Arabic Literature and Social Media 1666951803, 9781666951806

Table of contents :
Cover
Contents
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Content
Literary Genres on Social Media
The Impact of Social Media on Arabic Literary Discourse
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Citation preview

Arabic Literature and Social Media

Arabic Literature and Social Media Eman Younis

LEXINGTON BOOKS

Lanham • Boulder • New York • London

Published by Lexington Books An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www​.rowman​.com 86-90 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NE Copyright © 2024 by The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. Al-Muhsini, Abdelrahman. Creative SMS Rhetoric, 2008. Pages 92–94. Permission also granted by Ahmed Alsaghiar. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Younis, Eman, author.   Title: Arabic literature and social media / Eman Younis.   Description: Lanham : Lexington Books, 2024. | Includes bibliographical     references and index.  Identifiers: LCCN 2024006322 (print) | LCCN 2024006323 (ebook) | ISBN     9781666951806 (cloth) | ISBN 9781666951813 (epub)   Subjects: LCSH: Literature and the Internet--Arab countries. | Social     media--Influence. | Arabic literature--21st century--History and     criticism.  Classification: LCC PJ7538 .Y68 2024  (print) | LCC PJ7538  (ebook) | DDC     892.7/09--dc23/eng/20240311  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024006322 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024006323 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Contents

List of Tables

vii

Acknowledgments ix Introduction

1

Chapter One: Content: Social Media Literature



13

Chapter Two: Literary Genres on Social Media



45

Chapter Three: The Impact of Social Media on Arabic Literary Discourse 109 Conclusion

139

Bibliography Index

157

167

About the Author



187

v

List of Tables

Table 2.1. Forums  49 Table 2.2. Participating Poets  87 Table 3.1. Most Common Spelling Mistakes  129 Table 3.2. Morphological and Grammatical Errors  130

vii

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Melanie Magidow and Marhaba Language Expertise for their highly professional translation and editing and for their responsible interactions on a personal level. Finally, I thank Beit Berl College for its financial support of this research.

ix

Introduction

With these words the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche declared that “God is dead,” that is, the god of modernity, clearing the path for the emergence of the postmodern world, a world without borders, centrality, or parameters. Unlike modernism, which was concerned with offering grand narratives based on enlightened and rationalistic premises, postmodernism cast doubt over all grand narratives, considering the totality of all human knowledge as nothing more than discourses influenced by their contemporary local and historical contexts. Facts differ according to the era and society; as Nietzsche put it, “There are no facts, only interpretations.”1 Perhaps one of the most important concepts that formed Nietzsche’s philosophical worldview was “transcendence,” which refers to the average person going beyond themselves to become a higher person (Übermensch), affirming the notion that life must constantly transcend itself. One can connect Nietzsche’s philosophy, and his concept of “transcendence” as an intellectual condition for becoming an Übermensch, with the changes that occurred within human societies in the wake of the information revolution that dominated the world during the postmodern period. This is especially the case if human beings are understood in terms of their cognitive structures and interactions with their surroundings, rather than their biological form.2 The ever-accelerating pace of life and intellectual/technological revolutions that surround the modern human transform them into new people every day through a new cognitive and communicative system. They must change if they want to engage in life and persist in it as creators, producers, and receivers at any level, lest they be removed from the equation of life, become overlooked, and formally declare their creative/interactive demise. In light of this philosophical and cognitive horizon represented by transcendence, the most significant contemporary technological revolutions (especially the communications revolution) arise as a new pattern that has imposed a new way of life and reality on the world. This has led to the creation of a new society wholly different from traditional societies, a society of data and knowledge flow.

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Introduction

According to Alan Kirby, Professor of Literature at the University of Exeter, the many changes resulting from the information revolution have forced us beyond even the postmodern phase and pushed us into the “postpostmodern” phase (my own phrase). This era has imposed a new model of power and knowledge, formed under the weight of new technologies and modern societal forces, as well as allowing for the emergence of literary, artistic, and political applications founded upon different intellectual models within a vastly different reality.3 No matter its various names and designations, the information revolution in the realm of communications remains the defining development of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, as can be seen in the rise of all forms of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. Even though social media, as its name suggests, was created to achieve social communication, it is now being used in many other areas, such as education, politics, economics, and literature. Though this book will focus on the impact of social media on Arabic literature in particular, we must first understand the changes that occurred within Arab societies and their perspectives toward social media, as well as the extent of their acceptance, interest, and usage of social media. Social media entered the Arab world by fits and starts during the 1990s. At that time, it was perceived not as an intellectual option or historical necessity, but rather as a new form of cultural colonialism imposed by globalization. As a result, the discourse around technology and new media in the Arab world was initially more of a discussion on “technophobia.” Many voices clamored against the social media revolution, which they argued would dismantle various peoples, invalidate their cultures, and erase their national identities. However, over time, the Arab individual, like their counterparts around the world, had no choice but to enter into the fray of the technological revolution and log onto social media platforms. In doing so, they were granted for the first time the freedom of expression that they had been deprived of under the brunt of harsh, dictatorial regimes. The events of the Arab Spring could be seen as the best evidence of this; it helped promote the uptake of social media in a large number of Arab countries. Social media then appeared as one of the key tools of the Spring, a space for oppositional discourse, as Arab regimes generally monopolized traditional media. It also enjoyed many advantages, compared with other sources of media, such as the rapid and free digital publishing that transcended time and space, which led to a surge in users in all political, societal, and cultural sectors. Social media helped disseminate literary texts to the widest possible extent in an easier and faster way than ever before. At a time when many Arab authors struggled to have their works published in literary journals and the cultural sections of periodicals and weekly newspapers, often due to bureaucratic,

Introduction

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political, or economic reasons, any author could now publish their text on any social media account unchecked and uncensored. This provided them the absolute freedom to publish material and expand their readership. Certainly, the ease, freedom, and consumption that social media offers are necessary factors for achieving the democratization of culture among the broadest possible segment of the world’s population. However, these factors also led to the rise of voices opposed to literary texts published on social media, questioning their artistic value on one hand, and accusing them of acting as a backchannel to the current of globalization on the other. Convenience and consumption were the two essential hallmarks of social media literature, describing itself as a good no different from any other good offered on the globalized market. These two features of social media appear entirely contrary to the world of literature, with its precise references, specifications, and formatting elements. Here lies the first intersection between the freedom that social media offers in a transparent, limitless way, and the way in which to tap into this freedom, all of which led to a paradox with disappointing results for the world of literature. By virtue of its creation and diverse strategic goals, some view globalization as contributing to the spread of a culture of ignorance and superficiality, killing any desire for establishing cultural norms as the refined, cultured classics had done previously. Myriad forms of identities strike matters at their core, without any concern for the resulting loss and dissipation of essential human truth. The machinery of globalization, including social media, transforms thought, culture, art, and literature into fast food. Quick, easy, and ready-to-order, you can get it on the sidewalk and eat on the go. The consumer (victim) can devour it without looking, thinking, contemplating, tasting, or even simply considering its form and content, which allows them to feel completely convinced that what they have shared or taken in was fit for consumption. Don’t worry about the side effects, it’s all good, and there’s no better alternative!4 If we consider the literary texts published on social media, we will undoubtedly find a large portion of them riddled with all possible kinds of spelling, grammatical, linguistic, stylistic, and cultural errors. These mistakes murder the language of literature and devolve it into the lowest, most vulgar form of communication without any discernible trace of thought, beauty, or vision. Moreover, you will find many who repeatedly provide their “likes” and comments in praise of this grand literary triumph. When an author receives thousands of likes and hundreds of comments, they think that they will become famous and important, which prompts them to post more. Over time, they become a Facebook star with fans, followers, and an audience, thereby becoming the rule, while everyone else is the exception.

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Introduction

In this sort of scenario, the talented writer, the master of their craft, who does not receive the same amount of likes on their post as their amateur, inexperienced counterpart on social media, may reach a point of completely abandoning writing altogether, possibly forever. This would explain the refusal by many literati, who consider themselves part of the modernist and postmodernist movement, to enter the world of social media. For some of them, it was not enough to merely avoid using or posting on social media; they felt the need to criticize and attack it as well. The Saudi critic and researcher ʿAbdullah al-Ghazami coined the term “apprehensive elitism” for those writers who abstain from using social media. In their eyes, logging onto and interacting on social media platforms does not suit their position or their moral immunity, as mixing with the general public leaves them open to having their reputations tarnished.5 For example, the American linguistics scholar Noam Chomsky (b. 1928) created a Twitter account with the intention of remaining a professor, not an interactive user. When Twitter failed to bend to his will, he went on criticizing the discourses of interactive sites in general; his elitism could not perceive the qualitative cultural shift that had occurred. The age of the elite and its culture had fallen, and in its place rose the popular, with its sheer force of numbers and its culture marked by a different mood from the past. The situation of the “apprehensive elite” is the same for the Arab cultural gatekeepers, whom we rarely find present or interacting with those who speculate about Arab modernism on social media. For example, we find no personal account for the well-known Syrian poet Adonis (b. 1930), who always called for transcendence and never backing down in the face of Salafism. If one does happen to stumble upon the account of some pioneer of modernism, it is rarely an interactive account. This is the case for the Moroccan poet and critic Mohammed Bennis (b. 1948), who recently created an account on Facebook that remains mostly inactive. He expressed his opinion on the matter at the very beginning of the internet age in his book Body Language. In this essay collection, he states that ephemeral emails that you may write and communicate with at any time or anywhere, without the need for paper, pen, envelope, postage stamp, and deliverer, lack the essential qualities of human culture.6 It seems that there is another motive behind the psychological and historical barrier that precludes the Arab modernist/postmodernist intellectual and creative vanguard from posting on social media. We can read into the apprehensive elite’s position another perspective if we consider the existence of an “unapprehensive” elite, one which has already penetrated the social media world and successfully ensconced their presence and interaction therein with their followers and readers, such as Abdullah Al-Ghathami and the Egyptian novelist Youssef Ziedan on Twitter.

