Literary clubs represent cultural and intellectual lighthouses beaming out knowledge and enriching peoples’ lives. At least this is what we expect from the people who are members of these clubs in our country. But this is only possible if human and material resources and capabilities are best used. This, unfortunately, does not seem to be the case here. The output of these organizations in terms of actual contributions points to a great discrepancy with the output varying greatly from one place to another. The intellectual side is often overshadowed by the administrative side. The result is that some clubs continue to exist in complete isolation from academic and other social institutions as well as individual contributors. Such a lack of cooperation and coordination has led to a state of limbo in those clubs, which for years may not have contributed anything of value.
One major reason for the failures is that the people in charge of the clubs have been in charge for decades; some have been in their positions for more than 20 years. That explains why the clubs fail to produce any creative works deserving of our appreciation. I don’t intend to question the integrity or sincerity of those individuals who may be doing their best but allowing people to continue in the same post for such prolonged periods calls for careful consideration and evaluation.
Does this mean our society is experiencing an intellectual and professional dryness and has failed to produce qualified individuals to lead these clubs to any kind of distinction? The question is justified especially if we know that the first literary club in this country was set up more than 30 years ago.
Club managers who remain in office for decades end up repeating themselves after having run out of innovative ideas. It is this state that leads to further strain on the already cool relationship between the clubs and the intellectuals, and it is this which has driven many Saudis to publish their works outside the country at their own expense.
The way out of the deadlock lies in allowing the free election of literary club board members. This isn’t an unheard-of suggestion since sport clubs elect their board members. I am sure if free elections were held everyone who was defeated would accept the results and leave the job to the newly elected person. The real winner in the end would be our cultural life.
