Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)-An Analytical Study

Tawfiq al-Hakim's 'Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf' (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)

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Tawfiq al-Hakim's Novel 'Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf' (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)-An Analytical Study

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)-An Analytical Study

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)-An Analytical Study

 

 

By 

Menonim Menonimus

  

Internet Edition by

www.menonimus.org

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s novel Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)–An Analytical Study by Menonim Menonimus, Published by www.menonimus.org

 

 

 

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First Published: 2019

 

 

 

 

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 D.T.P. by A. Shahriar

 

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Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)-An Analytical Study

Introduction

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s novel entitled Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) published in 1937 is a socio-political novel through which he has portrayed the corruption of the government officials as well as of the forlorn social status of the plebeians.  It is a comic novel where there is no specific plot but some sequence of episodes huddled together. The main outstanding themes of the novel are the arbitrariness and corruption in the Legal System, fraud and corruption in politics, crime in society and consequently the sufferance of poverty-stricken fellahin (peasants) of Egypt. The main episodes of the novel are – the investigation regarding the shooting of Kamar al- Dawla Alwan, the judgment episode, Rim episode, the childbirth episode and the episode of politics. In this novel Yawmiyyat Naif Fil Aryaf (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) there are characters but to the real sense, there is no characterization as all the characters are depicted partially and none has got full depiction. However, the prominent characters in the novel are- the Prosecutor, the two Judges, Kamar al- Dawla Alwan, the Ma’mur, Rim and Shaik Asfur. Tawfiq al-Hakim has depicted all his characters from the personal point of view of the Prosecutor, the narrator of the novel. Almost all the characters are portrayed typically, though there are some individual traits in some characters. His characters may broadly be divided into two classes as – the ruling class and the plebeians (fellahin). All the characters have become the representatives of the two classes they belong to. In spite of the presence of some tragic episodes like- the episode of Kamar al- Dawla Alwan, the episode of Rim, the episode of the village women etc. there are abundant comic elements that affect our sense of humour and thus delight us. The comic elements in the novel are made up of speech, situation and action. All the type characters representing the government machinery are full of comic traits either in action or in speech. The plot construction of the novel is very loose and there is no logic and coherence in the arrangement of the events and episodes that come into the texture of the novel. The setting (atmosphere) of the novel is unique and the novelist is very keen on observing the surrounding of any event that he goes on to depict in this novel and the vivid narration of the setting has made the novel more life-like and realistic. He has employed ample dialogues to meet his purpose. His dialogues have played a veritable role in evolving the plot and expressing the inner motives, feelings and passions of his characters. The language of Tawfiq al-Hakim employed in the novel Yawmiyyat Naif Fil Aryaf translated into English by Abba Eban as ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’ is characterized by complexity in structure, much use of dashes, abundant use of similes, use of abstract terms and words and much use of Islamic references. The philosophy of life expressed in the novel is that if the governing authority of a country is corrupted and selfish then the sufferance of the common people increases beyond imagination.

Here an analytical study of his novel Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) has been attempted as below.

 

Plot (Theme) Analysis of ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’

According to The Concise Oxford Dictionary Plot refers to the interrelationship of the main events in a play, novel, film etc. According to A Glossary of Literary Terms, Plot in a dramatic work is the structure of its action, as these are ordered and rendered toward achieving particular emotional and artistic effects. In brief, to say, Plot is a sequence of events in a story. On the other hand, theme means a subject or topic on which a person, speaker or writer thinks.

Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) is Tawfiq al-Hakim’s second novel which got published in 1937, the first being Awadat Al Ruh (Return of the Spirit) published in 1933. Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) is a tragic novel represented in a comic way written in an autobiographical style. To speak the truth, there is no specific plot but some sequence of episodes huddled together. The main outstanding themes of the novel are the arbitrariness and corruption in Legal System, fraud and corruption in politics, crime in society and consequently the sufferance of the poverty-stricken fellahin (peasants) of Egypt. The main episodes of the novel are – the investigation regarding the shooting of Kamar al- Dawla Alwan, the judgment episode, Rim episode, the childbirth episode and the episode of politics. Let us analyze the themes i.e. episodes as under.

At the outset of the novel Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf, we encounter the episode of Investigation concerning the case of Kamar al-Dawla Alwan. The episode shows us the hollowness of the judiciary system of the then Egypt. The officials pertaining to the judiciary system are good for nothing fellows. They only maintain the formality but have no goodwill at their heart to find out the truth. The Public Prosecutor who leads the investigation of Kamar al-Dawla Alwan is a type of the officials of the judiciary department of Egypt. In the name of investigation, he takes the role of investigation with his team but all have proved as ‘much ado about nothing.’ He along with other officials is drowsy throughout the investigation. He often complains of his lack of sleep. His function is routine-like. He knows the result of the investigation beforehand and resumes the case after having got the information of shooting Kamar Alwan as:

“That is all right. I thought to myself – a simple matter. It would not take me more than a couple of hours at the most. The assailant is unknown. The victim cannot speak and won’t confuse me with his chatter. I have no doubt what he witnessed will be like. There will be the ghafir (sentry) on duty who heard the shot went off towards it, sluggish with freight- and naturally found nothing but a body prostrate on the ground. Then there will be umdah (the village head), who will swear by his wife’s honor that the criminal is not one of his villagers; and finally, the members of the victim’s family, who will keep everything dark from me and reserve the opportunities of vengeance for themselves.”

The duty of the investigation officers is to reach their destination as soon as they can without making a delay. But the team of the investigation makes delay in maintaining their formality. The prosecutor gives a resume of the formality of their report writing as:

  “I found the officers in charge of the police station up to his ears in the compilation of a statement for me to throw into the water paper basket. For the legal officers always investigate the case anew as soon as he arrives. We settle down the inquiry, beginning with the description of our arrival. The clerk took his pen and paper, came to my side and wrote, while I dictated the usual formula:”

The Legal Officer is very minute in presenting the report other than the investigation. The Public Prosecutor admits deliberately as:

 “The point is that I always like to take pains with the compilation of the report and to see that it is well and logically arranged. The report is the be-all- and- end-all in the eyes of higher authority. It is the only evidence testifying the accuracy and skill of the Legal Officer; nobody worries, of course, about the mere apprehension of the criminals.”

The Legal Officer takes pains to make a long report because the higher officials give emphasis on the length of a report rather than the accuracy of the investigation. The Legal Officers says:

 “I scribbled at the bottom of the page. To be filed with report and clasped my head in my hands, wandering what was to be done next in this case, and whom we could interrogate so as to bring out Report up to a minimum of twenty pages. For I have never forgotten what a Public Prosecutor said to me one day when he received a ten-page report: What is all this? A contravention or a misdemeanour?

  When I replied that it was a murder case, he shouted at me in astonishment, ‘A murder case investigated in ten pages! The murder of a human being! All in ten pages?’

  When I replied that with those ten pages we had managed to get the murderer, he paid no attention whatever and went on weighing the report in his hand with careful accuracy: Who would ever have believed that this report could be of a murder case?

I replied instantly, Next time, God willing, we shall be more careful about the weight.”

Kamar al-Dawla Alwan was shot by unknown someone. It was evident that he got one shot. But the controversy rose regarding whether he got one shot or two shots. The novelist writes down what the Public Prosecutor said as under:

 ”First, they brought the duty- ghafir. Who heard the shot and been the first to rush to the scene of the crime. He did not live up to my expectations- except in one thing. He insisted that he had heard two shots, whereas the text of the message referred to one shot; and the wound was caused by one shot only. All the villagers agreed that no more than one shot had rung out that evening. What motive could he have for lying? I was completely baffled. So we put aside the more important aspects of the case and went off into a discussion of the question whether one or two shots were fired. We interrogated everybody anew, and their answers were of one accord: One shot, sir.”

Eventually, Kamar al-Dawla Alwan died in the hospital uttering an indistinct word ‘Rim’ and thus the case was buried without being got justice.

The episode that comes second to our notice is the episode that has represented the Judgments System in Egypt. In the then, Egypt judiciary system was a farce. The same arbitrariness in the legal system is in the run as is encountered in the investigation machinery. The judges are wayward. They have no respect for the public interest. The defenders enjoy no right to defend themselves. They become playthings in the hand of the Legal system. For instance, the function and individual traits of the ‘First Judge’ may be taken into consideration. The novelist has given a vivid picture of him as- there were two judges in the court and they worked on alternate days. One of them lives in Cairo.