Introduction

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Thus, the reluctance of some modernist pioneers and educated elite from entering the world of social media demonstrates their belief that doing so will result in a loss of their immunity, making them available to communicate with any other person. All it takes is for someone to set up a free account on a social media site in which the creator or litterateur with whom they wish to communicate is present. After that, anyone can follow their creativity, listen to them, praise them, criticize them, or even attack them. This means that interaction and communication have a price that not all creators or intellectuals can pay. This reaction appears justified in several respects, but in other ways seems foolish; or perhaps it is better to say that it entails a false standard. In contrast with the elite’s reticence, there are those who see social media as a haven for literature and creative production, especially in the Arab world, where these sites are the only spaces available for publication. Some creative writers would have less recognition and presence if not for social media. Social media represents an opportunity and tool for breaking the stranglehold over the literary field held by some cultural elites and institutions, which are difficult to join without playing by their rules. Social media appears as an oppositional discourse against the elite and a chance to disrupt the industry. It offers a triumphal moment for those marginalized creators snubbed by most cultural institutions, serving as a means for publishing their opinions and works that were stalled or rejected by certain institutions and publishing houses for political, social, religious, or economic reasons. In this way, social media represents a watershed moment for the careers of many artists, authors, and their fledgling creations, a triumph of the margins over the centers. Social media offers peripheral creators a formal literary space where they can realize themselves, step into their artistic roles, say what they want to say, and post what they want to post without any restrictions or supervision. Social media contributes to the creation of major channels in the world of literary writing, along whose banks gardens of poetry and an alternative narrative flourish, drawing in new groups of readers of various inclinations, ages, disciplines, and tastes. Many creators have also started believing that social media represents a revolution, both in literary writing and receptivity. In some cases, it has brought authors out from the shadows of silence and back into the light of creativity once again. Social media also affords creators and intellectuals the opportunity to communicate with their audiences of followers, putting them in direct contact and interaction with them without any formal barriers. Social media sites provide users with metrics, stats, and databases about various kinds of activity on their accounts, how far their posts and content have been shared and spread, and how their followers receive what they post. To the intellectual, researcher,

6

Introduction

and artist, this information is feedback they can rely upon when developing, conducting, and reviewing their work and research. The issue of social media, like everything, is relative. There are as many positives as there are negatives. However, there is no doubt that we now stand before a new phenomenon that has imposed itself on the world of literature and creativity, something that requires us all to examine and study seriously, and as soon as possible, before the matter devolves into pure chaos. In order to further understand this present interwoven relationship between literary writing and social media, this book contributes one brick in the edifice of literary criticism, which we still sorely need in Arab culture, as will become clear in what follows. With the rise of what the Jordanian author Muhammad Sanajila defined as “digital Arabic literature” came a flood of critical studies and books that studied these and other digital works published later by other Arab writers and poets. These studies include Min al-Naṣṣ ilā l-Naṣṣ al-Mutarābiṭ (2005) by Said Yaktine, Madkhal ilā l-Adab al-Tafāʿulī (2006) by Fatima Al Breiki, Al-Adab al-Raqamī (2009) by Zuhur Kiram, Taʾthīr al-Intirnīt ʿalā Ashkāl al- Ibdāʿ wa-l-Talaqqī fī l-Adab al-ʿArabī al-Ḥadīth (2011) by Eman Younis, Shiʿriyyat al-Naṣṣ al-Tafāʿulī (2014) by Labība Khammār, Al-Raqamiyya wa-Taḥawwulāt al-Kitāba (2015) by Ibrahim Melhem, Al-Tafāʿul al-Fannī al-Adabī fī l-Shiʿr al-Raqamī (2015) by Aida Nasrallah and Eman Younis, Al-Sardiyya al-Raqamiyya (2017) by Wahība Ṣāliḥ, “Naẓariyyat al-Adab al-Raqamī” (2018) by Ahmad Z. Rahahleh, and Al-Taḥawwulāt al-Jamāliyya wa-l-Thaqāfiyya fī l-Kitāba al-Raqamiyya (2022) by Saeed Al Wakil. However, all these studies dealt with literary works that relied upon technological techniques, such as hypertext, multimedia, Flash animation, etc., knowing that they were not originally written to be published on a social media platform. Rather, they were written as works completely independent from the network; the reader could then download them through a specific program. Thus, these studies did not examine the impact of social media on these works, but instead focused on the changes these techniques made on the concept of the text, reader, and writer, all of which are related to literary theory. As for studies that delve into the direct relationship between literary genres and social media, the most notable is Taʾthīrāt al-Taknūlūjiyā fī l-Riwāya min al-Waraqiyya ilā l-Ḥāsūbiyya by Seeta Ali Nagadan Alathba. In this study, Alathba discusses the impact of digital publishing on the form and content of Arabic novels. Another study followed in 2013, entitled “Al-Tajrīb wa-Tajāwuz al-Wasīṭ al-Waraqī fī l-Kitāba al-Rawāʾiyya” by Algerian student Fāṭīma Farḥī. She highlighted experimentation in novels and explained the changes that occurred in the art form when moving from print medium to digital. To do this, she analyzed the novel Nisyān Dūt Kūm /Amnesia.com

Introduction

7

by Algerian writer Ahlam Mosteghanemi, which was written on her personal internet blog. Moroccan critic Mohamed al-Dahi published an important study entitled “Digitization of the Autobiography” on his personal website in 2010, discussing the various forms of autobiographical writing on the internet. In this essay, he examined new patterns and styles for writing an autobiography on social media. In 2015, the journal Qawāfil published a special issue entitled “Al-Adab fī Wasāʾil al-Tawāṣul al-Ḥadītha,” featuring the contributions of several Arab critics. One such critic was Amal al-Tamīmī, who shared an article entitled “Al-Adab fī Wasāʾil al-Tawāṣul al-Taqniyya al-Ḥadītha wa-Tabʿāt Tajāhilhu fī l-Taʿlīm al-ʿĀlī,” in which she discussed the issue of failing to teach digital literature in educational institutions. In another article, the critic Al-Hādī Ismāʿlī started a discussion on the cybernetics of literature through informatics, citing the negative effects that the technological revolution had had on literature. In the article “Shakl al-Kitāba fī ʿAṣr al-ʿAwlama” found in the same issue, Iraqi critic Aḥmad al-Mājid spoke about the positive aspects social media offered to literature, namely, speedy publishing, democratized writing, and increased readership, among others. The last article in the issue, “Al-Faḍāʾ al-Ayqūnī wa-l-Qāriʾ al-Tafāʿulī,” was written by Algerian scholar Sumayya Maʿmarī, who discussed the ample interactive potential that writing via a virtual space offers to readers, whether it be with a text, readers, or the authors themselves. In 2017, the College of Humanities at King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia published the massive proceedings of an international conference held by the university’s Arabic department on the Arabic language and internet literary texts. One of the most pertinent articles to our topic was written by critic Ahmad Karim Bilal. Entitled “Tashakkulāt al-Naṣṣ al-Adabī fī Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī,” it focused especially on poetic texts found on Facebook as an example. The proceedings also included a significant study by Amīna Bilālī, “Al-Adab fī Ẓill al-Taknūlūjiyyāt al-Jadīda wa-Suʾal alQiyyam,” in which the author examined technology’s impact on agreed-upon values regarding texts, authors, and readers. Perhaps the only book that directly deals with Arabic literary texts published on social media is Ibrahim Melhem’s Naẓariyyat al-Adab al-Raqamī fī Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī (2018). However, the book only addresses a few literary genres and analyzes the works’ form without exploring the impact of these technologies on the texts’ language and content. As for Western criticism, we can point to an article found in the book Literature and Social Media (2020) written by Bronwen Thomas. Though it dealt with the topic at hand, it focused more on the issue of interaction between the reader and text. It also discussed examples from only Western literature.

