SAUDI ARABIA: ART AND LITERATURE

The earliest form of art is probably in the form of rock art. Most of this art depicted both humans and animals and their nomadic ways of life. Wusum, or tribal symbols, were carved by the Bedouins in many of the hills and throughout the deserts. During the latter part of the 1980s, there was a push to record where a lot of these sites are located and came up with nearly 1000 rock art sites! 

 

Many of the handicrafts in Saudi Arabia have been passed down for generation. Nomadic tribes like the Bedouin have relied on weaving for their everyday lives. Woven rugs were not only for practical use, but the brightly colored strips were also for decoration. Other crafts include metalwork, jewelry, leatherwork, and pottery.

Architecture is also a form of art. In certain regions, the buildings are made from mud bricks, while buildings in different regions can be a couple stories tall with courtyards built into the center of the property. Islamic architecture is also very common and geometric in design. Arches and interconnected designs or tessellations are often used as decoration.Mosaic are also often used.

Pretty much all literature from Saudi Arabia is written in Arabic. Modern traditions rose out of traditional Bedouin poetry. This poetry played an important part in their society and was quite integrated into it. It was often oratory and passed down from generation to generation.

Today, authors face far more scrutiny and censorship from the government. Many publish their works outside of the country. And even some authors who are published still have issues with censorship.

A few Saudi Arabian authors of note include Haifaa al-Mansour (more known as a controversial female filmmaker), Abdul Rahman Munif (he has had his books banned and his citizenship revoked), Ghazi Abdul Rahman Al Gosaibi (poet, novelist, politician), Turki al-Hamad (known for his coming-of-age trilogy; he’s had a fatwa and death threats), Raja’a Alem (award-winning novelist known for her novel The Doves’ Necklace), and Rajaa Al Sanie (known for his novel Girls of Riyadh).

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OMAN: ART AND LITERATURE

Early rock art shows women, men, children, and animals in their daily life. The early settlers to these areas also brought with them an array of other domestic arts, such as jewelry making, weaving, beadwork, and other textiles. There were other types of arts like woodcarving, leather work, metal work, and pottery that were utilized to create tools, utensils, and other items used in the home.

Architecture plays an important part of Omani culture, and many of the influences stem from their historical interactions with other cultures (especially the ones they overtook). By far, Arab and Islamic architecture dominates in Oman. Some of the common features you’ll see are thick walls, few windows, round towers, the use of vaulted arches, carved wooden ceilings, and highly decorated doors and doorways. Many homes and public areas make use of mosaic tiles as decoration and use geometric patterns. In many homes, they often put windows high up and shape them so that it funnels the wind to naturally cool the home. Some homes even built their house around a well, so that the well is now on the inside (you probably find that far more in the rural areas rather than in the cities). 

Royal Opera House, Muscat

Oman has many museums dedicated to its history and cultural arts, many of which are located in Muscat. The Royal Opera House is an architectural feat of beauty and a famous stop for tourists and locals alike. An old French consulate has now been remodeled into a museum and garden. The National Museum is one of the more important collections of the history and culture of Oman. There’s even a museum of frankincense – yes the same from the story where one of the Wise Men brought frankincense as a gift for Baby Jesus. The frankincense tree grows natively in Oman along with myrrh. Both trees produce a resin that is tapped and used as an incense and perfume.

Frankincense tree

The earliest examples of literature from Oman date back to the 9^th century. Most of the manuscripts we have today center around subjects such as religion, culture, and history. Geneologies were also fairly common during the time between the 11^th and 19^th centuries. Poetry has also been a style utilized from the early periods and is still popular today. 

Manuscript of the Quran from Oman

Most Omani authors write in Arabic. Literature in Oman is somewhat hard to really come by translated into English. And from what I’ve gathered, there really aren’t too many brave souls in Oman who jump into writing. For one, writing is hard. (Oh, do I know this!) But that’s not really the reason. One of the main problems is that there is such a high censorship on anything that’s written, it makes it hard for writers to write freely. They can’t question anything regarding the government or draw attention to the state of being censored. I’ve read several articles about authors and bloggers who have been questioned and detained just for questioning the government and writing about their history in any light they deem unflattering. 

That being said, there are a couple authors worth mentioning. One of the more well-known authors is Abdulaziz Al Farsi, whose novel Earth Weeps, Saturn Laughs: An Omani Novel is available through Amazon (and in English!). Another successful author is Jokha Mohammed Al-Harthi. He was the recipient of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2011. Today, there are also many writers and journalists who write for various newspapers, magazines, and literary journals/magazines.

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MAURITANIA: ART AND LITERATURE

Artists in Mauritania are thought to contain a secret knowledge. In this way, I suppose there’s a certain mysticism in how they work. Although an artist’s particular artwork may vary, the knowledge of how to make it is passed down from generation to generation. 

 

Much of their art is handicraft work: pottery, weaving and textiles, carvings and such. There are also ample examples of rock wall drawings and paintings from the ancient days. Like most other African art traditions, most of their art wasn’t simply for art’s sake: it served a purpose. Some of their art was for practical purposes (tools, utensils, and other home wares, or even their architectural styles), but others were for religious purposes (like the iconic African masks or other sculptures). Mauritania has a blend of cultures—West African coming from the south and Berber traditions from the north—so particular artistic styles may be different in various parts of the country, depending on the ethnic background of the people. 