In the court of Egypt, a misdemeanour case may turn into a felony as in the case of a woman who had bitten the finger of a person named Shaikh Hasan for the offence of making a cunning joke. The episode reads as:

The accused woman had a daughter called Sitt Abuha; she was wooed by a peasant named Horaisha, who offered a dowry of fifteen gold pieces. The mother refused and demanded twenty.  The matter stood there until one day the suitor’s brother, a young boy called Ginger, came alone on his own accord and informed the bride’s family, quite falsely, that the suitor had accepted their terms. He then went back to his brother and told him that the girl’s family had agreed to reduce the dowry and to accept his offer. As a result of this cunning joke played on both parties, a day was appointed for reciting the Fatiha at the bride’s house, and the bridegroom deputed Shaik Hasan and Shaik Faraj to his witness.

Everybody came together and the girl’s mother killed a goose. Scarcely had the meal been made ready and served to the guest when the dowry was mentioned and the trick was revealed. It was evident that the deadlock had not been solved and a quarrel flared up between the two parties. The girl’s mother began to shout in the yard. Shaik Hasan was moved by the spirit of devoted zeal and did not touch the food. He began to argue with the woman, vainly trying to convince her, while his colleague, Shaik Hasan scratched out his hand towards the goose and began to guzzle it avidly, without entering into the impassioned dispute. It appeared that the enthusiasm on each side went beyond the limits of verbal discussion. Hasan saw that his hand was not in the plate of goose but in the woman’s mouth. He let forth a resounding shriek and soon the whole house was turned upside down in chaotic confusion. Hence was the case and the judge turned to the old woman and said, ‘the case has become a felony and without the jurisdiction of the Criminal Court.’

The old lady showed no sign of understanding this subtle distinction. In her view, a bite was a bite. How it could suddenly be transformed from a misdemeanour into a felony?

Here the novelist has cast his comments as, ‘What an accursed law it is- far beyond the comprehension of this simple folk!’

The other judge is an excessively conscientious man who lives with his family in the district office. He is very slow in dealing with cases for he is afraid of making mistakes through haste, and perhaps too, he is eager to fill in time and enlivens his boredom in his provincial outpost. Moreover, he has no train to catch. So from the early morning, he sits at his desk as though he is inseparably nailed to it, and he never leaves it till just before noon. He generally resumes the session in the evening too. This session has always been a nightmare…..”

The fourth episode that comes in the sequence of the plot of the novel is the Episode of Rim. She is a young village girl aged about sixteen. She is the younger sister of the dead wife of Kamar al Dawla Alwan. She is very beautiful and charming. The Prosecutor has given a vivid account of her physical charm as under:

 “…… Never since my arrival in the province had I seen a more lovely face or a more graceful figure. She stood in the doorway clad in a long black robe like an ebony statue engraved with a white countenance. The Umdah spoke to her encouragingly:  ‘come in, young lady.”

 “She advanced shyly with hesitant steps, not knowing before whom to stand. The umdah directed her towards me. She looked me straight in the face, raising her eyelids. For the first time in my experience, I knew what it was to be ill at ease during an investigation. I could think of no question to ask him. The clerk could not see her as she was standing behind him. So when he noticed my silence, he assumed that I was tired. He dipped his pen in the ink, raised his eyes and asked, ‘your name?’

 She pronounced her name non-committedly. “My whole being vibrated like a violin chord to the touch of deft and sensitive fingers. I felt certain that my voice would tremble if I asked her anything else, so I hesitated. The position was distinctly embracing, for the investigation would drag on interminably if I was going to help blankly between each question. I collected my scattered wits, and all the resolution I could muster, and charge into the breach with questions framed to elicit a long complete answer….”

The above-quoted account of Rim given by the investigation officer illustrates best how beautiful and fascinating Rim was.

She was in an age when marriage was imperative for her. But she was under the guardianship of her sister’s husband Kamar al-Dawla Alwan who was not willing to give her in marriage. The novelist gives an account of the riddle of her not being married till then, as:

 “I asked if anyone had asked her hand in marriage. She answered affirmatively. The last had been a nice young man whom she would have not rejected, but her brother in law, who was her guardian, had rejected him. He had always refused to accept any of the numerous men whose hand had been outstretched towards her, like the hands of praying votaries.”

She becomes the victim of circumstance though she remains throughout the novel under the veil of mystery. To find out the clue of the shooting of Kamar al Dawla she was carried to the police station for interrogation and there she had to spend the night in the house of the murmur from where she got disappeared and later on she was drowned and died. Nothing was known of the cause of her drowning. Thus the episode came to an end.

The fourth episode that has formed the sequence of events of the novel is the Childbirth Episode. The novelist has given a vivid portrayal of childbirth as well as of the hygiene condition of the villagers. One day the prosecutor had to investigate a case of a woman who died of childbirth. What he found going there is narrated by the author as below:

  “……… they are mere burial brokers. Even assuming that an occasional one is honest and conscientious enough to go to examine the corpse, what can an ignorant fellow like that discover? He sees a man or woman, recently dead, with no visible wounds. How can he possibly know that there is something suspicious about the manner of death? This whole system of barbers attached to the Health Department – a system unknown to any country in the world- is itself the source of evil.  It is very similar to our midwifery system. I shall never forget what a doctor from the central hospital told me once. He had been called out to a case of childbirth in some provincial village and hurried off, only to find the sick woman prostrate on her back, with the arm of the baby protruding from her body. At her side was an old woman with red hair and lips-Sitt Hindiah, the midwife. He learned that the woman had been in this state for three days, with the arm protruding from her. He asked the midwife why she had waited all that time without calling the doctor. She replied, ‘We were waiting for God’s secret bounty. We said to ourselves, ‘May God delivers her safely.’ The doctor had then placed his hand in the womb and found it stuffed with straw. The woman’s uterus was perforated and she was moribund, beyond all hope. The baby had been dead for two days. Looking around she had observed a pile of filthy straw at the woman’s feet, and had asked the midwife, Sitt Hindiah for an explanation. ‘Well, doctor’, she said, ‘when I put the hand into to get the child out, I found the womb slippery, so I said to myself,   I’d better rub my hand with a bit of straw.’ She extended her hand to the doctor, who observed that it was filthy with straw from which her long black nails protruded. These midwives deliver a woman of a child as though she were a buffalo,’ said the doctor the sick woman and her baby had both died.”

Thus the childbirth episode shows us best how deplorable the condition of hygiene of Egypt was at that time!

Another aspect of the novel is that of Politics. Politics has come here in the novel not as a distinct event or episode but as a reference. Politics in Egypt is nothing but a game of earning money. It has nothing to do with the welfare of the mass. Politics is the supreme issue in Egypt. Ma’mur said, ‘it is no use being too pedantic. You mean that we should leave people in prison for no crime.’

If any official is seemed to speak against the corrupted policy of politics he sees that he is either dismissed from his post or he is transferred to Upper Egypt. To clarify this point it may be reasonable to allude what the prosecutor said of the arbitrariness of the political leaders of the country. He says:

“Most numerous of all were the charges of vagrancy against persons unfriendly to the new government. This was the easiest and effective weapon the administration possessed: for every notables’ son could be charged with ‘having no fixed occupation’ and could thus be arrested and imprisoned for four days by permission of the Legal Department, to give time for investigation,  and to obtain his record from Cairo. And where was the Legal Officer today who would refuse the demands of a police station to issue detention orders?”

Thus all these episodes have formed the plot of the novel through which the novelist has succeeded to give a vivid pen pictures of the socio-political phenomena in Egyptian society of his time.

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) 

Characters and Characterisation in ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’

Literally, the word ‘Character’ means the collective mental or moral qualities of a person or thing. But literary (in literature) the term refers to the person who gets depicted in a play, novel, story or in any piece of literary creation. The characters in any literary writing may get expressed and delineated through- (1) Objective Narration (2) Dialogues (speeches, soliloquies, monologues etc) and (3) Action (deeds).

The characters in any literary writing may be depicted as- (1) Stable (Firm) and (2) Changing (Developing). A Stable Character is called him who is depicted as unchanging in his dealing, outlook and disposition from beginning to the very end. On the other hand, the character that undergoes a radical change either through a gradual development or as a result of the pressure of circumstance is called Changing Character.