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Introduction

Lastly, we must acknowledge two other books that deal with literary texts and their relation to social media, this time in terms of their content. They discussed literary works published digitally, in which social media played the role of “protagonist” in one form or another. These two books are Al-Intirnit wa-Shiʿriyyat al-Tanāṣ fī l-Riwāya al-ʿArabiyya al-Muʿāṣira (2018) by the Moroccan critic Muhammad Hindi and Alf Layk wa-Layk (2020) by Eman Younis. The first book examined the internet’s impact on the Arabic novel; but, as made clear from its title, it only centered on the theme of intertextuality in terms of style, and on the novel in terms of literary genre. As for the second book, it was an essay collection in which the author offered a brief study of the topic at hand. The importance of the current study and its distinction from previous works can be summed up as follows. First, we make two general kinds of distinctions between literary texts in relation to social media, including both content and form: 1) Social Media Literature: All literary texts in which social media plays a key role in the content of the work. We use the term “social media literature,” as is commonly done with other similar literary classifications, such as “war literature,” “resistance literature,” “intifada literature,” “Arab Spring literature,” and other terms that refer to a text’s content. In this way, the book puts forth a new term in this context whose meaning has never been used previously. 2) Literary Genres on Social Media: All literary texts taken from social media sites or platforms (that is, texts that were originally written to be published on social media). This is the first book to include both types of texts, thus providing a comprehensive, all-encompassing view of social media’s impact on literature in both its print and digital forms. Second, most previous studies approached the impact of social media on literature either by focusing on a specific aspect (content, structure, language, style) or on a specific literary genre. This book, however, will try to explain the impact of social media on multiple literary genres (novels, short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and autobiography), and on several levels as well (content, structure, and language). As such, it is the first book to examine from a variety of angles the changes that have occurred within literary genres in their transition from print publication to being published on social media. Third, with regard to digital literature, this book only discusses digital works published on social media. We will examine the impact of social media on the text’s formation, contrary to other studies that approached digital literature by focusing on the technology’s aesthetics. Fourth, we dedicate an entire chapter (chapter 3) to a broad examination of all the new linguistic phenomena that entered the literary discourse, in light of the information revolution and the dominance of social media, thereby expanding new critical horizons and posing important questions about the future of literary language.

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Fifth, this book will open the field to future studies in the realm of comparative literature. Published in English, it will help authors from different cultures engage in comparative studies between Arabic and other literatures as they relate to social media. Note that this study was originally a dissertation written in Arabic. In the process of turning the dissertation into a book, the text was translated from Arabic to English by Marhaba Language Expertise. The transliteration follows the International Journal of Middle East Studies, the standard method used in U.S. publications. This study adheres to a qualitative research approach, utilizing a descriptive method and relying on contextual analysis as needed. It aims to shed light on the impact of social media on contemporary Arabic literature in terms of content, form/structure, and language. Chapter 1 examines the impact of social media on literary texts in terms of content. We discuss literary texts that make social media its main focus, or in other words, those texts in which social media plays an essential role on the level of the content, whether published digitally or on paper. As will be explained later, we call these sorts of texts “social media literature.” We set out from a perspective of “sociological criticism,” which considers the relationship between society and literature, whereby society necessarily casts its shadow over literature, and literature must consequently express the society in which it was generated.7 The large number of texts within “social media literature” express a shift in content in the phenomenon of contemporary literature, posing several questions for us: What themes and topics are frequently found in social media literature? How does Arab society interact with this medium, and to what extend does it accept it or have reservations with it? Has any change occurred in how society interacts with this medium since the start of its spread until today? We address these questions by analyzing different literary genres published over the course of several years, spanning from when social media started permeating the Arab world in 1995 until now. We selected the texts analyzed in this chapter with care. During the screening process, we considered texts in terms of their artistic aesthetics and genre diversity, including stories, poems, and novels. We were also careful to consider gender and geographical representation among our sample authors to present literature from various parts of the Arab world. We must also note that some of the texts discussed in this section have only been published in print, while others were published either only digitally or both digitally and in print. Moreover, we noticed that most of the social media texts maintained the conventions of print publishing in terms of their formatting, allowing them to be published in print at any time without having to make any changes to the texts.

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Introduction

Chapter 2 examines the impact of social media on the form of the text. We consider various literary genres taken from social media sites or platforms, regardless of their content. This means that the literary texts included in this chapter were intentionally prepared to be published on social media, thereby subjecting them to the conditions of digital publishing, allowing them to utilize all social media’s potential benefits, and becoming influenced by the qualities and characteristics of the social media platform in which they appear. In this chapter, we address the following question: What external changes occur within various literary genres when transitioning from traditional (print) publishing to social media? By external changes, we mean here any changes related to the text’s form. To answer this question, we analyze several literary genres whose external features changed, appeared in a new way, or acquired new genre traits compared with their traditional form, as a result of publishing via different social media platforms. We divided this chapter into several sections, each of which deals with a specific literary genre: novels, short stories, poetry, and autobiography. We would like to acknowledge here that through our treatment of the texts in this chapter, we wanted to reveal the new manifestations of literary genres via social media. In offering an analytic study of these genres, we demonstrate their characteristics. The goal here is to allow the reader and critic to track all the changes and transformations that occurred within each different literary genre during its transition from print to social media, and then place them all within a single context. The possible selections for this chapter were relatively sparse compared with the texts found in the previous chapter, as we did not adhere to the same standards in choosing the texts. Rather, in many cases we were forced to rely on whatever we had within reach, leading to a disparity in the number of selected examples in each genre, as we will see. We also relied upon literary texts published on the most popular and widely used social media platforms for conveying the literary creative experience in the Arab world, namely Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, blogs, and forums. Chapter 3 examines the impact of social media on the language of literary texts. To that end, we tried to uncover the new linguistic and stylistic features that impacted literary texts in light of the dominance and key characteristics of social media. In this chapter, we include texts from the preceding two chapters that demonstrate and elucidate this phenomenon. NOTES 1. Nietzsche, Hākadhā Takallam Zarādasht, 199. 2. Ṣubḥ, “Athr Wasāʾil al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī,” 489.

Introduction

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3. Musʿad Muhammad, “Al-Insān wa-l-Taknūlūjiyyā.” 4. ʿUbayd, “Al-Adab al-Fāysbūkī.” 5. Ghathami, Thaqāfat Twītir, 49. 6. Bennis, Kalām al-Jasad, 92. 7. In his article “Sociology of Literature,” Jacques Leenhardt (1967) states that this field is still vaguely defined relative to others, such as sociology, because it remains a space that attracts a variety of intellectual trends and inclinations. In this regard, there are two main lines of thought. The first considers this field as inseparable from sociology, hence its name “sociology of literature,” since it deals with everything related to literature except for the text, such as distribution, circulation, professional communities of critics and authors, etc. The second view understands it as “sociological criticism” and thus connects it with linguistic and literary sciences in which the criticism includes factors within the text.

Chapter One

Content Social Media Literature

This chapter will explore the impact of social media on literature in terms of its content and delve into various literary texts in which social media plays the role of the “protagonist.” We call these texts “social media literature,” as is commonly done with other similar literary classifications, such as “war literature,” “resistance literature,” “intifada literature,” “Arab Spring literature,” and other terms that refer to a text’s content. Viewed through sociological criticism, literature is a mirror reflecting society’s issues and affairs that arise within its particular purview. Sociological criticism states that the relationship between literature and society is based on performance and power; thus, literature cannot be seen as such except through the lens of specific societal conditions. The author producing a work of literature is, at every stage, a social actor coming from a particular society, while the intended audience of this socio-literary product is another social actor. In this case, society remains the general context that encompasses this whole process in its activities and other sub-contexts.1 As such, in terms of its production and circulation, literature is conditioned by the existence of society; otherwise, it could not be considered literature. At the level of functional mechanisms, the sociological plays a huge role in producing literature and consolidating its framing concepts and trajectories. While advocates of psychoanalysis will examine the strict bond between the literary creative process and psychological elements, sociological studies insist on the intersection and interconnection between several elements— psychological, sociopolitical, and cultural—in the production of literature. These elements are summed up as the question of “society.” In this regard, the literary/ideological production process is ultimately inseparable from the general sociological process. The Hungarian thinker Georg Lukács was the first to begin creating a new style of sociological research in literary criticism. He affirmed that literature 13

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must necessarily reflect social reality, be concerned with class issues, and be able to grasp and embody the end result of social conflict in its works and by its own technical means. Thus, social content takes priority over form, as form becomes a means of embodying or realizing the content of a literary work. Lukács strove to understand the text and author through the author’s vision of the world, which is the vision of the author’s own class or social group.2 This means that literature cannot be separated from its societal context; every literary text is nothing more than a social experience via reality and fiction. Despite all the subjective lengths that some authors go to in practicing their craft, society nonetheless casts its shadow on the final product of the creative process. Social media has become a tangible reality in our daily lives, providing a plethora of services at every level, a social reality in and of itself in which we encounter and exchange personal conversations and information with people from different countries and cultures. As a result, just about everyone now has a “virtual” friend group. Social media has afforded people the opportunity to build more relationships among themselves in a different framework, outside familial or workplace settings, and to find others who share the same interests and hobbies. Moreover, some have relied upon social media to get to know new partners, build romantic relationships, and even get married. Digital connections between people have become an alternative to in-person visits and gatherings. Political movements have also adopted social media as a key platform and first recourse when communicating with their members, disseminating ideas. Even governments have not abandoned social media spaces on the internet and have begun communicating with their citizens through them. As a result, social media has led humankind away from living in a social reality to a virtual one, as well as developing a particular type of social associations known as “virtual relationships.” It has changed the individual’s daily lifestyle, social relations, ways of thinking, and culture, to the point that some researchers have gone so far as to liken it to the changes wrought by the introduction of the telephone at the start of the twentieth century and the television during the 1950s and 1960s.3 Others take a step further and equate social media with the changes brought about by the invention of alphabet systems in the wider scope of human society.4 This unprecedented technological hegemony has certainly had its effects on Arab thought and culture, with literature being one of its most significant facets. We can certainly claim that social media, with its various social consequences, has become a powerful concern that has affected the mindset and thinking of writers, as made abundantly clear in their literary creations, be they poetry or narrative. What leads us to this claim is the large quantitative accumulation of literary texts that describe human beings in their relationship to social media. We are facing a shift in content in the phenomenon of

