JEDDAH, 30 October 2007 — Tonight at the Jeddah Literary Club the Hewar (Dialogue) Group kicks off its first meeting this season with a discussion of “East of the Valley” by the controversial Saudi novelist Turki Al-Hamad. The main reading will be given by literary critic Mohammed Al-Herz and the discussion will then be open to club members and members of the public.
The Hewar Group was founded four years ago with the aim of linking literature to social issues in the Kingdom.
Al-Hamad, a 55-year-old former professor of political science at King Saud University in Riyadh, has published several novels that document modern Saudi history and the political and social changes in people’s lives. He is most famous for his trilogy known as “Shadows of the Deserted Alleys” that chronicle the life of a Saudi man who is first seen as a young student in Riyadh, then a member of a secret leftist party in Dammam and finally a prisoner in Jeddah.
“East of the Valley,” the novel chosen for discussion, will focus on the Hewar Group theme this year, which is the portrayal of foreigners in Saudi novels. “Saudi society in the 90s witnessed an era full of quick and deep economic, social and political changes. All that made ‘the other’ very much present in our lives whether directly or indirectly,” said the group’s statement.
In “East of the Valley” Al-Hamad follows the life of the main character, Jaber Al-Sadra, whose name is not revealed until the last line in the novel. He begins as a simple village farmer and ends up as a board member of Saudi Aramco. Many critics consider “East of the Valley” to be Al-Hamad’s masterpiece, preferring it to the more famous trilogy.
“It’s the most mature work he has written. It has great literary value as well as the intimacy and simplicity of telling a story which he failed to do in his ideological trilogy,” said critic Said Al-Ahmad.
In the trilogy, Al-Hamad violated many taboos in Saudi society, especially those relating to politics and sex. Many critics and readers look at the trilogy as autobiographical but Al-Hamad denies it.
“I do share a lot with the main character in the trilogy but the trilogy is not an autobiography,” said Al-Hamad in an interview. “All my work talks about various realities in Saudi society,” said Al-Hamad in an interview with the Saudi press last year.