Characterization may be of two types as (1) Type and (2) Individual (Peculiar). A Type Character is he who gets depicted as the representative of a class, group or region with a distinct ethos. On the other hand, an Individual Character is he who is depicted with his peculiar or special habits, qualities, whims, and so on which distinguishes him from his class. On the basis of the roles played by the characters in a play, novel, story or any literary writing, characters may be classified into two classes as- (1) Major Characters and (2) Minor Characters. The characters that are involved in the theme of a story from the beginning to the end and play important roles in the development of the theme and thus lead the plot to the conclusion are called Major Characters. One or two among the major characters who take the leading role from the very beginning to the end of the story and rounding whom the theme and all other characters revolve is called Hero or Heroine (Protagonist).

On the other hand, the person (character) who plays the role against the hero or heroine from the beginning to the end and causes troubles, conflicts and sufferance to the hero or heroine or to both and thus leads the theme to a conclusion through some steps as- opening, conflict, crisis, falling action and conclusion is called Anti-hero (Antagonist).

Characterization may be realistic, psychological, humorous (comic), tragic, tragi-comic, ideological and so on. The characters based on convincing realism and accuracy of details render enduring popularity to any piece of literature.

In Tawfiq al Hakims’ novel, Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) is a novel that bears characters but in the real sense, there is no characterization as all the characters are portrayed partially and none has got full depiction. However, the prominent characters in the novel are- the Prosecutor, the two Judges, Kamar al- Dawla Alwan, Ma’mur, Rim and Shaik Asfur. Tawfiq al-Hakim has depicted all his characters from the personal point of view of the Prosecutor, the narrator of the novel. Almost all the characters are portrayed typically, though there are some individual traits in some characters. His characters may broadly be divided into two classes as – the ruling class and the plebeians (fellahin). All the characters have become the representatives of the two classes they belong to. Let us illustrate all these characters with the special roles they played in the novel as below:

The Prosecutor is the most prominent character in the novel. The novelist mentions his name nowhere in the novel. The novelist makes him his spokesman and relates the incidents. He is mostly the type of his class though there is some individuality in him. The navel begins with his individuality as he is sleeping in his bed after hard labour throughout the day. His role in the novel is multifold as –first he is the narrator of the events of the novel, secondly he is the link among all the remaining characters and thirdly he is the sole commentator on every issuing incident.

The novelist has portrayed him first as a type of his class i.e. Legal Department. All the strong points and the weak points are there in him. He seemed busier than he really is.  When he received the message of the shooting of Kamar al Dawla Alwan, he becomes irritable. But as custom demands, he could not but go there. As a legal officer, his duty was to arrive at the spot of the incident as soon as it was possible but he makes a fuss and thus delayed in going there. He shows more formality than executing his duty in time. His life is routine-like and as a routine he resumes the event of Kamar al Dawla Alwan as below:

 “That is all right. I thought to myself – a simple matter. It would not take me more than a couple of hours at the most. The assailant is unknown. The victim cannot speak and won’t confuse me with his chatter. I have no doubt what he witness will be like. There will be the ghafir (sentry) on duty who heard the shot went off towards it, sluggish with freight- and naturally found nothing but a body prostrate on the ground. Then there will be umdah (the village head), who will swear by his wife’s honor that the criminal is not one of his villagers; and finally, the members of the victim’s family, who will keep everything dark from me and reserve the opportunities of vengeance for themselves.”

He is hollow in thought and action which imparts comic note in his entire role in the novel. As he says:

 “I saw no point in holding an inquiry into this matter, as there were two possibilities – either the ghafir (sentry) did not know the difference between a shirt and nightshirt, which would not have been surprising. Or else said Effendi had taken his shirt off again and gone back to sleep – which would not have surprised me either. In any case, since I was the only one officially responsible for the delay, there was nothing to be gained by an argument with Said Effendi except  a splitting headache; and I needed rest more than anyone that night as I had to reserve my energy and power of speech for the actual case which was causing all this trouble. Languor crept over my limbs. I rested my head against the corner of the car, remarking to my companion-the scene of the crime is thirty kilometres away.”

Wherever he goes the comedy goes with him. He is comic head to feet as expressed in the horse-riding scene. He himself gives a vivid narration of his comic nature as:

 “I commended my soul to the Almighty and rode forward at the head of the party, reeling with fright and exhaustion. At length, sleep came over my eyelids and all was oblivion- until I suddenly became aware of my body flying off the horse’s back and coming to rest around its neck. The animal had jumped so violently into a canal that the impact had wrenched me off its back. ‘Just as I feared.’ I thought to myself, I shouted to the ghafir in charge of my mount. The horse, man, the horse!”

He has a fine appetite for delicious food as often he asks for tea during his operation but unlike other officials, he is not addicted to drinking. One day he happened to attend a club of officials the experience of which reads quoted  below:

 “I shall never forget the day when the officials of this area and the local judge invited me to a dinner party in honour of a colleague who was being posted elsewhere. Unable to refuse, I went along. There were bottles of whisky amongst plates of food on the table, and someone had filled my glass and that of the judge. That dignitary was a trifle careless and drank too much. He began to chatter and giggle rather inappropriately. The ma’mur, who was also drunk, leant over towards me and whispered in my ear, ‘His honour has lost his dignity!’ I didn’t wish to hear any more of that, so I slipt away and went home quickly, without being noticed by the other guest, busy with their cups. From that day onwards I had not set foot in the club. My assistant was won over to my way of thinking but I wish to expatiate on the matter as to make him still more careful. At that moment, however, Haj Khamis came in with a glass. As soon as I saw it, I exclaimed, ‘What are you giving me to drink?  Better let me have some copying-ink and have done with it.”

The second outstanding character in the novel is the Ma’mur (administer officer in charge of a district). Like the Public Prosecutor, he is a type of his class. He has all the outward formality but inwardly he is hollow. He has no sense of good-will to the general mass. He is one of the major associates of the Public Prosecutor. He plays an important part in the novel, especially in investigating the cases.  He has some considerable weakness to fine dainties. Under the excuse of investigation, he causes trouble for the victims of crime.  As the Public Prosecutor is so is he suffering from often drowsiness. As an instance of his sleepy nature the following extract can be quoted:

 “Suddenly a snore arose from the corner of the room and drowned the inquiry. I turned round – and there was the ma’mur asleep, his chin on his hand, leaning against the canopy……… he conducted him with quite courtesy to an adjoining room in the back of the house.”23 

He had a weakness for women also. Once when Rim was taken to the police station on the ground of Kamar al Dawla Alwan’s shooting the ma’mur was interested in Rim’s stay at his home from where Rim got lost and eventually she was found dead in a canal.  A rumour is heard about him that once he became infatuated with a peasant girl who came in with some petition. Being anxious to be alone with her, he had ordered his constable and warder to enter the prison and shave the prisoners. When they were safely inside, he locked the door behind them and kept them locked up while he was having a tete- a- tete with his lady.

He had a weakness for delicious food and always liked to get dainties. The novelist gives an account of his greedy food habit as follows:

 “Now, listen, his Excellency the Legal Officer does not like mutton or chicken for breakfast or anything like that. But there is no objection to a few pigeons in rice, with dried biscuit and whipped pastry. If there are light roasted chickens with it, there is no harm. Of course, some curdle milk is always good for the health. There is no harm in some eggs fried in cream. That is quite enough. See that you don’t make anything more. The Legal Officer has a small appetite. If you have some waxed honey, bring it in. There is nothing against a couple of cream cheeses and plate of cakes and dainties. The whole point is: something good and light. You know better than anyone what is required……”

The ma’mur is greedy for wealth also. He hoarded lots of money. Commenting on his greediness for money the novelist has told that he would hoard his ample salary except for two or three pounds which made up his monthly expenses, and at the end of the year, he would invest his hoard in the purchase of house-property and land. He declined to put his money in a bank in case, its total value became known, and nobody ever discovered where he buried it from the beginning of the year to the end.

He is always of the government’s side and is well acquainted with all the corruption of government policies. He admits that the voting system in Egypt is nothing but a show only. The result depends on the behest of the government authority. To quote his frank speaking as:

“Well, that’s my method with election. Complete freedom. I let people vote as they like- right up to the end of the election. Then I simply take the ballot box and throw it in the river and calmly replace it with the box we prepare ourselves.”

The third character to be worth noting is the First Judge. He is represented as type as well as an individual. He is type in the respect that he maintains only formality but is heedless to impart justice to those who come for justice. But he is individual in his very whimsical nature.

