Ali Ahmad Ba-Kathir, a contemporary conservative Arab writer - an appraisal of his main novels and plays

Abstract

The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the history of drama in Arabic Literature since the first plays were produced. Furthermore, it deals with the history of the theatre in Egypt, tracing its development and especially its relationship with different governments at different times. Lastly, this part of the thesis deals with the history of dramatic writing and the reasons which led to the development of the play for reading as against the play for the stage. The second part deals with selected works of Ba-Kathir. His first attempts to write plays are dealt with as an attempt of his to find a medium through which to express himself. Because the emphasis hero is on language, there is some detailed textual criticism. When Ba-Kathir rejects poetry as a means of expressing dialogue in plays but still finds interest in historical subjects, we come to his historical novels. These are dealt with in their relationship to Ba-Kathir's ideas. Then follows tire section on the comedies, which are both social and political and the most successful works by Ba-Kathir. In the next section, his tragedies are treated as religious plays because this is what they are. The last section of this part of the thesis deals with the epic of Umar b. al-Khattab, which is the most glaring failure of Ba-Kathir. Part Three deals with Ba-Kathir’s ideas and how these relate to his use of the Arabic language