Essay: ‘Abd al-Rahmdn Munif: Man against Nature.

In ‘Abd al-Rahman Munif s novel Nihdydt the spatial setting is less pri mordial than in NazTf al-hagar. Here, the story revolves around a small town on the edge of the desert, named al-TIbah. In the East are the well, the market, orchards and the mountains; in the North and West are plains and hills where cereals are grown; and, finally, in the South lie the sand dunes of the desert, which become increasingly desolate. This environ ment provides the town in normal circumstances with a certain measure of security. Nature will flourish in springtime, and generally the inhabi tants are able to survive periods of drought. There exists a kind of symbiosis between the town and the desert, although the latter always remains a menace: the desert is “a foe that cannot be resisted. One has to come to an understanding with him, try to outsmart him, or else accept his terms”.10 Munif suggests that apart from the continuous cycle of the seasons and the forces of nature, the only way in which the inhabitants can bear the permanent state of anxiety is to tell stories. The telling of stories and events and the desert are in fact inseparable: “In the desert talk is endless. It shares with the desert the same breadth, harshness and almost infinite expansiveness”.11
Stories are the real medium through which the inhabitants define their relationship with their spatial milieu. Space is ordered and systematized by the continuous exchange of experiences and observations, thus creat ing a common perception which strengthens the bond between the people vis-a-vis the tremendous force of the desert. Nature is explored, explained and tamed by speech; it is endowed with meanings and made comprehensible. Moreover, the history of the town is engraved in memory, which in turn secures the continuity of life in the town. The people will never relinquish their ties to al-TTbah, because the place is deeply etched into their memory. Apart from story-telling, the great obsession of the people of al-TIbah is hunting. The desert is full of birds of various kinds, which are essential for the survival of the town, especially in times of drought. The birds have found a certain modus vivendi with the town: if they are left in
peace, they venture into the vicinity of the houses and do not avoid the company of man. When too many of them are killed, however, they with draw into the desert and seek refuge from the hunters. The exponent of the “traditional” way of hunting is ‘Assaf, a lonely and somewhat myste rious man, who is concerned with preserving the balance of forces be tween the natural environment and the town, and who seems to have an intimate, even esoteric, knowledge of the desert and its fauna. He warns repeatedly that strict codes apply to the bird hunt, to protect the bird population and preserve the delicate relationship between man and nature. In the course of time, however, ‘Assaf becomes increasingly isolated among the townsmen and the number of pastime hunters increases rap idly.
On a fateful day during a period of severe drought, ‘Assaf leads a hunting party, driven in two cars, into the desert. It appears that cars have become an indispensable aid for hunters, since the birds cannot be approached in another way. In fact, it is the car which does the actual hunt ing, by routing the birds in front of the hunters. Cars have become a weapon, then, but, as it turns out, they are also vulnerable and make the hunter dependent on them for his safety. After a first round of hunting, ‘Assaf wants to return to the town, but he lets himself be persuaded to lead another round. He leaves the car and instructs the others to drive in large circles around him. When suddenly a sandstorm breaks out, how ever, the drivers lose their orientation and the cars get stuck in the sand like “helpless turtles”. The violence of nature transforms the environment completely and the cars become a prison for the hunters, who are starting to suffer from exhaustion and thirst. Just in time, the two cars and their passengers are saved, but ‘Assaf is found dead and half-buried in the sand. His ominous forebodings have become true and the traditional method of hunting comes to an end.12
The symbol of the car as the medium by which a traditional equilibrium between man and nature is broken, is elaborated further in one of the stories told at the wake before ‘Assaf s funeral. Here too a hunter experiences the change of hunting methods as a result of the use of cars, which radically alters his relation with the animals and the desert. When starting the car, he has the feeling that everything is lost and that respect for the survival of animal life has ended. This is most clearly illustrated by the following passage:
“This accursed vogue for change brought with it those dreadful cars which looked like tents, cars with angular features and rasping engines. They could take on any terrain however hard; nothing could stand in their way. They would cover large dis tances at speed and plough through sand as though it were water. If there were any stones in the way, they would simply thrust them aside like a mule kicking stones out of its path. The elders would often suggest that the cars must have had devils hidden somewhere inside them, since no other creature could do the things they did.
The desert animals also developed an instinctive feeling for these changes and started to scare easily. They abandoned the spots where cars would pass by and avoided the watering-holes close to the highway. They made do with as little food as possible. That meant that they could keep out of the way of all this traffic and avoid those crazy moments when human beings were trans formed into wild animals somewhat akin to a howling gale. […] When those devilish spirits took hold of them, they turned into demons. Those who at first refused to use landrovers soon adapted to them. It was then that the elders started warning each other in loud tones that the Day of Resurrection was not something they had to wait for; they were staring straight at it”.13
The desert is no longer as it was before: “The desert was completely transformed. It was crisscrossed with roads. The silence was shattered by the roar of engines. At night the dark expanse was pierced by headlight beams which looked like falling meteors. Places unfrequented by lizards or de mons were invaded by human beings from heaven knows where”.14
As was predicted by ‘Assaf, now that the balance between man and nature is destroyed, al-TIbah is threatened by ruin. Like in Nazif al-hagar, the demystification of the desert brings a sense of doom. In al-Kawnl’s novel, however, in the end the doom appears to be the fulfillment of a forecast, or the realization of fate. In Nihdydt the end is more open and more optimistic. After all, the medium of destruction, the automobile, has also protected the hunting party from the sandstorm, and in the end the inhabitants use cars to proceed to the capital in great numbers, to demand the construction of a dam near al-TIbah, to secure the survival of the town. The final sentence of the novel significantly reads: “Once again si lence reigned. All that could be heard was the sound of cars on the as phalt road as they headed for the city”.15