The First Judge lives in Cairo. No matter how great the number of cases for hearing- this judge has never yet missed his train. The arbitrariness of his verdict of judgment may best be illustrated by the following case as portrayed by the novelist:

The user called out a name. And so it went on- name after name- a whole succession of cases exactly similar to the first on which sentence has been pronounced …. He glared at the crowd with eyes like pea behind his spectacles, which bobbed up and down his nose. Nobody not even himself caught the implication of what he had said. The user went on calling out names. The type of charge had begun and the judge said ‘You are charged with having washed your clothes in the canal!’

And then he fined him “Fine twenty piastres.”

The first judge can turn a case of misdemeanour into a felony as in the case of a woman who had bitten the finger of a person named Shaikh Hasan for the offence of making a joke.

The Other Judge is an excessively conscientious man who lives with his family in the district office. He is very slow in dealing with cases for he is afraid of making mistakes through haste, and perhaps too, he is eager to fill in time and enlivens his boredom in his provincial outpost. Moreover, he has no train to catch. So from early morning, he sits at his desk as though he is inseparably nailed to it, and he never leaves it till just before noon. He generally resumes the session in the evening too. This session has always been a nightmare…..

These four characters are representatives of the ruling class. Everybody of them bears the same nature of distorting the law in their whimsical way. They may be called ‘good for nothing fellows’. Besides this, these four characters impart considerable comic notes in the novel by means of their whims and arbitrariness.

After these type and comic characters, we may bring into account the characters who are merely tragic representing the lower class (fellahin) of society. Among those types of characters, the prominent are- Kamar al Dawla Alwan, Rim and Shaik Asfur.

Kamar al- Dawla Alwan is a tragic character. He is a poor peasant living in the village. He lives with his old mother and a child. He got his wife died two years previously. The child is in charge of his sister-in-law called Rim. One night at 8 o’clock while he was walking in the street he got shot and was badly wounded.

The Public Prosecutor got the information two hours late and then feeling much trouble he along with his staff that including the ma’mur, Asfur, the ghafir, the clerk, goes there and makes a much ado maintaining formality. Kamar al Dawla Alwan was sent to the hospital to be treated but there after three days, he died muttering only the word ‘Rim’.

The Prosecutor heard him uttering the name Rim but he was uninterested to lead the investigation further. The prosecutor says of him as:

 “…..Kamar al-Dawla, when asked who had assaulted him, muttered a single word, whose deadly echo still resounded in my ears: ‘Rim!’ 

After his death, his case was left aside for not having any testimony of his murderer. Thus he is depicted as a tragic character in the novel. But his tragic tone is kept subdued by the legal authorities.

The second tragic character of the novel is Rim. She is a young village girl aged about sixteen. She is the younger sister of the dead wife of Kamar al Dawla Alwan. She is very beautiful and charming. The Prosecutor has given a vivid account of her physical charm as under:

  ”…… Never since my arrival in the province had I seen a more lovely face or a more graceful figure. She stood in the doorway clad in a long black robe like an ebony statue engraved with a white countenance. The Umdah spoke to her encouragingly:  ‘come in, young lady.’

The novelist vivifies her charm as under:

 “She advanced shyly with hesitant steps, not knowing before whom to stand. The umdah directed her towards me. She looked me straight in the face, raising her eyelids. For the first time in my experience, I knew what it was to be ill at ease during an investigation. I could think of no question to ask him. The clerk could not see her as she was standing behind him. So when he noticed my silence, he assumed that I was tired. He dipped his pen in the ink, raised his eyes and asked, ‘your name?’

She pronounced her name non-committedly. Seeing her, the prosecutor was so much impressed that he gives an account of hers as below:

  “My whole being vibrated like a violin chord to the touch of deft and sensitive fingers. I felt certain that my voice would tremble if I asked her anything else, so I hesitated. The position was distinctly embracing, for the investigation would drag on interminably if I was going to help blankly between each question. I collected my scattered wits, and all the resolution I could muster, and charge into the breach with questions framed to elicit a long complete answer….”

The above-quoted account of Rim given by the investigation officer illustrates best how beautiful and fascinating Rim was.

She was in an age when marriage was imperative for her. But she was under the guardianship of her sister’s husband Kamar al-Dawla Alwan who was not willing to give her in marriage. The novelist gives an account of the riddle of her not being married till then, as:

  “I asked if anyone had asked her hand in marriage. She answered affirmatively. The last had been a nice young man whom she would have not rejected, but her brother in law, who was her guardian, had rejected him. He had always refused to accept any of the numerous men whose hand had been outstretched towards her, like the hands of praying votaries.”

She becomes the victim of circumstance though she remains throughout the novel under the veil of mystery. To find out the clue of the shooting of Kamar al Dawla she was carried to the police station for interrogation and there she had to spend the night in the house of the murmur from where she got disappeared and later on she was drowned and died. Nothing was known of the cause of her drowning.

Thus Rim remains under the veil of mystery in the novel.

The noteworthy character of the novel is Shaik Asfur. He is a tragic as well as a comic character throughout the novel. Besides this, he remains a most mysterious character from the beginning to the end of the novel. The readers become acquainted with him on the way while the Prosecutor along with his staff was going to the spot where Kamar al-Dawla Alwan was shot. The prosecutor introduces him as:

  “I closed my eyes. Our car moved on, followed by the ford van, containing the clerk, the inspector, the corporal and the constables. Almost as soon as we came out on the country road, we heard a voice singing in the darkness of the night. The ma’mur instantly put his head out of the window and shouted, ‘inspector – we’ve forgotten Shaik Asfur.’ The convoy halted. A voice rising clearly from a thicket at the edge of a field:

 ‘my loved one’s eyelash, long and dark /Would span an acre wide’

From the very outset of his introduction, we see him comic as he got into the ford van with the air of a man entering a Rolls Race, first plucking a twig from a thicket and carrying it as though it was a royal sceptre.

He follows the investigating team wherever they go and keeps him attached to them. He is as if one of the investigation team. The team when picked Rim to the police station for interrogation she happened to stay the night at the house of the ma’mur. Thence she got lost. The prosecutor, as well as the ma’mur, cast their doubt on Asfur to be the kidnapper of Rim as Asfur was also not found for the day. Later on, the police arrested him. The prosecutor suspected that Asfur was in love with Rim and thus he was brought into interrogation to find out the clue of Rim but all efforts proved futile. Asfur told nothing but kept singing as:

   “Once I was fisherman,

    A game all sportsmen like;

    I plunged into the water

    To catch a little piker;

    The fish were wonderful and odd,

    Swimming everywhere;

    The first one was slippery cod,

    The next a turbot fair.”

Later on, he was released from the accusation as nothing was revealed from him. Thus he remains throughout the novel a mysterious character as Rim and Kamar al-Dawla Alwan are.

Another tragic character in the novel is the village Woman who died of child delivery. She is a type representing the sufferance of the poor peasant village women. The novelist has given a vivid portrayal of her sufferance at the time of childbirth as well as of the hygiene condition of the villagers. One day the prosecutor had to investigate the case of the woman after she got died of childbirth. What he found going there is narrated by the author as below:

  “……… they are mere burial brokers. Even assuming that an occasional one is honest and conscientious enough to go to examine the corpse, what can an ignorant fellow like that discover? He sees a man or woman, recently dead, with no visible wounds. How can he possibly know that there is something suspicious about the manner of death? This whole system of barbers attached to the Health Department – a system unknown to any country in the world- is itself the source of evil.  It is very similar to our midwifery system. I shall never forget what a doctor from the central hospital told me once. He had been called out to a case of childbirth in some provincial village and hurried off, only to find the sick woman prostrate on her back, with the arm of the baby protruding from her body. At her side was an old woman with red hair and lips-Sitt Hindiah, the midwife. He learned that the woman had been in this state for three days, with the arm protruding from her. He asked the midwife why she had waited all that time without calling the doctor. She replied, ‘We were waiting for God’s secret bounty. We said to ourselves, ‘May God delivers her safely.’ The doctor had then placed his hand in the womb and found it stuffed with straw. The woman’s uterus was perforated and she was moribund, beyond all hope. The baby had been dead for two days. Looking around she had observed a pile of filthy straw at the woman’s feet and had asked the midwife, Sitt Hindiah for an explanation. ‘Well, doctor’, she said, ‘when I put the hand into to get the child out, I found the womb slippery, so I said to myself,   I’d better rub my hand with a bit of straw.’ She extended her hand to the doctor, who observed that it was filthy with straw from which her long black nails protruded. This midwives deliver a woman of a child as though she were a buffalo,’ said the doctor the sick woman and her baby had both died.”

