Works by Naguib Surur
Below is a list of Naguib Surur's main works, with links
to the Arabic text where available. Very little has been
translated. Two translations on the internet are:
Drink
Delirium
(Tada'iyat Al-Sukr wa'l-Daya') from
the collection Faris Akhir Zaman, translated
into English by Mona Anis and Nur Elmessiri. Alternative
site
Luzum ma
Yalzam
Translated into Spanish, with an introduction
by Santiago Alba.
Poetry
Plays
-
Shagarat al-Zaytoun
(Olive Tree), 1958
-
Yassin wa Bahia (Yassin and Bahia), 1965
-
Ah Ya Layl Ya Amar (Oh Night, Oh Moon), 1966
-
Ya Bahia wa Khabirini (Tell me, Bahia), 1967
-
Allo Ya Masr (Hello Egypt), 1968
-
Miramar, 1968
-
al-Kalimat al-Mutaqat'a (The Crossword Puzzle), 1969
-
al-Biraq al-Abyad (The White Banner), 1969
-
al-Hukm qabl al-Mudawla (Sentence Before
Deliberations), 1970
-
al-Zubab al-Azraq (Blue Flies), 1971
-
Malik al-Shahatin (King of Beggars), adaptation of
Brecht's Three Penny Opera, 1971
-
Ulu li Ain al-Shams (Tell the Eye of the Sun), 1973
-
Menein Agib Nas (Where Do I Go to Find People), 1974
-
al-Nigma Umm Dayl (The Comet), 1974
-
Afkar Gunouniya fi Daftar Hamlet (Mad Thoughts in
Hamlet's Notepad), 1977
Criticism
-
Rihla fi Thulathiyat Naguib Mahfouz (A Journey into
Naguib Mahfouz's Trilogy), 1960
-
Hiwar fil-Masrah (A Dialogue about Theatre), 1969
-
Humoum fil-Adab wal-Fann (On Literature and Art), 1971
-
Taht Aba'it Abil-Alaa' (Under the Mantle of Abu Alaa),
-
Hakadha Qala Goha (Thus Spake Goha), 1978
Kuss Ummiyat
KUSS UMMIYYAT (referred to in polite circles by its shortened
title, "al-Ummiyyat") is a dark satire of more than
6,000 words, written in colloquial Arabic.
Mahmoud el-Lozy describes it as a direct and forceful
stream of abuse, invective and lyricism that seems to come
straight from the subconscious:
"Surur challenges, ridicules and denounces all
aspects of official culture and its representatives, and
reminds us of everything that official culture forgets,
ignores, or falsifies. The list of institutions, individuals
and subjects he targets is almost endless …
"In the midst of torrents of abuse and subversive
and obscene inversions of popular and folk sayings and songs
there are also some of the most lyrical passages ever to be
found in modern Egyptian poetry."
Tapes of Surur reciting the poem were circulated but it has
never been formally published in Egypt. In 2000, the poet’s
son, Shohdy - who was then 38 - posted Kuss Ummiyyat on his
website, wadada.net.
About a year later, the Egyptian authorities noticed it and
Shohdy, who was employed in Cairo as webmaster of al-Ahram
weekly, was arrested in November 2001 on obscenity charges.
Although the poem was on a website hosted in the United
States, not Egypt, Shohdy was sentenced to a year in jail but
fled to Russia while his case - which had been treated as a
matter of national security under Egypt’s emergency law -
was awaiting an appeal.
The poem is currently available in Arabic at the Index on
Censorship website and an audio version is
here.
A selection of articles about Shohdy’s arrest can be
found below:
Son awaits trial for tribute to father
Index on Censorship, 30
January 2001
Jail
for son's web tribute to father
Indexonline.org, 30 January, 2001
Sins of
the father
Cairo Times, 29 November, 2001
Web cats
Amira Howeidy, al-Ahram Weekly, 29 November, 2001
Control
without bounds?
Khaled Dawoud, al-Ahram Weekly, 4 July, 2002
Father's
Poem, Son's Conviction
Sergey Kuznetsov, Wired News, 5 August, 2002
Phantoms
of liberty
Hani Shukrallah, al-Ahram Weekly, 29 August, 2002
First
Arab Internet prisoner of conscience
Indymedia, 3 September, 2002
Appeal
hearing next week for journalist sentenced to prison for putting
poem on website
Reporters Without Borders, 11 October, 2002
Battleground
web
Amira Howeidy, al-Ahram Weekly, 17 October, 2002
Cyber-sins
Hossam el-Hamalawy, Cairo Times, 17 October, 2002
Son of Naguib Surur forced into exile after posting poetry on
web
Poetry International Web, 21 October, 2002
Dad's
'immoral' poem exiles son
Sergey Kuznetsov, Wired News 21 October, 2002
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