The question of the “first” Arabic novel continues to spark debate, not as a search for a definitive historical answer, but as an examination of how the very concept of “first” is constructed and perpetuated within literary criticism. This is the central argument of Moroccan critic Nour Eddine Sadouk’s 2025 book, The Arabic Novel: Literary Criticism and the Problem of Beginnings
, which re-examines Muhammad Husayn Haykal’s 1913 novel Zaynab
not as a simple historical fact, but as a complex epistemological problem.
Published in 1913, Haykal’s Zaynab
(زينب) – fully titled Zaynab: Country Scenes and Morals
(زينب: مناظر واخلاق ريفية) – is frequently cited as the foundational text of the modern Arabic novel. Sadouk’s work, however, challenges this established narrative, suggesting that the notion of a singular “beginning” is a cultural construct rather than an inherent truth. He posits that the Arabic novel didn’t emerge fully formed, but rather slipped into existence
through a series of hesitant and open-ended texts.
Sadouk notes in the book’s introduction a consistent divergence of opinion regarding the novel’s place in literary history and the very definition of what constitutes a novel. This has led to comparisons between Zaynab
and works that preceded or followed it. Interestingly, the critical attention afforded to Zaynab
hasn’t extended to Haykal’s second novel, Thus He Created
(هكذا خلقت), a fact Sadouk highlights as noteworthy.
The critic argues that his pursuit isn’t simply about identifying the first Arabic novel, but about understanding how the idea of “the first” came to be, and how it solidified into a historical dogma. Zaynab
, becomes a point of critical inquiry, transformed from a straightforward historical marker into a complete epistemological knot.
The novel itself, written in Egyptian Arabic dialogue and Literary Arabic, depicts life in the Egyptian countryside, focusing on the romantic and marital relationships between men and women, and the dynamics between the landowning and laboring classes. Haykal, the son of rural landowners, penned the work while studying law in France in 1911. Initially intended as a short story, it expanded into a three-part novel. He originally published it under the pseudonym Masri Fallah (An Egyptian Peasant
), a choice that, according to Sadouk, underscores the lack of prestige associated with the novelistic form at the time.
The story centers on Zaynab, a beautiful young peasant woman, and the three men vying for her affection: Hamid, the plantation owner’s eldest son; Ibrahim, a peasant foreman with whom she falls in love; and Hassan, a more prosperous peasant who enters into an arranged marriage with her. Zaynab
is considered an early liberal critique of arranged marriage, the veil, and the enforced seclusion of women, but ultimately ends tragically with the heroine’s psychological decline and death from consumption
.
Sadouk views the birth of the Arabic novel
as a theoretical and cultural complexity, intersecting with the stakes of criticism, conceptions of modernity, and representations of a shift from previous expressive forms to a new narrative form. This has led him to question the accumulated readings of the Arabic novel, readings that have positioned Zaynab
as a central point in discussions about the origins of the modern Arabic novel.
Sadouk argues that the beginning
is a process of formation, intertwined with the need for expression, transformations in self-awareness and understanding of the world, and engagement with Western literature. He emphasizes that the Arabic novel didn’t arise in a vacuum, nor through simple imitation, but through open cultural relationships, self-awareness, and dialogue with other cultures.
Sadouk concludes that Zaynab
is a pivotal text in the history of the modern Arabic novel’s formation, but its representation has remained a source of anxious questions
, disagreements, and variations. These disagreements, he suggests, often stem from underlying ideological agendas, conscious or unconscious. Numerous studies have challenged the notion of Zaynab
as the foundational text of the Arabic narrative in Egypt, preferring to attribute the beginning
to the region associated with the critical perspective itself.
Sadouk also points out that the focus on the problem of beginnings and the granting of significant value to Zaynab
hasn’t resulted in a comprehensive study of Haykal’s second novel, Thus He Created
. Despite both works demonstrating Haykal’s literary and stylistic proficiency, stemming from his extensive knowledge of literature and philosophy, the second novel has remained comparatively overlooked.
Sadouk doesn’t treat the moment of founding as a closed historical achievement. Throughout his book, he connects the problem of beginnings with the evolution of awareness in creative writing, and places the critical discourse itself under scrutiny, revealing how many foundational readings of the Arabic novel were conditioned by their ideological and methodological contexts. He argues that discussions about the beginning
often expressed a desire for control and historical categorization rather than a response to the complexity and transformations of the texts themselves.
This book represents a continuation of Sadouk’s consistent critical trajectory, which began in 1984 with his work The Limits of the Literary Text: A Study in Creative Application
, and has continued through works including The Literary Text: Manifestations of Connections to the Past
, Abdallah al-Arwi and the Modernity of the Novel
, The Beginning in the Narrative Text
, The West in the Arabic Novel
, The Novel and the Production of Consciousness: A Study in the Game of Forgetting
, The Self and the World: A Study in Diaries
, The Arabic Narrative and the Problem of Founding
, and The Reader and Interpretation
.