Thus the woman typically shows us best how forlorn and deplorable the condition of poor peasant women was at that time!

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) 

Comic Elements in ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’

The term ‘Comic’ is the adjective form of the word ‘comedy’. According to A Glossary of Literary Terms “A comedy is a work in which the materials are selected and managed primarily in order to interest and amuse us: the characters and their discomfitures engage our delighted attention rather than our profound concern, we feel confident that no great disaster will occur, and usually the action turns out happily for the chief characters.”

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s novel entitled Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) is a tragi-comedy as in spite of some tragic episodes like- the episode of Kamar al Dawla Alwan, the episode of Rim, the episode of the village women etc. there are abundant elements that affect our sense of humour and thus delight us. The comic elements in the novel are made up of speech, situation and action. All the type characters representing the government machinery are full of comic traits either in action or in speech. Let us bring out the comic elements in the novel as below:

First, we encounter the comic element in the speech of Shaik Asfur while he gets into the van of the investigating team. He, approaching the Ford, said rather garrulously, ‘you were going out without me?” The police corporal answered with a smile, ‘if we’d known your address, we should have sent a message.’

‘Very well,’ he replied, ‘Give me a cigarette.’ The corporal winked at him quickly and said in a low voice, ‘Shut up- the ma’mur will hear you!’

‘Give me a cigarette’, persisted Shaik Asfur. ‘Come on corporal, I am a corporal too, tonight – in the smokeless army.’

Again he plucks up a twig from a thicket and carries it as though it were a royal sceptre.

Here the speech and as well as the action of Shaik Asfur to be a corporal is really funny and draws out laughter.

Secondly, the horse riding situation of the Public Prosecutor is comic in full. This comic scene is depicted by the author as follows:

“I commended my soul to the Almighty and rode forward at the head of the party, reeling with fright and exhaustion. At length, sleep came over my eyelids and all was oblivion- until I suddenly became aware of my body flying off the horse’s back and coming to rest around its neck. The animal had jumped so violently into a canal that the impact had wrenched me off its back. ‘Just as I feared.’ I thought to myself, I shouted to the ghafir in charge of my mount. The horse, man, the horse!”

Thirdly after reaching the spot where Kamar al Dawla Alwan was shot the ma’mur makes anger with his stuff which is funny enough as the novelist writes down:

 “The party stopped in disarrays. The ma’mur lavishly distributed words of abuse, slaps, commands and prohibition to his faithful followers.’’ And then orders the servant to restore him on the back of his horse.

  Kamar al Dawla Alwan had got one shot unanimously but after the ghafir’s (sentry) interruption a controversy arose regarding the shooting- whether he got one shot or two shots. And with this, they made a fuss which adds funny elements to the enjoyment of the novel.

Fourthly the comment of the superior officer on the weight of the report of a case is also funny. The prosecutor narrates the incident as follows:

 “I scribbled at the bottom of the page. To be filed with the report and clasped my head in my hands, wondering what was to be done next in this case, and whom we could interrogate so as to bring out Report up to a minimum of twenty pages. For I have never forgotten what a Public Prosecutor said to me one day when he received a ten-page report: What is all this? A contravention or a misdemeanour?

   When I replied that it was a murder case, he shouted at me in astonishment, ‘A murder case investigated in ten pages! The murder of a human being! All in ten pages?

  When I replied that with those ten pages we had managed to get the murderer, he paid no attention whatever and went on weighing the report in his hand with careful accuracy: Who would ever have believed that this report could be of a murder case?

 I replied instantly, Next time, God willing, we shall be more careful about the weight.”

Fifthly, while investigating the case of Kamar al Dawla Alwan the prosecutor called in Rim, the sister-in-law of Kamar al Dawla and seeing her charm and beauty he decided to postpone the investigation is really ironic as well as comic. He makes a vivid description of her charm as:

 “This girl, as it seemed to me had a mind like a thicket of reeds and sugar cane, whose dark foundation saw no light except in fragments, like dancing coins, flashing in the dark, whenever the reeds inclined this way or that…”

This narration of his is really hyperbolic (exaggeration) causing delight in the heart of its readers.

Sixthly, the First Judge and his system of the verdict are comic as well as satiric that cause not only laughter but also affect the readers to their wit. No matter how great the number of cases for hearing- this judge has never yet missed his train. The arbitrariness of his verdict of judgment may best be illustrated by the following case as portrayed by the novelist:

The usher called out a name. And so it went on- name after name- a whole succession of cases exactly similar to the first on which sentence has been pronounced …. He glared at the crowd with eyes like pea behind his spectacles, which bobbed up and down his nose. Nobody not even himself caught the implication of what he had said. The usher went on calling out names. The type of charge had begun and the judge said ‘You are charged with having washed your clothes in the canal!’

  ‘Your honour – May God exalt your station- are you going to fine me just because I washed clothes?’

  ‘It is for washing them in the canal.’

  ‘Well, where else could I wash them?’

The judge hesitated, deep in thought, and could give no answer. He knew very well that these poor wretches had no wash basins in their village, filled with fresh water from the tap. They were left to live like cattle all their lives and were yet required to submit to a modern legal system imported from abroad. The judge turned his glance …….. And pass his verdict, “Fine twenty piastres.”

Thus his entire situation, as well as his actions, are satiric which incite and waken our laughter.

Seventhly, the other judge is an excessively conscientious man who lives with his family in the district office. He is very slow in dealing with cases for he is afraid of making mistakes through haste, and perhaps too, he is eager to fill in time and enlivens his boredom in his provincial outpost. Moreover, he has no train to catch. So from early morning, he sits at his desk as though he is inseparably nailed to it, and he never leaves it till just before noon. He generally resumes the session in the evening too. This session has always been a nightmare…..” His entire attitude and the manner of his judging are highly comic.

Eighthly, in the court of Egypt, a misdemeanour case may turn into a felony as in the case of a woman who had bitten the finger of a person named Shaikh Hasan for the offence of making a cunning joke. The incident is wholly funny as:

The accused woman had a daughter called Sitt Abuha; she was wooed by a peasant named Horaisha, who offered a dowry of fifteen gold pieces. The mother refused and demanded twenty.  The matter stood there until one day the suitor’s brother, a young boy called Ginger, came alone on his own accord and informed the bride’s family, quite falsely, that the suitor had accepted their terms. He then went back to his brother and told him that the girl’s family had agreed to reduce the dowry and to accept his offer. As a result of this cunning joke played on both parties, a day was appointed for reciting the Fatiha at the bride’s house, and the bridegroom deputed Shaik Hasan and Shaik Faraj to his witness.

Everybody came together and the girl’s mother killed a goose. Scarcely had the meal been made ready and served to the guest when the dowry was mentioned and the trick was revealed. It was evident that the deadlock had not been solved and a quarrel flared up between the two parties. The girl’s mother began to shout in the yard. Shaik Hasan was moved by the spirit of devoted zeal and did not touch the food. He began to argue with the woman, vainly trying to convince her, while his colleague, Shaik Hasan scratched out his hand towards the goose and began to guzzle it avidly, without entering into the impassioned dispute. It appeared that the enthusiasm on each side went beyond the limits of verbal discussion. Hasan saw that his hand was not in the plate of goose but in the woman’s mouth. He let forth a resounding shriek and soon the whole house was turned upside down in chaotic confusion. Hence was the case and the judge turned to the old woman and said, ‘the case has become a felony and without the jurisdiction of the Criminal Court.’

This instance is a satire on the then existing social tradition and a grand comic source for the readers.

Ninthly, the signature of the prosecutor that he casts in the files is also funny. He himself admits:

 “The session ended at noon and I emerged from it with my nerves torn to sheds. As soon as I had taken leave of the judge, I found myself confronted with a policeman holding trays filled with ‘Execution of Judgments’ forms which he gave me to sign. I automatically put my signature to the endless streams of documents. (My signature no longer bear any resemblance to my name: speed and frequency have converted it into a couple of lines flung aimlessly at the paper.)”