As the Arabs spread Islam into Mauritania, their art reflected this change as well. Islam strictly forbids the depiction of people and other living creatures in their art, so wall coverings and other building designs uses geometric and floral patterns, often based on mathematics. One common place for this type of decoration is around doorways. Not only is it beautiful, but many times, these intricately carved additions and archwork in buildings are also utilized to draw the wind in order to cool down buildings during the heat of the day as well as add stability to the structure. 

Stories and important historical events have been passed down from generation to generation orally for hundreds of generations. It was mostly in the form of epic poetry, religious poetry, storytelling, and riddles and puzzles. For this reason, there isn’t a strong written literary tradition in Mauritania. To compound these matters for Mauritanian writers, the country has a low adult literacy rate, ranging from 52-58%; the rates are significantly higher for males than females. That being said, the books that are published in Mauritania tend to be written in Arabic, French, or any of the other indigenous languages spoken in the country, but they’re only able to be read by roughly a little more than half the country.

Mauritanian storyteller Yahya Rajel

However, that’s not to say there wasn’t anything written down until the French got there. Clearly, as we learned with Mali, there were African scholars all over, sharing information and writing it down. Both public and private libraries in Mauritania are full of manuscripts and scrolls with historical information dating back thousands of years. The ancient city of Chinguetti, now crumbling away with only about 4000 people, is home to some of the oldest Koranic texts in the world. 

One modern author is Mohamed Bouya Ould Bamba, a Mauritanian author who was a Fulbright scholar at Kent State University. He did vow to publish one novel a summer, translate it into English, and offer it as a free download (there’s apparently a lack of Mauritanian literature that has been translated into English). His first book, Angels of Mauritania and the Curse of the Language, was published in 2011. (For a synopsis, check out one of my favorite blogs by clicking here.)  

Other writers from Mauritania include Ahmad ibn al-Amin al-Shinqiti (one of the most famous authors from this country), Ahmed Baba Miské (politician, ambassador to the US, UN representative, writer), Moussa Diagana (mainly writes in French), Ibn Razqa (poet and scholar, often thought of as the Father of Mauritanian Poets), Moussa Ould Ebnou (one of the country’s greatest novelists, published books in both French and Arabic), and Youssouf Gueye (wrote in French, died in prison because he opposed the government). 

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EGYPT: ART AND LITERATURE

Ancient Egyptian art is one of the oldest art forms in the world and one of the most distinctive.  The art is drawn on a two-dimensional scale, and the people and objects tend to be drawn in profile.  There’s very little shading or any acknowledgement of depth.  They also utilized what’s called tiered space: where objects that are supposedly in the distance are placed higher than objects in the forefront. Sometimes people are drawn with the heads of animals that symbolize gods. 

In other arts, gold is a very important material that was used. The ancient Egyptians believed gold was a gift from the gods and that it was virtually indestructible for that reason.  However, at that time, payment for goods and services were done on the barter system – you got paid in food and clothes, so gold didn’t have much of a monetary value at all.  It was used for a variety of projects, from jewelry to sculptures, and masks.  Gold was either mined from surface mines, which are considered state monopolies in Egypt, or was panned from the river.  Actually, Egypt really didn’t produce that much gold, probably around one ton, and most of it went to the royalty.

Because of the influences from the Arab world, there are many Arab-inspired and Islam-inspired buildings throughout the country.  These buildings also tend to be geometrically and mathematically designed. The arts scene now reflects many of the arts movements throughout the world, and you can find Egyptian artists of all mediums, from painting and sculpture to modern techniques using digital arts and other contemporary styles. Egyptians are very tech savvy and use the Internet and social media to promote their art as well. 

The ancient Egyptians were the first people to develop paper from papyrus, thus giving us the book.  Their writing system, hieroglyphics, is one of the first alphabets to emerge.  Some of the more well-known books from this early period are Story of Sihune, Westcar Papyrus, and the Book of the Dead.  Early Egyptian literature usually fell into three categories: autobiographies, informative literature, and myths/stories. Many of the Coptic works were also held in libraries in Alexandria. By the eighth century, Muslim Arabs had taken control of the area and Arabic became the language most written in. They borrowed Egyptian folk tales and many of them were included in One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights).

By the time the 19^th and 20^th centuries came along, Egypt went through a sort of Renaissance movement that hit all of the arts, not just literature. One of the most important writers to emerge from this time is Naguib Mahfouz. Mahfouz has published 34 novels and over 350 short stories, and his works often delve into existentialism. He was also the first Egyptian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. (And I think his photo makes him look a little like Jack Nicholson.)  The novel that is often considered as the first Egyptian novel and Islamic novel is Zaynab, written by Muhammad Husayn Haykal in 1914.  It not only dealt with issues such as the relationships between men and women, but also with the relationships between laborers and plantation owners and was set entirely in Egypt. The novel was also the basis of Egypt’s first silent film of the same name that was produced in 1925. 

Naguib Mahfouz

Jack Nicholson

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