SOAS Research Online

Abstract

In order to ensure a thorough survey of the available corpus of Tunisian short stories from I906 when the earliest modem Tunisian story is recorded, I have adopted a broadly historical framework for the presentation of this thesis. The introduction contains a geographical, historical, social and cultural sketch of Tunisia followed by an analysis of the validity of the existence of the Tunisian Arabic short story in Chapter One. In Chapter Two, I discuss the problem of language - classical or colloquial - in the modem Tunisian short story. Chapter Three is about the pioneers of the story in Tunisia between 1906 and 1912. These were al-Suwaisi al-Jadawi, Manashu, Fahmi and al-Jaaibi whose stories reflected their general concern for socio-political reforms. In Chapter Four, I discuss the al-Alam al-Adabi 'school' of short story writers (1930-1938) and the prominent role played by this review and its contributors in laying the first firm foundation for the Tunisian Arabic short story. Chapter Five is on the period 1940-1956 when Ali al-Duaji the 'father of the Tunisian Arabic short story' emerged and with him, al-Masadi the metaphysical story-writer and other smaller fries like Karabaka, the two Bakir brothers and Tawfiq bu Ghadir. Chapter Six deals with the principal themes in post-independence Arabic short story such as politics such nationalism, social conditions, conflict of generations, and it concludes with a note on the cross~fertilisation of ideas among Tunisian short story writers. Chapter Seven is about short stories by Tunisian women in which they portray their lives, problems and aspirations and Chapter Eight deals with the latest trends in story-writing among Tunisian youths (especially al-Madani) who are highly Influenced by French nouveau- roman writers. The conclusion is a resume of the socio-cultural content of the Tunisian Arabic short story based on the works of some key-writers and the factors which portend a future expansion of the short story in Tunisia.