretation, as it is open to contemporary narrative memory, and a test of popular memory in reading our human reality.

popular balance

Regarding the popular balance in the contemporary Emirati novelist’s narrative, Dirar Belhoul Al Falasi, member of the Federal National Council, Executive Director of Watani Al Emarat Foundation and author of the book “The Black Widow” says:

“The inspiration for the popular balance in the narrative narrative comes to consolidate and document the popular memory in the contemporary narrative memory, through the interdependence between the folk tale, its connotations and its cultural load, and its connotations in contemporary social reality, that is, when we inserted those fairy tales into the narrative narrative with its contemporary mechanisms, it was mixed with time and mechanism. , and the cultural format in another time, and another format to test those systems deep in time in our contemporary systems.

Lamb values

Dirar Belhoul Al Falasi continues: “Recreating the contemporary Emirati novelist’s discourse to produce popular mythology restores the popular memory and its glow in telling stories, with its values, goals and social goals, on which it arose on the basis of pleasure, social upbringing and moral guidance.

This is what is implied by the “sheep” in our authentic Emirati heritage. Every congenital deviation or social decay has a sheep, which is represented by a frightening mythical being, whose mission is to deter those who dared to cross those limits, and this is what I tried to explain in my novel “The Black Widow”.

Contemporary discourse

Belhoul asserts that the Emirati popular culture possesses a deep asset and an authentic value heritage, capable of expanding the area of ​​astonishment in any novel that draws inspiration from it. It also expands its constructive and stylistic horizons, and here the book’s methods vary.

Their vision of this inspiration varies, each writer has his doctrine and style, his goals and objectives, which he experiences in this attraction between the popular heritage and the contemporary artistic narrative, but all these methods, regardless of their structure and meaning, in time and place, pour into one goal, which is to link the nation’s past. Its history, its present and its future, without neglecting the aesthetic purpose that is represented in the aesthetic mechanisms of literary discourse.

For his part, Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Musallam, Head of the Sharjah Institute for Heritage, says: “The fairy-tale characters in popular culture have a major role in the structure of the contemporary Emirati literary text in relation to the narrative vision in this field, and the formation of its various structural elements.

And thus presenting her aesthetic imprint from the elements of excitement and suspense, and raising the level of surprise and anticipation of the recipient, according to the novelist’s tools and techniques between the present and the past, and her interpretations related to the narrative’s surroundings.

Emirati experiences

Al-Musallam adds: “The Emirati novel in the field of horror literature is still groping for the way towards establishing a comprehensive composition of a group of specialized writers.

Here we evoke the experience of the late writer and playwright Salem Al-Hatawi, who was not given much time to continue his creative project on popular fairy tales, which he used to publish successively in the Theater Magazine, in addition to writing many inspiring plays that revolve around myth.

I mention among them the play “Al-Yathom”, which belongs to the worlds of “mythology”, or Al-Kharareef in the local dialect, and “Al-Jathom”, which means nightmares, or sleep paralysis, which is the state that occurs during a nap, in which the person is conscious, but unable to move or Speech, and the individual may hallucinate, and it also means that a person feels that there is a strange spirit possessing him.

Arab roots

Al-Musallam adds: “The fairy tale in its general form falls within the categories of popular literature, and it was found that it was mentioned in Arabic literature, through the book “The Extreme of Every Extravagant Art,” by Muhammad bin Ahmed Al-Khatib Al-Abshihi. As for its special character and content, it comes within the popular beliefs and maintenance traditions.

For every moral deviation or social decay, there was a frightening mythical being whose mission was to deter those who dared to cross those limits, within the framework of fairy tales or outside them, even if in the past they were told orally, and not explained, all their worlds were veiled and isolated from deliberation and discussion, in a society like the one Emirates, who lived in purely personal isolation, and great economic openness.

Despite the simplicity of the old life and the simplicity of people and their rare kindness, they were very careful and wary of contacting the other, so the Emirati symbols and signs were numerous, and their meanings differed in their lives and their popular literature, and they appeared remarkably in their outward and inward thinking.

Taste the thrill

With regard to today’s reader’s tendency to excitement and suspense associated with popular Emirati myths and fictional characters, writer and novelist Noura Abdullah Al Tunaiji confirms that horror stories have a special taste for the reader, especially since reading horror makes the imagination of the recipient in another world, away from the boring and monotonous reality, that is, It reaches the stage of the vast horizon or the world of imagination, which expands the perception of the recipient, especially among young readers.

Today’s young people, who are the promising generation, love reading, which is punctuated by a sense of fun and entertainment, and the mentality of the young man may be refined, so that he becomes more ambitious for creativity, through his feeling of the pleasure of reading, even if this reader realizes that what he is reading is just a fantasy or a fact, which may be vague and untrue. Basically like old autumn stories.

Regarding her narrative experience, which touches on an invisible area between the soul and the body in her novel “Lucas Civilization,” Noura says: “I classified my novel as horror to the supernatural world, which is the world of spirits in the character of Lucas, who embodies the character of the “killed soul,” and how this spirit To deal with people, especially in a literary sky, filled with suspense and excitement between the pages of the novel.

local experiences

For his part, producer Ali Al Marzouqi says: “The Emirati cinematic and television experiences based on literary novels are undoubtedly among the most inspiring experiences in creating artistic content in the UAE, as they are linked to the roots of popular culture.

It also has its contemporary character, and today we also lack the presence of specialized screenwriters in this field who possess the tools and high skills in adopting one of those novels presented on the literary scene, and nominating it for directors and producers, as it is the first seed for an epic cinematic and television work that documents popular local visions.

Al-Marzouqi explains: “I took charge of the production of the horror and suspense movie loaded with a comic touch, “The Yado Farm”, the first and second parts, directed by the Emirati director Ahmed Zain and the screenplay by the writer Ibrahim Al-Marzouqi. Surrounded by orchards.

And the beautiful atmosphere, but the vacation soon turns into a series of strange and disturbing events, after the friends find themselves in a clash with the “jinn” until dawn, and we were surprised by the success of the film, which we witnessed publicly and interaction with Emirati filmmakers, and the motivation increased after the success of the film, whether in Cinemas or viewing platforms.