Confessions of the Arab Bookworm Hypocrite

Never have I ever had the chance to learn so much about the world of Arabic Literature like I have in my recent research on the publishing market in the Middle East. I have come to learn about authors that flourished, others that passed by without a single chance of fame and I find myself even more enticed to actually read the works of Haykal love story to Mahfouz Nobel literatures and the many other authors I have come to learn about in details.

I still wonder if it was my lack of interest in my Arabic studies during my high school years or the lack of creativity it came to teaching the course, but it saddens me that I never showed (and many others perhaps) any interest towards Arabic literature.

I recall as soon as the bell rang indicating the end of our classes, I would take out my Harry potter or Dan brown novels and read as much as I can before the start of my next class. Many of us grew with this idea that Arabic novels, like our courses were boring and lacked the same spark any English best seller novel did and this is perhaps ideally one of the many reasons why the Arabic publishing industry today are suffering.

Yet, I must confess that I am somewhat of a hypocrite, and it took me a while to realize this as I was browsing through the St. Andrews library. I came upon the translated work of Haykal, I was tempted to throw away all my work and sit in the corner and just read the novel. I held the book and stared at it for a while, its rough edges and smudged pages show that this book has been read more than once. I stared at Haykal’s name in English and I sat there and contemplated the ironic situation.

I am an Arab, with the ability to read a book in Arabic yet I wanted to read the book in the English language. It bothered me more than anything that as my thesis proposes strategies for the market to come back to its days of glory, so the least I could do is practise what I preach.

Which brings me to the resolution I have put down, as soon as I submit my thesis to the university, I will force myself to read my very first Arabic novel. It may have taken me 21 years, living in Scotland and working on a thesis only to realize this, but I always believe it is never too late.