Edward Al-Kharrat, a Pioneer of Innovative Narrative Prose Writing: Beginnings

This study deals with the short stories of Edward al-Kharrat (b. 1926) during the early stages ofhis writing career, which officially began at the end of the 1950s. The article will deal with theatmosphere, the contents and the novel aspects of his writing as reflected in his first three storycollections, Hitan aliya (High Walls , 1959), Saat al-kibriyaa (Hours ofPride , 1972) and Mahattat al-sikka al-hadeed ( The TrainStation , 1955–84), against the background of the changes that were taking place inthe Arab world at the time, as well as changes that occurred in the concepts and functions ofliterature and in the strategies of narration. In his move away from traditional narratives that were represented at that time by the novelistNaguib Mahfouz (1911–2006), al-Kharrat's stories tended more and more to delve into thedepths of the soul and to focus on existentialist and metaphysical issues, and, as a result, he wasforced into changing his storytelling strategies and reducing external narratives in favor ofintrospection, dreams and imagination, as well as using language that relied on metaphor andattained a nearly poetic character. All these elements together contributed to convulsing“reality,” which in al-Kharrat's writings became different, discontinuous andunclear.