Abandoning politeness

A problematic title, as are most of the author's problematic and unique titles, through which he shares his critical and intellectual concerns in reading Arabic literature and heritage, especially in its constant relationship with Western literatures. Khalil Tua does not hesitate in the introduction of the book to ask: Is it possible to abandon literature? Let us discover that what he sought to delve into was abandonment as a subject of literature, "perhaps its main subject and perhaps the secret of its continuity." Twenty texts written in the author's beloved style of jumping and leaping. Books and names and readings, references and insightful discoveries, and approaches based on deep personal reflections, given by the memory that is constantly nourished by reading and re-reading; a special sparkle. And perhaps the reader of this book also wonders, while moving from one text to another, and from one paragraph to another, about these (playful) doubts apparent and hidden, and about this (Arab) exceptional memory with which Khalil Tua approaches his subject, opening horizons to view the same thing from multiple angles, giving a second life to Arabic literature, and building endless bridges between it and foreign texts and literatures. Khalil Tua enjoys a playful spirit in his reading of literature in general and Arabic heritage in particular, entering the game of narration while reading texts, and inventing serious and new questions, and immersing himself in possibilities and comparisons, relying on ongoing research and conscious flipping through manuscripts, books, and studies, old and new. A kind of epic critical craftsmanship from details often overlooked in Arab critical approaches. We will inevitably encounter in the texts and titles of the book Borges, Cervantes, Al-Ma'arri, the Maqamat of Al-Hamadhani and Al-Hariri, Abu Zayd Al-Sarouji, Roland Barthes, Roman Gari, and others. Not a random invocation, but a diligent attempt to discover secrets and mysteries. A kind of impossible hidden behind lines, in margins, and in states of despair, hesitation, and doubt. A reading that transcends literature to reality and the cultural background in which the text was formed or translated, or in which it moved within its linguistic basin from oral to written. And in all that, an acknowledgment of gratitude and sincere loyalty to the great teachers throughout history. Khalil Tua says in the text of Issa bin Hisham: "Issa bin Hisham does not wander, as Al-Muwaylihi depicted him, in the 'Kingdom of Islam'; he does not move from city to city as his predecessor, the narrator of Hamadhani, who carried the same name, used to do. The new Issa bin Hisham does not leave Egypt except to go to Paris. Noticeably, Egypt, its customs, lifestyles, and societal details were emphasized. The world has changed, its map has shifted, and the center of power has been established in the West, which imposed itself, leaving the author only to regret 'the people of the East [...] in their decline and the rise of the West above them.' Al-Muwaylihi or the vision (novel) of the defeated. Compared to the "Risalat al-Ghufran," Cairo appears as a terrifying hell, and Paris as a promised paradise. It is no longer possible in these circumstances to write Maqamat in the old style, and what has become available is talking about the confrontation between East and West, the subject of the Arab novel from then until today.