Le Livre Des Jours – Taha Hussein

LE LIVRE DES JOURS – TAHA HUSSEIN

(1ère éd. en français 1947)

Taha Hussein’s autobiography Le Livre des jours is often considered one of the most beloved works in modern Arabic literature. Despite auto-biographies often being considered a western genre, Hussein had a personal vision for the world cultural conversion of literature, and thus rose to become a symbol of enlightenment in post-colonial Egypt. In fact, this book appeared in 1947 as the first French translation of a contemporary Arabic text. Further, his autobiography remains relevant in the hearts of Egyptians today, as it tells the story of a boy from a poor, rural and simple background who transformed into a modern, urban bourgeoisie intellect who challenged traditional thinking. Although the complete book consists of three volumes written between 1926 and 1973, this version contains only the first two. The first recounts his childhood in the Egyptian countryside; the second takes place in Cairo where now a teenager, he continues his studies; finally, the third, published separately details the final stages of his training, first at Cairo University, which had just been founded, then in Montpellier, later at the Sorbonne, and the final return to Egypt, where the protagonist is appointed as a university professor. The final and third volume will also be briefly discussed to gain a wider understanding of Hussein’s vision.

NATURE ET SUJET

In the first part, Hussein reveals the dramatic and unfortunate events surrounding his childhood: he became blind early due to an illness and was thus left to endure the ignorance within his village. His infirmity made nothing easy in his life, yet he was able to overcome weakness and difficulty to forge his character. The young child begins to live in darkness and suffers from solitude, especially following the death of his little sister and older brother. He withdraws into himself from grief but is able to deepen his sensitivity through learning. From hearing, he develops his memory to such a great extent that it will impact his later career as intellectual and writer. He joins the village Koranic school and learns the Koran by heart and as a brilliant student receives a scholarship to pursue studies in theology and Arabic literature at the University of Al-Azhar in Cairo. His infirmity was not his only suffering, but he was terribly disappointed by the poor quality of teaching given at the university. Often at odds with his teachers, he is sometimes expelled from classes because of his complaints. Despite these circumstances, he devotes himself to his passion, into intellectual blossoming through the world of the secular, liberal and modern. Yet he continues to find himself alone in the darkness due to his constant dissatisfaction and fights with peers and teachers. The second part follows him as a now 19-year old boy who takes the opportunity to attend the newly established national university of Cairo. This satisfies his curiosity, especially through his new Italian teacher. He is encouraged to criticise and debate, contrary to the traditional methodologies of Al-Azhard. He follows the teaching of renowned orientalists and learns about the ancient Egyptian civilisation.

COMPOSITION

In 1947 Hussein translated a series of influential essays from the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s Qu’est-ce que la literature? He emphasised the idea that the author’s duty is to write for social engagement. Thus, Hussein refused to be restricted by the concept of “obligation” of the writer, and instead insisted on being free from literary conventions. In Le Livre des jours, the identity of the narrator remains mostly deliberately ambiguous, it is only at the end that the narrator identifies himself as the hero of the story, and only then indirectly. Therefore, the book does not appear as an ordinary autobiography, as the narration is presented in the style of a novel. This made the book an innovator in Egyptian literature at the time and helped advance the novel genre. The book is written chronologically; there is a clear progression from childhood to his eventual appointment as professor in the university. He also ends each volume with a moral or philosophical chapter in which he reflects on the events narrated in the volume. In the first volume he tells his daughter how much they owe his wife, her mother; in the second volume he advises his son, who is in the same situation as was Hussein once was, and the third volume is a reflection on his personal political views.

L'AUTEUR

Hussein (1889-1973) was born in in the Upper Egyptian village of Izbet Al-Kilo in the Minya governorate. He had humble beginnings, hailing from a large lower middle-class family of 13 children, in which he was the seventh child. Following his studies in Cairo during his youth, Hussein gained a scholarship to study in France, in Montpellier then in Paris at the Sorbonne. He flourished in European studies and returned to Egypt to devote himself to the mission of modernising his country, education and culture. Throughout Egypt’s turbulent years in the 1920’s, Hussein confidently causes controversy by criticising the government of the wafd and questioning the Islamic character of the caliphate. He became the object of violent attacks by Al-Azhard people and eventually the great ulama removed him from his post as judge and his title of scholar. Hussein developed his research on the evolution of Islam despite violent criticism regarding his flexibility and his openness to the West and his approval of scientific, cultural and technological progress. Despite a brief exile from Egypt, he founded Alexandria University, and then became Minister of National Education in 1950 where he established educational reforms.

Historically, Hussein is continually praised for his insatiable curiosity, the relevance of his criticisms and even the violence of his opposition. Aside from his autobiography, Hussein is well known for his great work The Future of Culture (1938), a book devoted to culture as a concept for enriching the intellectual life of a nation. As a writer and thinker, Hussein did not limit himself to one genre. It is interesting to see how he studied and wrote about religion, sociology, theology and history. He was nominated 14 times for the Nobel Prize Awards and received the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights and Egypt's Order of the Nile, the country's highest possible award. Today, millions of Egyptian students are enrolled in free public schools thanks to Hussein, who believed that the costs of education were the biggest obstacle hindering Egyptian families from sending their children to schools; his motto in life was “Education is like the air we breathe and the water we drink”. As a recount of his life, his book a great example of literature that aims to achieve justice and social reform.

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