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contemporary literature, which has grown and spread especially during this present century. Thinking about social media literature as we have defined it leads us to pose a series of questions concerning sociological criticism: How does literature express the changes that social media creates for human life? To what extent does it express how Arab societies in particular interact with this new medium? What are the most significant issues and topics that this literature focuses on? Can we rely on literature as we track the course of social media’s diffusion throughout Arab society, as well as the extent of its acceptance and usefulness? To answer these questions, we selected a large group of different literary texts that include social media as a topic in their content. We were careful and diligent in our selection of these texts, especially with consideration to genre diversity, choosing poems, short stories, flash fiction, and novels. We also considered geographical diversity, in an attempt to represent a greater number of Arab countries. With this in mind, as well as paying special consideration to gender diversity among the sample authors, we selected texts from Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. Finally, we considered the time period, selecting literary texts published over the years to observe the various ideological, social, and cultural transformations that Arab society underwent, in relation to social media, since its inception in 1995 until the present day. Note that the most recent novel was mentioned in a research corpus that was published in 2015. Some social media-related issues, themes, and messages appeared in more than one text, in different ways. We limited ourselves to citing a set number of texts in each of the following categories. After sifting and classifying our texts, we identified the following topics as the most commonly discussed and circulated among social media literary authors: risks of electronic publishing, the virtual world and self-actualization, anonymous users and falsifying facts, electronic romantic relationships, electronic sexual relationships (cybersex), marital infidelity through social media, social isolation and losing touch with reality, the virtual world and alienation, globalization, the virtual world as a real world, how teenagers use social media negatively, and using social media to instigate positive societal change. RISKS OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING Literature’s transition from print to digital spaces has several positive aspects that benefit the art form and writers on one hand, and readers on the other. Some positive benefits include the transcendence of time and space, rapid dissemination, low costs, abundance of content, and easy access to literary

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texts via free downloads on various sites. However, despite these advantages, digital publishing undoubtedly has its share of negative drawbacks that are not easily remedied, and that carry dimensions that could be dangerous both in the short- and long-term. Naturally, literature could not ignore the negative side of digital publishing, which pushed several authors to pause before these challenges and express their concerns with them. In a poem entitled “ʿItāb min Sawālib al-Aslāk” from the poetry collection Taghrīd al-Ṭāʾir al-Ālī (1996) by Egyptian Poet Ahmed Fadl Shablul, the poet expresses the possibility of texts published digitally suddenly disappearing, either due to a device breaking down or the host site vanishing, arguing that print publishing guarantees that the text will live on forever.5 He doubts the computer’s ability to preserve human memories and emotions within magnetized electric cables. Even if it could, he still would not be able to trust it because the device could betray him at any moment and erase all the beautiful emotions, feelings, and memories that he had stored in it. In this regard, he states: “The trusty computer betrayed me . . . / Because I . . . didn’t give it the signal.”6 Palestinian writer Suheil Kiwan likewise points out another negative, more dangerous phenomenon in his story “Ana Saʿīd annahum Yasraqunnī”/I’m Happy They’re Plagiarizing Me, (2013): literary plagiarism, lack of publishing rights protection, and the loss of intellectual property that could result from digital publishing.7 The story tells of a writer who accidentally discovers that a girl has plagiarized his writings and published them digitally as her own over the course of three years. In that time, she amasses a fan base and audience from all over the world. When the writer sends a message demanding that his publishing rights be protected to the website administrators, he is surprised to find that they snub him and accuse him of plagiarizing the texts of “their reputable author,” thus attributing the crime of theft to him! In his story, “Makān Jamīl li-l-Talaṣṣuṣ”/A Beautiful Place for Peeping (2009), Egyptian writer Al-Sayyid Najm explores the phenomenon of those sneakily reading others’ writing, then using and exploiting it for immoral purposes, such as ruining and defaming another’s reputation. In the digital space, every bad act is permissible and goes unchecked. In the story, the novelist writes: He was one of those people who thought that I was against their political party. I don’t want to reveal what I hide inside because he is a wolf like me. He was able to smear and scandalize all my articles on the page. He acted hostile toward me, assuming the responsibility of cursing me out with every swear word he knew; they were many and diverse.8

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THE VIRTUAL WORLD AND SELF-ACTUALIZATION The issue of self-actualization through seeking refuge in the virtual world is one of the most common topics in social media literature. In his book Taḥaddiyyāt ʿAṣr al-Maʿlūmāt (Challenges of the Information Age, 2003), the Egyptian critic Nabil Ali explains that cyberspace can transcend earthly restrictions and social norms, which makes it a sanctuary for those whose world has narrowed, or who clamor against it as a result of the massive gap between their desires and abilities, and the limitations of their reality. In seeking refuge within this virtual space, they try to ease the feelings of alienation resulting from this gap. Ultimately, the constant human tendency to remake the world through ideas and art is achieved.9 Marie-Laure Ryan states that virtual reality has two faces. The first is “delusion,” which seeks to amuse, since we know that it is not real. However, we ultimately cannot fall victim to the ruse. The reader realizes unconsciously that this world is false and can return to reality at any moment they want. The second face is “challenge,” which seeks to form or craft the world according to our tastes and desires. In virtual reality, we can make our hopes and dreams come true and realize those things we cannot in the real world.10 It is not so strange, then, that this topic is one of the most important themes to capture the imagination and attention of the authors, who express their views in every way imaginable. Among the literary texts that deal with this topic at length is the poem by Moroccan writer Taha Adnan entitled “Al-Shāsha ʿAlaykum” (2003), from the poetry collection Wa-lī fīhā ʿAnākib Ukhrā (2003) by Taha Adnan.11 It opens: Good morning, spider! Good morrow, electric zips and zaps!

In this poem, the poet recognizes that there are many good things about the internet; he sings its praises and confesses his love for all its advantages. I have pleasant neighbors on Hotmail, Friendly acquaintances on Yahoo!

At the same time, he confesses his inability to live outside of its virtual reality. Inside the internet, he can realize all his aspirations, living and rebuilding his life as he wants. Hey, you tribe of surfers, I’m here among you as a happy, free citizen,

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He moves about its scenery, speaking with more than one person, both Arabs and foreigners at the same time, discussing political and socioeconomic issues with absolute freedom on various types of social media: I remain faithful digitally. I betray digitally . . . I dream of liberating Palestine digitally.

In this way, the poet acknowledges that the internet has transformed him into a “virtual person,” isolated from his real world, which he has come to abhor. For a life overflowing with excitement and adventure in a new virtual world, he lives the life he wants therein with the utmost ease, simplicity, and freedom. All is exactly as he likes, all according to his own personal standards, desires, and convictions. Finally, he has found an outlet for his life and self. The idea of recreating the world according to our desires and fancies, which has been promoted by many philosophers and theorists from time immemorial, has now become more achievable and comprehensible thanks to scientific developments and technological advancements. It is striking to note how writers in Arabic drew attention to this feature of the internet in the early days of its spread, expressing a profound sense of both apprehension and enthusiasm. The novel Naḥwa Inʿitāqī (2011) by Saudi writer Rīm ʿAbd al-Raḥmān sheds light on the issue of self-actualization through resorting to virtual reality. In the story, the protagonist Asrar establishes herself within a feminist literary forum in which she communicates with famous female intellectuals and authors, raising literary and social issues for discussion, and asserting her selfhood. This ultimately makes her feel self-sufficient, satisfied, and individualized. ANONYMOUS USERS AND FALSIFYING FACTS By “anonymity,” we mean the lack of a specific identity for a person engaged in virtual interaction via social media, as a person can sign in under a fake name and falsify their true identity. Suheil Kiwan’s story “Raḥīl Manāḍil Kabīr”/The Passing of a Great Hero (2013) is one of the most compelling stories on this topic and the consequences of deceiving another by hiding behind fake names and assuming imaginary personalities.12 The story tells of the death of an elderly man who had lost his memory two years before his passing. The departed’s family gathers at the funeral home to receive the village people’s condolences.