Tenthly, the food habit of the ma’mur is another instance of comic element in the novel. It is said that his food habit is simple but he gives a long list of breakfast which is verily satiric as well as ironic.  The following lines may be quoted from what he orders about the item of food as breakfast:

 “Now, listen, his Excellency the Legal Officer does not like mutton or chicken for breakfast, or anything like that. But there is no objection to a few pigeons in rice, with dried biscuit and whipped pastry. If there are light roasted chickens with it, there is no harm. Of course, some curdle milk is always good for health. There is no harm in some eggs fried in cream. That is quite enough. See that you don’t make anything more. The Legal Officer has a small appetite. If you have some waxed honey, bring it in. There is nothing against a couple of cream cheeses and a plate of cakes and dainties. The whole point is something good and light. You know better than anyone what is required……”

Eleventh, the Grave Digging scene is highly comic. When the prosecutor received a unanimous letter revealing that the wife of Kamar al Dawla Alwan died not a natural death but she was strangled to death by somebody. After that information, the prosecutor employed some grave diggers who went to the cemetery and began to dig the graves. But the graves they dug were not of women but of men. Later on, some neighbours of the dead woman were called in but all proved in vain. This scene certainly adds something to the comic elements of the novel.

Twelfth, the tale of measuring the weight of the heavens and earth is another witty as well as comic element in the novel. The author writes:

  “Verily well, sir. very well. First of all, kindly inform if this scientist Shentoon measured the heavens and the earth with or without the Throne? The teacher was puzzled and turned to me, asking, ‘Which Throne?”

Thirteenth, the comment on the cup of tea offered to the prosecutor by the attendant in the village is comic as he said, “he proffered two cups of different pattern- one with a broken handle- and I drank cautiously, staring into the interior of the cup, for I feared that I should find a grasshopper instead of sugar.”

Fourteenth, the ma’mur comment on the voting system of Egypt is highly satiric as he says:

 “Well, that is my method with elections…… I let people vote as they like- right up to the end of election. Then I simply take the ballot box and throw it in the river and calmly replace it with the box which we prepare ourselves.”

Fifteenth, another comic and satiric element in the novel is the statistics concerning the crime cities of the world. One of the colleagues of the prosecutor wonders in the issue and says:

  “It appears that statistics had been published in Europe or America – I can’t remember which- to clarify the position of crime all over the world. It was stated that Chicago came first amongst the cities of the world in abundance of crime and was closely followed by Abnub! The other famous cities of the world came later on the list. At that time I would have thought that Abnub was a city in America- but for a footnote in the margin stating that it was a place in Upper Egypt. I was astonished to find that little town possessing such prestige amongst the world’s famous cities –even though it was dubious status in the sphere of crime. Chicago and Abnub- the two poles of humanity’s baser instincts! The first exemplified the crime of civilization’ the latter- the crime of the desert.

Thus in the novel, in spite of some tragic episodes, there are ample instances of comic scenes for which the novel may be called a better comedy than a tragedy.

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)

Plot Construction in ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’

According to The Concise Oxford Dictionary, the term ‘construction’ refers to arrangements of anything. Literary the construction of a plot of a narrative should be relevant and consistent from the beginning to the end as it should develop through certain stages such as- beginning, rising, climax, falling and denouement (conclusion).On this ground, it may be called that the novelist of the novel Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf has no sense of either form or construction. There are ample events and episodes which have entered into the texture of the novel without any logic. The author employs the autobiographical method in narrating his themes and events and has written them down in a diary form. No doubt that he sees and evaluates everything in his own peculiar way without being conscious of arranging themes in order. The novel consists of diary entries of eleven days. Let us evaluate the construction of the plot in the novel in brief as below.

The novel opens with the diary entry of the 11th October. The episode begins with the investigation of the case of Kamar al-Dawla Alwan who got shooting by someone at 8 o’clock at night while he was walking in the street. No doubt the novelist has succeeded in giving a vivid description of his mission in this section of the novel. But he becomes prolix in giving the description of his visit which has marred the tragic tone of the Kamar al Dawla. In this section, he also introduces the episode of Rim, the sister-in-law of Kamar al Dawla.

In the second section which is the diary entry of 12th October, the novelist has diverted from his point and narrated the court scene and shows the readers how the judges operate their verdicts. In giving the portraiture of the judging machinery of Egypt, he has won the race.

In the third section that is i.e. on the 13th October, the novelist goes back to the investigation and gives an account of the hospital condition and of the food habit of the ma’mur. Thus he makes a digression from the main points to what he goes first.

On 14th October the novelist Tawfiq al-Hakim narrates a miscellany of things as- the club, and court and gives a picture of poverty-stricken villagers who were brought under accusation.

On the 15th October, we get a description of marmur’s absence from the club and Rim’s disappearance from the ma’mur’s house.

In the diary entry of the 16th October, the novelist has given a vivid account of the grave-digging scene in order to find out the real cause of the death of the wife of Kamar al-Dawla Alwan which ends in futile.

On the 18th October, the novelist introduces a new episode and vividly portrays the unhygienic childbirth condition of the poor village woman. The episode is tragic but the novelist has depicted it in a comic way.

In the diary entry of 20th October, the novelist makes a digression and again goes back to the legal system and introduces a new theme of politics.

On 21st October, the novelist brings an end to the Rim episode as she is shown to be drowned in a village canal. In this section of the novel, we see Shaik Asfur that he is brought in accusation for being associated with Rim, and doubt of the prosecutor rests on him that he knew the secrets of Rim. But Asfur revealed nothing. At last, he was released.

In the diary entry of 22nd October, Tawfiq al-Hakim, the novelist has given an account of the prosecutor’s business and makes an appraisal of his works. And thus the novel is brought to an end.

The above analyses of the contents (plot, events and episodes) of the novel show that there is no specific plot in the novel. Instead, there are a number of events and episodes which have been huddled together without maintaining any logic of organization. Certainly, there are events with only a beginning and an end but not a middle.

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) 

Setting (Environment) of ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’

The fifth important feature of a novel is the Setting (or Environment). Environment refers to the surroundings in which a person, animal or plant lives and operates its function. The portrayal of the environment in a novel involves the customs, traditions, lifestyle and other special peculiarities of the place where the incidents of the novel take place. The depiction of the environment makes a novel life-like and imparts vividness and fidelity which in turn increase the gusto for the enjoyment of the novel. The depiction of the environment in a novel should always be consistent with the place, time and occasion. For example, in portraying a town life the novelist must create an environment that is peculiar to a town. Thus in representing rustic or peasant life the novelist should portray the surrounding which is peculiar to rustic life. Along with other elements, the success of a novel depends on the faithful representation of the environment also.

The depiction of the setting (environment) of the novel is unique and the novelist has been able to show his dept in full. It may be said that he is very keen on observing the surrounding of any event that he goes on to depict in his novel. The novel begins with the picture of the bedroom of the prosecutor and his physical state that succeeds in bringing out the mental state of the Prosecutor. The setting with which the novel opens reads as:

  “I went to bed early last night. I had an inflamed throat- an affliction which comes upon me quite often these days. I tied a wooden rag round my neck, baited me here mouse-traps with bits of ancient cheese and laid them round my bed, as one lays protective mines around a hospital ship. I put out the paraffin lamp and closed my eyes- praying that God might cause erring human instincts to rest awhile within the district so that no crime should compel me to get up while I was feeling indisposed. I laid my head upon the pillow and was soon sleeping like a log.”

The novelist seems to be very sensitive to the natural object as he makes a vivid picture of the surrounding of the maize plantation in the following manner:

 “The two vehicles drove on between the maize plantations. Nature slept and all voices were stilled, save for the croaking of frogs and chirp of crickets, and the melodious sound of Shaik Asfur’s voice coming from the interior of the Ford.”

The novelist has given a realistic picture of the court surrounding as below:

  “The user began calling the names of the accused from a paper which he was holding. Kuzman Effendi, the usher, was an old man with white hair and a white moustache, endowed with a presence and bearing fit for a Justice of the Supreme Court. Whenever he called anyone to the box, he was extremely majestic in his movements, gestures and voice. He would turn to the court attendant with an air of supreme authority, and that worthy fellow would echo the name outside the chamber just as he had heard it from the usher, except that he would introduce a long-drawn-out chant and an intonation like that of a street-hawker.”

The novelist is very minutest in giving the detail of the physical countenance of a woman as:

  “A woman’s name was called. It was the village prostitute. She had blackened her eyelashes with the point of a match and smeared her cheeks with the glaring crimson colour which can be seen painted on boxes of Samson cigarettes. On her bare arm was tattooed the picture of a heart pierced by an arrow. She was wearing on her wrist several bracelets and armlets made of metal and colored glass.”

The novelist is very conscious in matters of giving a detailed village environment as he has pictured:

  “To make him still more wretched, there was this stillness which descended on the village after sunset; thereafter there was no sound except of the lowing of the oxen, the barking of the dogs, the braying of donkeys and the creaking of water wheels, pumps and hydraulic machines, apart from the sound of shots let off in the dead of night by private or official watchmen trying to frighten other people, or to keep up their own courage.”