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The first day passes by normally, but on the second day, the funeral home undergoes a strange transformation. A massive number of mourners from different countries and abroad pour into the parlor; telegrams arrive from abroad signed by political entities and movements asking about the old man’s obituary. The funeral parlor is not wide enough to accommodate all the newcomers. People swarm outside in the streets, forcing the police to set up roadblocks and close off the streets. Flags are then hoisted up utility poles, and the mourners begin chanting in honor of the deceased man, saying things like, “To the Great Hero!” and “To the Headstrong Warrior against colonialism and its henchmen!” One of the heads of the delegations suggests throwing a memorial celebration for the deceased man. All of this plays out before the eyes of the deceased’s awestruck and bewildered family, who are completely taken by surprise and overcome with embarrassment. It gets to the point that the deceased’s son dares to explain to the crowds of mourners that there must be some sort of misunderstanding, as his father was nothing more than a simple farmer and far from the hero they are making him out to be. After a long discussion between both sides, it becomes clear that the deceased’s grandson was the one who “talked up” his grandfather and turned him into a great resistance fighter on the pages of social media, making him into a virtual hero who earned the love and support of audiences around the Arab world. The story ends with the grandson responding to his father’s accusations and threats, saying, “What’s the matter? Is it so wrong for one hero to rise up from this land? Oof . . . What did they expect to happen, I mean, that it would ruin the world?” This story highlights many features of the virtual relationships spawned within the virtual worlds of social media sites and makes clear the reason why humans accept them, especially the new generation. Sociologist Ḥilmī Sārī explains this acceptance in his book Thaqāfat al-Intirnit: Virtual interaction allows individuals to present themselves to others with a great deal of unrestricted freedom. This freedom gives them a safe space to present themselves in more than one way so that they can play more than one role, or offer more than one aspect of themselves that is difficult to present or offer in face-to-face conversation . . . In addition, most of the time, the nature of virtual communication posturing takes on a character of ambiguity, making the individual feel a state of anonymity in their persona. This means that their identity is somewhat unknown to the other, which prompts them to highlight many traits that are not present in their own true personality, most of which are idealized.13

He adds that virtual communication grants individuals the opportunity to expand their social network with others locally, regionally, and internationally,

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regardless of their political, socioeconomic, or educational background. It allows them to leap beyond geographical borders that separate them from others, affording them the opportunity to meet, communicate, exchange viewpoints, and create a network of joint human relationships with those who share their similar thoughts, interests, hobbies, political backgrounds, and artistic inclinations. Returning to the story, the author clearly understands all these features of social media, as he demonstrates them poignantly in his story. The reaction of the massive crowds of mourners serves as proof of these virtual worlds’ powers of persuasion and ability to draw in the opinions of the masses, thereby proving its efficacy and impact, especially with regard to spreading ideas and political leanings. One researcher observes, “There are many who do not see any meaning in the environment in which they live. In the virtual world, they are called to become heroes, which may explain why they find themselves so immersed in it. Don’t we all prefer to be heroes instead of fast-food workers?”14 Despite the advantages individuals gain in shrouding their true identities and resorting to anonymity as a form of self-actualization, this behavior necessarily leads to deceiving others, who then become what are now known as “victims of virtual relationships.” The grandson strove to create a false, heroic virtual persona to realize, even if only virtually, his dream of becoming the “one hero to rise up from this land.” To that end, he falsified his grandfather’s personality, convincingly plastered over the features of his true being, and presented this persona to the world in a way that excited their admiration and satisfied their expectations, regardless of the consequences of this deception for his father. Another set of texts that deal with this issue, although indirectly, is a collection of very short stories entitled “Aḥādīth al-Intirnit” by Syrian writer Nada al-Dana.15 In the third story, “Khayba,” the author writes about a young man who becomes acquainted with a girl named Rania, falls in love with her, then sets a date at a nearby place for them to meet up in person. When he arrives at the designated spot, he is surprised to see another young man just like himself waiting for him. In the fourth story, “Shaghab,” the author writes about a young man who gets to know a girl over the internet; she describes herself as extremely beautiful. This excites the boy and he asks to meet up with her, determined to ask for her hand in marriage after having fallen in love with her. He is shocked to discover that the girl is only ten years old. She apologizes to him very innocently, saying that she was only kidding around with him. This scenario is a frequently explored theme in another collection of flash fiction stories entitled Qiṣaṣ Nīt by Moroccan writer Fatima Bouziane.16

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We also find the consequences of anonymity reflected in some novels, as is the case in Khuṭūṭ Tamās by Jordanian author Ghaṣṣūn Raḥḥāl.17 The novel tells of three men who receive an evite to meet with a woman called “Ḥūriyya,” whom they all have gotten to know over the internet. The three men all show up at the same place and sit at the same table, each of them thinking that he has come to meet with another woman. The first man is a lonely spinster, the second a devout nursing student, and the third a Christian minister. The three men start up a conversation that devolves into a hostile argument. Each of them alleges that he is the most justified to sit at the table and meet with “his woman.” At the height of this quarrel, the waiter appears and informs them that he is Ḥūriyya. Each of the three men had imagined a false image of a woman to suit their own thoughts and needs. Other novels that explore this subject include Rajul wa-khamas Nisāʾ by Saudi writer ʿAbdallāh Dāwūd, Al-Amākin fī ʿUyūn Jumāna by Saudi author Nada al-ʿArifi, and Yawm Iltiqaynā wa-Yawm Iftifaraqnā by Khālid al-Shaykh.18 In reading these various texts that highlight the theme of anonymity, we are led to conclude that these authors believe that the issue is a double-edged sword. On one hand, the authors have shown that anonymity can allow individuals to make their dreams come true, which they otherwise could not do in the real world. It also grants them a free space to express their wants and desires without fear of punishment, which naturally makes them feel as if they are truly self-actualizing. On the other hand, anonymity often results in misleading the receivers and presenting them with incorrect facts, making them fall victim to another party’s conspiracy or lie. ELECTRONIC ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS Some researchers in the field of digital communications believe that the internet is one of the most important channels for this kind of communication. It has effected tangible changes in the arena of love and romance that were never available previously. This is due to the internet’s unique features that make it attractive for a certain kind of communication that allows individuals to present themselves to one another with almost complete freedom and without any financial cost or social risk. Aside from that, it can help individuals establish social relationships and altruistic friendships that are no different from the friendships they make via in-person contact with other humans.19 It goes without saying that young people are drawn to exploit these virtual possibilities and features, especially if they live in such a conservative milieu as Arab societies, which typically handle these issues with a great deal of prudishness and closed-mindedness. As a result, it is not strange that “social media romances” are among the most enticing themes explored by

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authors since the early stages of the internet in the Arab world. Perhaps one of the boldest attempts to broach this topic was made in Saudi author Rajaa al-Sanea’s novel Girls of Riyadh, which caused a stir when it was published (2005; English translation: Penguin, 2007). The novel recounts the lives of four young, high-class girlfriends in Riyadh: Gamrah, Michelle, Sadeem, and Lamees. The author follows their exciting worlds full of secrets, taking us through the girls’ everyday lives and concerns down to the very last detail. Al-Sanea utilizes modern technology in crafting the text, as some chapters are formatted in the style of an e-mail, complete with usernames, timestamps, and digital effects. In these sections (50 emails in total), the author relies upon the style and conventions of e-mail writing used on the internet to give it an authentic feel to the reader, transporting the reader from the pages of the novel to the computer screen. Each message starts exactly like a real e-mail, such as the following: To: [email protected] From: “seerehwenfadha7et” Subject: An Unforgettable Adventure Date: 16-7-2004 Throughout the course of the novel, the author delves into the social and romantic lives of the girls of Riyadh, exploring their emotions, feelings, and aspirations within a conservative society that adheres to strict traditions and customs. Al-Sanea makes the internet a safe space for the girls to divulge and vent their fears and frustrations with one another, thereby transforming the screen into a space for expressing the forbidden. The same was the case for the author herself, who realized that her country’s censors would never allow her to publish her friends’ stories in a book. Thus, she resorted to publishing them on the internet to avoid this surveillance, just like the girls who write about themselves in search of freedom from the silencing that they experience, as demonstrated in the following quote: The phone lines in this country had been extended further than ever into other countries, to carry all the stories, cries, sighs, and kisses of lovers that flowed through them, all these things which they could not express, nor wanted to bring up in real life, out of consideration for religious precepts or social norms.20

The author portrays her computer and smart phone screen as a place that eases the pain of reality for girls in Riyadh. It is also through the screen that guys and girls can continue to get to know one another:

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Lamees got to know Ahmed, a student at her university, over the internet. Their relationship then moved from the computer screen to the cell phone speaker. Gamrah also found a space to grieve after her divorce from her husband in a chatroom. Little by little, she became addicted to chatting, spending all day and night talking with one guy or another.21

On this subject, we should also mention the story “E-Mail Girlfriend” by Moroccan author ʿAbd al-Nūr Idrīs.22 The author describes the ardor of digital communication between a man and his lover: I waited for a long time, basking in the glow of my computer screen, until finally my femme fatale peered at me with her beautiful eyes . . . Before typing any passionate words, I must confess that I lose myself when around her . . . Sometimes, I lose my mass, fly into the heart of things, and only land to take in her emails, like a bee descending upon a yellow stamen for nectar.23