Thus the novelist in depicting the setting (environment) is so minute and exact that by means of setting he tries to make his plot life-like and realistic and in this respect he has succeeded well.

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)

Dialogue in ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’

‘Dialogue’ refers to the conversation between two or more people. The use of dialogue imparts dramatic quality to a novel. Dialogue should be used sparingly and carefully with the intention that through dialogue the plot may get evolved and the characters may get revealed with their true passion, emotion, motive, feeling etc.  Dialogue should be in keeping with the personality of the speakers and suitable to the situation. For instance, a king should talk like a king, a maidservant like a maidservant, a ruffian like a ruffian, a woman of fashion like a woman of fashion, a clergyman like a clergyman. In brief, to say, dialogue should be realistic but in using dialogue the novelist should take care that the speech may not go in any way beyond the purpose of the novelist. For example, in a real-life situation, people happen to make a quarrel in which the people involved use many unnecessary words or repetitions of the same words. The novelist must eschew them all and employ only those talks which serve the purpose of the evolution of the plot and unfold the inner motives, passion, feeling etc. of the characters.

Tawfiq al-Hakim may be called a master of dialogue. He has employed ample dialogues to meet his purpose. His dialogues have played a veritable role in evolving the plot and expressing the inner motives, feelings and passions of his characters. For instance, we can quote the dialogues exchanged between the judge and a village people who were charged with washing clothes in the canal.

 “You are charged with having washed your clothes in the canal!”

 “Your honour- may God exalt your position- are you going to fine me just because I washed my clothes?”

“It’s for washing them in the canal.”

“Well, where else could I wash them?” 

To clarify the point more we can quote the following conversations between the judge and a poor village man who was charged with not paying tax to the government.

 “In the eye of law, you are charged with theft.”

 “Your honour, we have every respect for the law. But the law can see what goes on and must know that I’m flesh and blood and must have something to eat.”

 “Have you anyone to stand bail for you?”

 “I am all alone in the world.”

 “Can you pay a guarantee?”

 “If I had money, I’d use it to get some food.”

 “If you pay fifty piastres bail, you can be released at once.”

 “Fifty piastres? Heavens alive, sir, I have not seen what money looks like, I don’t even know if it still has a hole in the middle or if they have made it solid.”

From the above two instances, we have come to see that the dialogues employed by the author in the novel suit his purpose best. The dialogues have taken the theme of the novel a step forward and along with it, they have revealed the inner motives and feelings of the characters.

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) 

Language of ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’

The language of Tawfiq al-Hakim employed in the novel Yawmiyyat Naif Fil Aryaf Translated into English by Abba Eban as Diary of a Country Prosecutor is characterized by complexity in structure, use of dashes, use of abundance similes, use of the abstract term and words and references. Let us substantiate his style of language as follows:

Simplicity is alien to Tawfik’s language rather he makes his language complicated by making them long and complex. For instance, we can quote the following sentences as:

 “To make him still more wretched, there was this stillness which descended on the village after sunset; thereafter there was no sound except of the lowing of the oxen, the barking of the dogs, the braying of donkeys and the creaking of water wheels, pumps and hydraulic machines, apart from the sound of shots let off in the dead of night by private or official watchmen trying to frighten other people, or to keep up their own courage.”

  “From early morning, right up to now, there isn’t a single field in the district- not a single sugar plantation or water- wheel or mill or hamlet or yard or canal or ground or path or country road of flaming hell- which we have not turned upside down and searched inch by inch.”

In the above-quoted sentence, the novelist has employed the preposition ‘or’ as many as nine times including two dashes and thus the sentence has been made a complex one.

In many of his sentences, he has used at least two dashes. The dashes are seemed to be used in place of comas (,). For example, we can quote at random the following sentences:

1.“Next time I’ll have some sweets for you- I really will – chick peas, sesame, nuts, almonds, pistachio …”

2.“On the one side- money; on the other side hallowed traditions.”

Thirdly, the novelist shows his weakness in using abstract words and terms in place of concrete words. For example- most of his characters are named after abstract terms as- the prosecutor, the ma’mur, the ghafir, the effendi umdah, the qadi etc. instead of giving them proper names.

Fourthly, he has made an ample use of similes throughout the novel which is characterized by native flavour. For example, the following sentences may be quoted:

  1.“I rushed to my clothes, dressed with frantic speed, like a member of a fire-brigade.”

 2.“Whenever he hears the horn of the Ford van blowing in the distance he follows it wheresoever it goes, like a dog follo.

 3. “My fatigue flew away like an owl flying from its nest at the approach of dawn.”

4.“My assistant sat by me watching the proceedings with apathetic eyes, for languor had beguiled him as the zephyr breeze beguiles leaves on a tree.”

5.“She stood in the doorway clad in a long black robe like an ebony statue engraved with a white countenance.”

6.“This girl, as it seemed to me, had a mind like a thicket of reeds and sugar-cane, like dancing coins, lashing in the dark, whenever the reeds inclined this way or that……” 

7.“Fatigue crept over my limbs and I drooped in the saddle, but the fresh morning breeze kept caressing my face with gentle strokes, like the waving of a fan in the hands of a lovely maid.”  

8.“The spectacle of the young girl had a refreshing effect on me, like dewdrops on withered grass.”  

9.“But cases are like cats- when you call them they refuse to come, and when you shoo them away they rub themselves a…..

10.“We saw the convalescents in their wide blue tunics avidly devouring their porridge from aluminium pots, staring at us as we passed with the chief surgeon, like monkeys in the zoo gazing at their keepers and visitors.”  

Fifthly, many of Tawfiq’s sentences have turned into aphoristic (maxim-like) expressions. For example, the following expression may be quoted at random:

1.“Solution of riddle is a gift not granted to all: and the power to solve them requires accurate knowledge of motives lying concealed in the deepest recess of men’s hearts.”  

2.“Court tea and court work – it’s all bitter.”

3.“True beauty and true virtue are identical.”

4.“The pen is a great boon to those like us whose destiny is solitude.”

5.“If you get between the onion and the peel, all you’ll get is a nasty smell.” 

6.“Victims fail to recognize anyone.”  

7.“The legal Department knows no barriers.”

Sixthly, the novelist Tawfiq al-Hakim has made much allusions and references to Islamic beliefs:

1.“I had no doubt that he could cross the Sirat on the Day of Judgment riding a camel.” 

2.“For Justice is the foundation of authority, and Allah, be He exalted and magnified, hath said in His Holy Book: And if ye judge amongst men, then judge ye in righteousness. Verily the word of Allah is the truth.”

3.“There is no power or device except in Allah! Verily we are unto“We have omitted nothing in the book (The Holy Kuran).”

Thus the novelist has attained peculiarity in the use of linguistic style in his novel Yawmiyyat Naif Fil Aryaf.

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)

Philosophy of Life in ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’

The term ‘Philosophy of Life’ refers to the author’s ideas or outlook on life. A novel though based on the realities of life yet it is an artistic production of his own mind. It is not an exact copy of rude life. Hence in portraying life the author’s own outlook towards life falls on the novel either directly or indirectly. In most novels, it is learnt that life is full of conflict and struggle and it is the society in which the hero or heroine lives makes suffer him in life. The author may express his philosophy by means of his personal commentary, by elucidating the action or motives of his characters or by generalizing the question suggested by his characters or by drawing experience through the study of the incidents.

In the novel ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’ the novelist, Tawfiq al-Hakim has revealed his philosophy of life not directly but he suggests through his plot and episodes that if the governing authority is corrupted and selfish then the sufferance of the common mass increase beyond imagination. Besides this, he has made his characters to comment on certain occasions which reveal the general truth of life and thus he expressed his philosophy of life.

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)

Findings in ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’

From the analyses of the novel Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf as done above, we get the following findings:

First, it is a comic novel where there is no specific plot but some sequence of episodes huddled together. The main outstanding themes of the novel are the arbitrariness and corruption in Legal System, fraud and corruption in politics, crime in society and consequently the sufferance of the poverty-stricken fellahin (peasants) of Egypt.

Secondly, the main episodes of the novel are – the investigation regarding the shooting of Kamar al-Dawla Alwan, the judgment episode, Rim episode, the childbirth episode and the episode of politics.