In the field of poetry, several poets express their thoughts and feelings about digital romances and virtual love. We need look no further than the poetry collection by ʿAbd al-Nūr Idrīs, Tamazzuqāt ʿIshq Raqamī (2007).24 His poetry abounds with fervor on this topic. We should also mention Al-Ḥabīb al-Iftirāḍī by Syrian author Ghada al-Samman.25 This book contains a variety of texts, blending musings, prose poetry, and flash fiction. The following example, entitled “Ḥubb Dākhil al-Zaman al- Iftirāḍī” (Love in the Virtual Age), perfectly exemplifies this theme of virtual romance and love: “On February 30th, I loved you. / I loved you once to the point of delirium.”26 ELECTRONIC SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS (CYBERSEX) Social media has allowed its users to engage in sexual relations virtually and opened the door to the widespread phenomenon known as “cybersex.” Cybersex is defined as “any imaginary sexual practice between two people over the internet via real-time communication by describing actions and reactions, either through writing, microphone, or webcam, in order to reach sexual climax.”27 Unrestrained cybersex allows users to defiantly express their sexual desires as they never could before. Today, there are hundreds of sites that afford individuals the opportunities to enter into a world of 3D sexual recreation, watch pornography, listen to sexy conversations, and engage in many other kinds of sexual services. David Delmonico identifies three kinds of cybersexual patterns: connected pornographic sexual intercourse, real sexual intercourse, and sexual intercourse via various media and software. He adds that there are several

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key reasons pushing people to accept these kinds of relationships. One of the main causes is the isolation or introversion that a person may feel, thereby prompting them to resort to search out these sorts of relationships and fill the emptiness from which they suffer. The possibility of shrouding one’s true personality behind a fabricated, undiscoverable persona has encouraged many to dive into these experiences without any awkwardness or fear of punishment. Aside from that, many sites offer sexual services at low prices compared with real-world sexual services.28 Several authors have discussed this phenomenon, whether describing virtual sexual relationships, or examining the motives and reasons behind why men and women of various ages in the Arab world engage in them. In his poem “Ḥubb fī Zaman al-Yahoo,” Egyptian poet ʿIzzat al-Ṭayrī describes a moment of love between a man and his beloved that they shared via social media while using cameras, which enabled them to see one another.29 The poem opens: “He had sex with her . . . They made a bed out of the Yahoo! chatbox.” This poem is an example of Delmonico’s third pattern of cybersexual relations. The poet continues: “They celebrated / Their wedding nights . . . Peppering the entire universe with gasps, sensations . . . ”30 In the story “Al-Baṭal al-Iftirāḍī”/The Virtual Hero by Palestinian author Aida Nasrallah, a married man feels hemmed in by his life and reality; he decides to build a new nation for himself, formed according to his whims and desires.31 He turns to the internet and creates a virtual homeland that he dubs Dreamland, a reference to the idealized role that many expect from the virtual world. Another person then seeks refuge in Dreamland, hoping to find there what he yearns for, which he cannot find in the real world. To them, this virtual world transforms into a perfect world where they can run their lives with the utmost freedom and without any external dictates. It is, in the virtual hero’s own words, “My homeland, and I am totally, absolutely free within it, just like I always wanted. No one can question me. I am the only one who asks. I’m the only one who speaks.”32 However, what is it that this man is searching for in his virtual world? In fact, he is looking for a space for his sexual desires and appetites, and he exploits any moment when his wife and children are distracted to walk about his virtual world through his screen. There, he meets dozens of women whom he deceives at the same time with his sweet talking, exploiting what he views as women’s weak spots: their kindness, affection, and tenderness. Thus, he lies, deceives, and deludes them all into thinking that they are his only girlfriend, and that there is no one else in his life except her. In the end, he says, “Don’t ask me why I’m doing this. It is my sin. It is just like poetry. Each woman is a good poem, but I don’t want to hear it more than once before desiring to hear another.”33

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In this way, the story’s protagonist fools around with all the women, merely for his own sexual gratification, abandoning them as soon as he has had his way with them: Here the rivers begin to rush while I irrigate, and after that, there’s nothing left for me to do but think about how to rid myself of my boredom. I don’t like to till only one piece of land. Oh, how bored I am. I like to take a little sip from every river . . . Naturally, she would eventually reveal to me everything about her life, names, and events, which I take great pleasure in using against her. Then begins the phase of my plan in which I subdue and abandon her . . . and I succeed. Of course, for things like this, I have a list of other women’s names with whom I might entertain myself through the screen.34

Nasrallah sheds light on the phenomenon of sexual relationships to which some men turn in Arab society to satisfy their sexual urges and appetites in a negative way, which usually includes exploiting and extorting women, invalidating their feelings, and besmirching their dignity. When considering Jordanian author Muhammad Sanajila’s story Shāt/ Chat, we find a completely different perspective on these kinds of relationships.35 The novel’s general subject matter describes online relationships, but the author also demonstrates a high level of commitment, expressing a different concept of cybersexual relationships, as compared with the previous texts. He describes virtual sexual relationships between the two main characters of the novel, Nizar and Lillian, as natural and legitimate, the definitive end-result of a normal romantic relationship in virtual reality: Nizar: I want to strip you naked with my bare hands, remove the burden of your clothes from your body . . . Piece by piece . . . I start with your shirt . . . I open it button by button . . . The cleavage of your breasts is exposed . . . I stick my nose in between them . . . I bury myself deep within them . . . I breathe in your naked breasts as if they are two small gods . . . I take off the silken cover of your pink bra . . . They glow in their nakedness . . . I bring them together with my hands . . . I grab the tips of your erect nipples, rubbing them with my fingers delicately, arrogantly. With a hidden joy, I stick out my small tongue and lick them gently . . . Then, my gentleness turns to burning savagery . . . I consume them like two red berries . . . My tongue is born anew by your breasts. Lillian: Oh, baby . . . Bring me into you . . . Kiss me on my neck . . . Let your little teeth leave marks on my throat . . . Then, draw me toward you . . . Don’t be gentle . . . I want you to be rough . . . Storming into me like a wounded knight . . . Free your lance from its sheath and launch it at me . . . Here it is, right between my hands . . . Erect like a god . . . I bend over it . . . As my lips approach it, it becomes more inflamed . . . I circle my tongue around it . . . And plunge it into the depths of my mouth . . .36

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The passage above effectively demonstrates the second pattern of cybersex that Delmonico mentioned (pornographic sexual exchange). In this case, spicy written texts were exchanged between the two parties, thereby leading them both to sexual climax. Comparing these three texts that deal with the topic of digital sexual relationships, we find that al-Tayri discusses it as a phenomenon without giving a clear position on it. As for Nasrallah, she depicts it as merely a means of liberating repressed urges or satisfying sexual appetites. In her eyes, this phenomenon is not based on mutual respect or love; it will ultimately cause harm to one of the two parties. Finally, Sanajila affirms that human beings, in their technological existence, must love and make love virtually. This is the natural development of human life that is more and more geared toward and reliant upon technology for making and maintaining relationships.37 MARITAL INFIDELITY THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA We now move from digital sexual relationships to a discussion about another related topic: marital infidelity via social media and its manifestations in literature. Various studies emphasize the rise in divorce rates among spouses in Arab and non-Arab societies as a result of the increasing use of social media for marital infidelity. These studies cite the most significant motives that prompt spouses to seek romantic relationships outside of the context of marriage, as well as how serious these sorts of relationships are. Literature has its own way of treating this topic. In the story “Barīd Ilaktrūnī” (2008) by Fatima Bouziane, a man sends an e-mail to a female artist whose website he frequently visits.38 In it, he expresses his ardent admiration for her art and paintings, then informs her that he has become enthralled by her site. Later, he declares his love for her, saying that he imagines her as the most beautiful woman in the world. He then confesses that he is happily married, but “who among us isn’t lacking in something?” In this way, the writer seems to suggest that married people resort to social media to search for romances outside the institution of marriage, out of a need to fill a certain gap through a relationship with another party. We find the same idea in the story “Ghawāyat Shāt” by Egyptian author Al-Sayyid Najm, where a husband becomes acquainted with a girl named Julia, and spends hours in a chatroom with her talking about poetry because she loves reading his poems, unlike his wife, who does not understand or like poetry.39 As for Moroccan writer Malika Moustadraf’s story “Kān Yartadī Qamīṣan bi-Murabbaʿāt Kabīra,” she discusses the same topic but in a more profound way. In her story, the author demonstrates that marital infidelity does not stem from merely compensating for some deficiency or lack.40 Rather, it

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occurs because the partners’ relationship itself, based on love, respect, and understanding toward the other, becomes routine, thereby leading both sides to perform their duty toward the other based on religious or societal customs, rather than passion or desire: “When we meet, don’t suppress your breasts with a bra . . . Let your hair fall freely onto your shoulders, just like in the picture . . . I want to darken my eyes with you, because I’m a Bedouin, and my eyes are big.” (Her husband says, “A woman’s hair is shameful.” His head is like a piece of old ivory, and his beard a broom. Some day she will grab him by the beard, swing him around three times, then throw him into the toilet and flush him away. At that time, she will shout, “Your beard is shameful! Your baldness is shameful! Shame!”) “Do you want to make love?” he wrote. (Her husband doesn’t ask her this. She satisfies his desires whenever, however, and wherever he wishes, even if during the daytime fasting of Ramadan. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya said, “Whoever fears that his testicles may burst may have sexual intercourse during Ramadan.” Thus, she is obedient to her husband and Ibn Qayyim, even though her husband’s balls didn’t break, and she prevents him from entering Heaven.) She takes her keyboard and types, “Does the love we make online have a different taste?” “Of course, it’s delicious, just like Mama’s couscous.” She licks her lips. On Friday, she will go to eat her mother’s couscous with gadid. Her husband will escort her, of course, and she will wear her dark clothes that made her look like a tent. Her brothers will call her a “ninja,” and the tent will cover her. Her husband suffocates her, while Jupiter1960 writes, “A woman is not just a body.”41

SOCIAL ISOLATION AND LOSING TOUCH WITH REALITY Among the other themes touched upon by social media literature is the phenomenon of social isolation caused by this medium among individuals of a society. The great conflict between social media’s overwhelming development, which continues accelerating day by day, and the resultant rapid rise in the rate of estrangement among people, their friends, and relatives is a matter

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that has stirred much debate and thought. This pivotal topic was represented in the story “Ḥāla Iftirāḍiyya wa-Zuqāq” (2014) by Jawdat ʿĪd.42 The story deals with a young woman who works in an accounting firm. Her daily routine consists of arriving home from work at 5pm, parking her car in the same place, and then going to her small home through a narrow alley, which she usually crosses on foot. While walking home, some children run into her, some of whom play soccer, others who play hide and seek, while others zoom up and down the alley on their bikes. What annoys the young woman most about those children is how much clamor, noise, and shouting they make while playing. After a few days, the young woman begins noticing that the alley is no longer like it used to be. It has become much calmer, and all signs of its usual loud hustle and bustle have all vanished: She no longer heard the rhyme that the children used to frequently sing and dance to while playing in the alley. She had heard it so much that she’d memorized by heart, “Tick, tock, knock once, knock twice, knock the door hard. Ding, dong, ring the bell, when we push the button.” As much as those children and their little bodies rushing all around her used to bother her, she missed seeing them just as much, for as soon as she heard their incessant whooping and hollering, she knew that she had finally returned her home, and then felt at peace.43

It appears that the games and songs no longer brought the neighborhood children together as they used to, because the youngsters now had something new to entertain them, an alternative in which they found what they could never have dreamt of: The children had disappeared behind their new world; it swallowed them up from their street, world, people, and games. They embarked on a journey that went on and on without ceasing, discovering an exciting world and new challenge every day. They no longer had any room for what went on in the alley or with its denizens. They now had virtual playgrounds, vast spaces for departure, anger, joy, recreation, and impulsivity. Their world was now limited to the palm of their hand! In this new space, they experienced everything possible and impossible, and the possibilities were endless . . . The entire world was between their fingers for endless self-discovery and to meet others . . . They entered their homes lying along the alley and left behind their shouts and cries like lost ghosts in the void of that place. They constructed a Tower of Babel out of a thrilling world within their grip, doing so with a great silence that shook the alley and its residents.44

The author stresses that virtual reality is what causes people to withdraw from their communities and live in total isolation from their real-life society. As a

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result, they become less connected to their society and the individuals within it, a worrisome notion for the future of belonging within a real community. Some sociologists have emphasized that the pioneers of virtual reality still vacillate between estrangement at times and communication at others. The person who reflects on the reality of virtual gatherings in their various forms becomes aware of the relationships within them and continuously engages in them. They become further estranged from society, as virtual relationships lead them to severing relationships with their friends, neighbors, and even sometimes with their family. These relationships outside the scope of physical, real-life relationships consume the individual’s time as they swim through a new, symbolic space online.45 Walīd Zakkī claims, in accordance with philosopher Albert Borgman, that our computers have distracted us away from our world. The internet plays a part in influencing people by providing them an opportunity to create easy social relationships through cyberspace. These relationships have helped break down the conventional aspects of social relations, forming new virtual relationships on a global scale. These associations have no connection with a complete identity or specific nationality. However, they do bring together people belonging to different identities and diverse nationalities based solely on their joint interests. Consequently, it has become easy for individuals to separate themselves from nearby people and to communicate with distant others with whom they happen to harmonize better. This is exactly what happened to the alley children from the story, as well as the young woman, who eventually goes on to build her own virtual relationships, surrendering herself to her computer, which bears all her thoughts and secrets. Zakkī adds that these relationships in turn lead to what is known as “individualism,” or self-isolation from one’s surrounding social context. The individual engaged in virtual interactions, even within a group setting, nonetheless enters them as an individual in front of a personal computer screen that takes him from his real world and into a virtual one, which then leads to a form of psychological alienation.46 We find this exact phenomenon expressed in the novel Fatā sayyiʿa/Bad Girl by Shahd al- Ghalāwīn.47 The novel’s protagonist, Raghad, loses herself within the virtual world, where she can live her life isolated from the customs and traditions that she detests in her physical environment and reality. She states, “I was free from every restraint, and I lived my life as I wanted. I incarnated as several personalities whose ideas I dreamt of embracing every day. My writing and its ideological leanings had no family supervision. I was on my own in a self-secluded world.” As such, Raghad isolates herself from her surroundings such that her world becomes reduced to a small screen.

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Of the poetic texts that touch upon the topic of social isolation, among many other topics, is a poem entitled “Hijāʾ al-Intarnit” by the Yemeni poet Muqbil al-ʿAmrī.48 One of the worst parts that I’ve found is that it’s a grave in which you live in silence, As if you were walking above ground, yet you have gone to commune with the dead underneath.49

In this poem, he describes several downsides of the internet, including social isolation, lambasting social media sites for having turned people into corpses buried in complete isolation from one another in a virtual graveyard: The living speak with them, but feel as if they are already half-dead. You don’t hear a peep out of them, but their conversations remain forever engraved on the screens.50

THE VIRTUAL WORLD AND ALIENATION Social isolation leads us to raise another related topic: feelings of alienation that may be caused by social media. Practically speaking, these feelings stem from the huge digital gap separating Arab and Western societies, which comes as a result of the disparity between cultures and ways of adapting to virtual societies. The novel Laylā wa-Layālī l-Fāysbūk/Layla and Her Facebook Nights (2015) by Lebanese author Nizār Dandash is an important example of a literary work trying to grapple with the topic of the alienation that an Arab feels while in virtual reality, as it is an alien world utterly foreign to our culture.51 The protagonists Nizar and Layla get to know one another through Messenger, and little by little a powerful romance develops between them. Neither can live without the other, and so they decide ultimately to make their relationship real through marriage. However, this marriage lasts only a few short months and ends in divorce. Nizar explains how the relationship failed: Though Facebook, or whatever will come to take its place later, may actually solve all the problems of social communication, the world will still live with the remnants of past relationships and remain affected by them for a long time. Although many religions and sciences came after the age of myths, did not human culture still largely rely upon fantasy, imagination, and legends? It seems that Layla became another victim of the transitional stage, that phase between

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two cultures, that of the ages before and after Facebook. This phase will push many others into the future as well.52

The author put his finger on an essential point of this issue: the nature of digitalization in the West is different from that in our Arab world. Digitalization in the West was the logical result of the objective development of a society in its various material and abstract domains, the product of the search for more creativity, advancement, aesthetics, freedom, and pleasure. As for the Arab world, digitalization was nothing more than the application of the principles of imitation and subordination upon which we were raised. Unfortunately, to this day we are still in the stage of consumption without production, which makes our dealings with all these scientific achievements burdensome. We cannot deny the reality of the danger involved in the factors that will affect the future of the Arab individual and culture in a constantly changing world. The theme of alienation is also greatly depicted in Jawda ʿĪd’s dialogue entitled Masāḥa Iftirāḍiyya wa-Makān (2014).53 ʿĪd treats “virtual space” as an area to which one cannot adapt or live therein, because it is foreign to us and far removed from our culture, a place that has been forcibly foisted upon us as a form of globalization. In the beginning of this drama, two lovers are living a steamy love story in virtual reality, completely convinced that they will realize there everything that they have been deprived of in the real world. They will establish a dream city, the utopia they had always dreamed of. However, they quickly discover that this reality does not suit them at all, as it imposes on them a different culture at odds with their own. They then recognize that virtual reality is a false, brittle, and warped reality compared with their own true and beloved real world. As the protagonist, Ishtar, says to her friend, Odom, “My city had lost its face, its bread, its color, and it all went to shit. Its features were distorted. It didn’t have anything like our gardens, oranges, olives, and pomegranates.” Although Eid was very careful not to mention the names of any real places in the text, based on Ishtar’s mention of the pomegranates, olives, and oranges, we can infer that the characters are discussing and longing for a city in Palestine. It is as if the writer is indirectly asserting that a human being cannot live without his homeland, nor in any circumstance replacing it with another, no matter how glitzy this new homeland may seem. In the end, the virtual homeland is nothing more than a lame imitation. GLOBALIZATION The topic of alienation relates to globalization, which the internet and social media helped crystallize, thereby turning the world into a single, small village.