Thirdly, in the novel Yawmiyyat Naif Fil Aryaf (Diary of a Country Prosecutor) there are characters but in the real sense, there is no characterization as all the characters are depicted partially and none has got full depiction. However, the prominent characters in the novel are- the Prosecutor, the two Judges, Kamar al-Dawla Alwan, the Ma’mur, Rim and Shaik Asfur. Tawfiq al-Hakim has depicted all his characters from the personal point of view of the Prosecutor, the narrator of the novel. Almost all the characters are portrayed typically, though there are some individual traits in some characters. His characters may broadly be divided into two classes as – the ruling class and the plebeians (fellahin). All the characters have become the representatives of the two classes they belong to.

Fourthly, in spite of the presence of some tragic episodes like the episode of Kamar al- Dawla Alwan, the episode of Rim, the episode of the village women etc. there are abundant comic elements that affect our sense of humour and thus delight us. The comic elements in the novel are made up of speech, situation and action. All the type characters representing the government machinery are full of comic traits either in action or in speech.

Fifthly, the plot construction of the novel is very loose and there is no logic and coherence in the arrangement of the events and episodes that come into the texture of the novel.

Sixthly, the setting (environment) of the novel is unique and the novelist is very keen in observing the surrounding of any event that he goes on to depict in his novel and the vivid narration of the setting has made the novel more life-like and realistic.

Seventhly, Tawfiq al-Hakim may be called a master of dialogue. He has employed ample dialogues to meet his purpose. His dialogues have played a veritable role in evolving the plot and expressing the inner motives, feelings and passions of his characters.

Eighthly, the language of Tawfiq al-Hakim employed in the novel Yawmiyyat Naif Fil Aryaf translated into English by Abba Eban as Diary of a Country Prosecutor is characterized by complexity in structure, much use of dashes, abundant use of similes, use of abstract terms and words and much use of Islamic references.

Ninthly, the philosophy of life expressed in the novel is that if the governing authority of a country is corrupted and selfish then the sufferance of the common people increases beyond imagination.

In brief, to say, Tawfiq’s al-Hakim’s novel entitled Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf translated into English by Abba Eban as Diary of a Country Prosecutor, is a comic novel the main themes of which are the corruption in the Legal Department of Egypt and consequently the sufferance of common people, the plot organization of which is loose and illogical, the language is complex made up of long sentences, aphoristic sayings, too much use of similes, abstract words and references by means of which he has expressed his philosophy of life that the common people suffer most under a corrupted government.

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)

The conclusion to ‘Diary of a Country Prosecutor’

Tawfiq al-Hakim was a versatile writer not only of Egypt but also of the Arab world. He attempted almost all the major branches of literature as play, novels short story and essays. There is a considerable lasting effect of his writings in the social, Political and linguistic sphere of Egypt as well as of the Arabic-speaking world.

He had made a conscious effort to produce indigenous Arab literature using techniques from the heritage of the past. He used the technique of Shahrazad in his Maze of Justice. He had given consideration to the themes which are faced by the intellectuals of his society and made them understand by all classess of his readers. He dealt with the problems of facing the West, and of raising one’s spirit above the disappointment and sad realities of life. The characters in his early novels begin to feel frustration in face of the overpowering forces of reality but they cling to their imagination and humour.

Because of the intellectual orientation of his works, some people have accused him of being aloof and of living in an ivory tower. After his first period in the country and in Paris he never actually lives with the people. When his novels, which developed out of his actual experiences, lack in the tragic realism of the younger Egyptian writers. He views all situations from a detached aristocratic point of view. In spite of that, he felt emotions strongly and was able to put all those emotions into his writings- whether they be emotions or natural identity or anti-feminism or of the terror of dualistic living.

He introduced an effective writing style for the novel in Arabic- which is called to be simple and unadorned. The power of his writing lies in the ability to present thoughts quickly and concisely. He used colloquial language in his dialogues and even in his texts. A colloquial word or expression often speaks more forcefully than the classical since the reader are acquainted with such words in the land. But al-Hakim is against the total reliance on the colloquial. Outside of his dialogues he always observed the rules of the classical making skillful use of its sophistication. Some of his ideas about a third language in the theatre have spilt over into his novels. The third language is a language that is grammatically correct yet can be spoken by porters. In his Bank al Qalaq, the dialogues are in this third language. The classical has a colloquial ring about it.

In Egypt, Hakim’s writing style i.e. colloquial dialogues and art, in general, are less commonly known for his stance against women. He frequently appears in society columns of the ahram whenever some feminist wants to voice her opinions against conservatism and the man’s world. All the pretty feminine journalists interviewed him and tried to change his opinion all to no avail. He seems to feel that his prime duty as an Egyptian is to put a check on the Egyptian woman’s emancipation. His anti-feminine novel Al- Rabat al- Muqaddas written in 1945 has given him a national reputation. His ideas against women have mellowed since then. He usually explained that he did not hate women, he just thought that they were dangerous especially when they are pretty. The roots of Hakim’s anti-feminism lay in his personal life. But they are inherent in the prevailing male orientation of Arab society. Nevertheless, it is hard to understand why that thoughtful man who would never write without reason, should write a book like Al- Ribat al-Muqaddas which only reinforced old bigoted beliefs. Is there something important he tried to say? Was he trying to warn his people through exaggeration that Egyptian women are evolving too quickly becoming westerns in their dress and lipstick, but not really overcome their basic instincts? Perhaps such was his purpose for his women in his Al- Ribat al-Muqaddas?

Besides the literary circle, he had large followers among the common people from all walks of life, not merely intellectual. It might be an exaggeration to say that he is the pulse beat of his country, but he did not strike the common chords in the hearts of millions of Arabs. His Awdat al-Ruh (Return of the Spirit) has probably been one of the most important books of the pre-revolutionary period in Egypt and post-revolutionary Egypt. The fact that it influenced President Nasser is of considerable significance. It is the literary spirit behind the revolution.

The heroes of Al-Hakim’s novels are often projections of himself. They are constantly disillusioned: they are romantics who view the realities of life with a kind of sadness, just as Muhsin regrets his love affairs with Saniya when he finds how easy it was to win her. His characters always try to bridge the gap between reality and ideas. Both Muhsin’s Awdat al-Ruh and Usfur min al-Sharq put all their hopes in  Sayyida Zeinab, the virgin protectress, whose mosque is at the centre of old Cairo. Hakim and Hakki were the first of modern writers to talk about the special Sufi significance of Sayyida Zeinab in their characters.

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s concern for his country does not lead him to indulge in overly sensational cries for reform or social improvement. He is noted for his balanced views although at times he can be firm and impassioned. At certain points in the Maze of Justice and Bank al-Qalaq, he keeps a static vein, poking fun at people and at the government. The satire is subtle enough not to offend or insult which make it all the more readable and effective.

The novels of Tawfiq al-Hakim are an integral part of his whole literary and social career. They reflect the same basic themes as in his plays and essays: his enchantment with the East, his patriotic concerns and his attempts to reach a mystic ideal above sordid reality and materialism. He is one of the first Arab writers for whom novelistic writing was more than an aside to politics or scholarship. He may be called the complete artist as he has shown that there is room for pure artists in the Arab revival which is taking place in the Middle East today. Through his art, he has raised the sight of many people in his own country, and in other Arab countries. He has given the Arabic novel a basis for existence on its own with its own concern and methods. The Arabic novel needs no longer be ashamed of itself for being a Western technique. With Tawfiq al-Hakim it has become Arab as well. 0 0 0.

Tawfiq al-Hakim’s Novel ‘Yawmiyyat Naib Fil Aryaf’ (Diary of a Country Prosecutor)

Books of Composition by M. Menonimus:

  1. Advertisement Writing
  2. Amplification Writing
  3. Note Making
  4. Paragraph Writing
  5. Notice Writing
  6. Passage Comprehension
  7. The Art of Poster Writing
  8. The Art of Letter Writing
  9. Report Writing
  10. Story Writing
  11. Substance Writing
  12. School Essays Part-I
  13. School Essays Part-II
  14. School English Grammar Part-I
  15. School English Grammar Part-II..

Related Searches:

  1. Tawfiq al-Hakim
  2. Diary of a Country Prosecutor: Saqi Books
  3. Diary of a Country Prosecutor-Library Thing
  4. Diary of a Country Prosecutor-Goodreads
  5. Diary of a Country Prosecutor-Abe Books
  6. Egyptian Novel Series
  7. Literary History of the Arabic Novel

THE END

 

 

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I am Menonim Menonimus, a Philosopher & Writer.

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