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This phenomenon has had many implications that lead to various reactions among thinkers, politicians, theologians, and others. Some view globalization as a threat to cultures, spreading the dominant American culture, which only reinforces feelings of alienation. Others, however, welcome globalization, seeing that it has torn down barriers between nations and cultures, as well as opened them up to one another, transforming the world into a small village in which everyone is a citizen with equal rights and dignity. In reviewing social media literature, one will find that, sadly, very few texts touch upon the subject of globalization. However, we saw fit to include them in this book because of the significance of this topic on the one hand, and due to the possible existence of other texts that we have unfortunately not come across yet on the other. As for the texts that we did find, Suheil Kiwan’s short story “ʿAwlama” (2004) deals with the topic in his typical, sarcastic way.54 Through the story, the author shows that globalization will not only impact ideology, but may also have effects on the “body.” The story’s protagonist falls victim to a traffic accident, which then leads him to transplant within himself new organs that were obtained from different people around the world: As I was coming home, I got into a traffic accident, and it took me two weeks before I snapped out of it. The accident had completely crushed me, and most of the bones of my body were injured, even my precious twig and berries. The insurance company stepped in immediately and without delay, then sent me to several countries for treatment. I started in America and received the legs of a basketball player, returning home nine centimeters taller than before. I then stopped by Britain and got two new arms that were all but perfect save for a tattoo of a naked girl engraved on the right one. I got two Indian kidneys, and obtained my genitals from a Dutch man, who surrendered them once and for all after deciding to transition into the other gender’s camp. As for my tongue, it was taken from the throat of a French prostitute, and my two amazing hazel-colored eyes were procured for me from a Brazilian samba dancer.

In this way, the protagonist fully regains his health, but loses his first identity as “ʿAbdullah” to another foreign personality arranged from several imported cultures carried in his new body parts, once again bringing us back to the topic of alienation that we discussed in the previous sub-section. In the realm of novels, Subhi Fahmawi’s book Ḥubb fī Zaman al-ʿawlama (2008) sheds light on the identity crisis experienced by Arab society during the era of globalization.55 It depicts Arab life in terms of its prevailing humanistic, social, commercial, and sexual norms in the postmodern era, as juxtaposed with the brutal capitalist society that invades the world, as well as love during this age of globalization. The novel tells of a traditional Arab city with its pure springs, delicious fruits and crops, simple men, and beautiful,

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innocent, and naïve women. Suddenly, the winds of globalization sweep over the city, poisoning it with merchants, mercenaries, vagrants, transients, pirates, mafia gangs, the destitute, and untouchables, thereby transforming it into a globalized city. Due to the massive amount of traffic in that region, the city starts to expand, enlarge, and spread with surprising speed. As the streets widen, more condos, factories, and skyscrapers rise up; their sewage flows into and pollutes the pure springs of water, killing the beautiful fish. As poisonous fumes permeate the constricted atmosphere, pollution destroys everything in its miasma. While one of the city’s humble townsfolk grows up to become a billionaire through his international business, the rest of the city is plagued by the diseases of the twenty-first century, including the devastating AIDS epidemic. In this way, Arab society is transformed into a decayed society from head to toe, afflicted with the blight of globalization. THE VIRTUAL WORLD AS A REAL WORLD The strong connection between individuals and societies with virtual reality led to the latter’s conquest of true reality, to such a degree that it flipped the scales. Now, reality has become virtual, and the virtual has become real. Suheil Kiwan’s story “Abū Taḥrīr al-Fāysbūkī” (2013) calls attention to the risk posed by virtual reality’s hegemony over an individual’s life, as this reality leads to the abolition of and dominance over true reality. The story tells of a man who decides to create a Facebook page for himself to keep up with the times and advanced civilization like everyone else. On his page, the man names himself “Abu Tahrir al-Facebooki” (literally “Father of Liberation of Facebook”) and chooses a picture of the sky lit up by phosphorescent lights for the banner of his page. The man begins using Facebook, surprised at how quickly he amasses new virtual friends and acquaintances each day. One day, Abu Tahrir al-Facebooki meets a woman who calls herself “Blue Star,” and a solid friendship grows between them. However, their friendship ends when he notices the fundamental differences between their political leanings: As soon as I mention the rivers of blood that unjustly drown the earth and the war crimes committed against humanity all around us, she immediately goes silent, closes our chat window, and logs off her account . . . It became clear that she doesn’t agree with me on many of my viewpoints and characterizations. Those whom I call liberators she calls terrorists. That which I label as war crimes she defines as self-defense. Those whom I think are iconic heroes she sees as ugly pigs or sons of bitches!56

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The protagonist tries to wade into the issue of virtual friendships from a different angle, as some online groups try to attract those who hold similar views as themselves, as well as those with their same ethnic, political, or religious leanings. All of this is done in order to broadcast their convictions, expand their circle, and oppose anyone different from themselves. This aspect was represented in Blue Star’s position, who, after realizing the significant divide between her political opinions and his, launched into a violent, stinging criticism against Abu Tahrir for his solidarity with a group that demanded justice and accountability for war criminals. Then she had nothing left to do but “cancel” his existence with the click of a button. This scene demonstrates another aspect of the virtual world, that it is flimsier and more delicate than a spider’s web; it can be built up with one click, and then completely erased with another. Despite this negative feature of virtual positions, studies indicate that there are fewer sites aimed at attracting specific groups based on sectarian or ethnic affiliations than there are those based on pluralism. For example, there are some virtual social groups on Facebook that seem to have been created simply to confirm or promote the popularity of the identity to which a specific group belongs. These groups include those that are made in the name of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Jesus Christ, or the Virgin Mary. In these cases, the number of subscribers that express their positions as part of these groups or “virtual associations” hovers between 1–3 million followers. Yet, when we look at the number of users who are fans of certain sports teams, such as Real Madrid, their followings usually exceed five million subscribers. Even footballer Cristiano Ronaldo alone has nearly fifteen million fans on Facebook.57 Despite this, Kiwan attempts to delve deeper into this topic by addressing the impact these relationships have on the individual’s personal life. At the end of the story, Kiwan writes in the voice of Abu Tahrir: After some days, however, she exacted her ferocious vengeance upon me in ways I hadn’t expected. She started the “Blue Star Squad” page and ignited an all-out war against Abu Tahrir al-Facebooki! Over the course of a few days, many of my dearest Facebook friends from all corners of the world cancelled our friendship. What’s worse was that pirates had snuck in my messenger threads and spied on my conversations. Some people then received obscene messages sent in my name and with my profile pic so as to smear my reputation.58

From this point on, things become complicated for Abu Tahrir, as he faces many protests and calls for isolation, banishment, and punishment. He is even accused of conspiring with terrorists:

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The truth is that I never imagined that Blue Star would have such influence and sway . . . Her pirates messed around with my computer and its contents at their pleasure, doxing me and sending out doctored photos of me naked or in embarrassing situations. They then started leaking my previous correspondences with Blue Star, all of which were recorded, especially the more intimate ones, as well as blackmailing me.59

At this point, he has no other choice but to quickly send apologies to Blue Star, along with bouquets of flowers. He also rescinds his affiliation from the group that demanded justice and accountability for the war criminals, even denouncing the group as impractical. Abu Tahrir then starts losing all his friends, becomes embroiled in several scandals, and is subjected to humiliation, scorn, and blackmail. Things become so bad that he is even prepared to go back on his beliefs and principles and betray his friends in order to reclaim his virtual standing, be forgiven by “virtual personalities,” and return once again to “his virtual world” that had all crashed down around him overnight. In this way, the author stresses the point that the virtual world can affect an individual’s life in the real world, such that the real world becomes virtual and the virtual world becomes real. Ḥusayn Rāshid, head of the Arab Union of Electronic Media (AUEM), discusses this subject in an article, stating, “What is called the virtual world has quickly become an undeniable reality . . . The tools of the digital age are no longer as they were before the virtual era. Rather, they have transformed into a reality from which there is no escape, save completely severing oneself from the network.”60 This means that virtual reality may be more powerful than lived experience in its impact on individuals, since the latter can be cancelled and replaced by the former. Individuals can be affected so much that it forces them to resort to it willingly or out of hatred, even after undermining all their values and principles that they had once held to be true. This was the case for Abu Tahrir, who began doubting all the values, customs, and creeds he had believed in and been taught, and ultimately his real world was affected by the virtual one. This topic opens the door to the idea of “virtual citizenship,” which expresses the concept of a world-wide virtual affiliation in which all of humanity becomes equal citizens within a virtual state based on universal values and principles. A similar conclusion is drawn in the novel Nikāḥ Iftirāḍī by Saudi author ʿĀrif al- Ḥaysūnī.61 One of the book’s main characters, Nabih Baykfi, concludes that the virtual world is reality, because it possesses the overwhelming power to influence our thoughts and conceptions that later make us deal with our true reality differently.

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HOW TEENAGERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA NEGATIVELY One of the most prominent topics explored in social media literature is the way and extent to which children and teens use and benefit from social media and the internet, as well as whether their usage is restricted merely for entertainment or searching for other more important and useful matters. Moroccan author Hayat Alyaqout attempts to address these questions through her story “Al-Masīkh Ilaktrūniyan” (2007).62 The story revolves around a young girl browsing the internet and chatrooms, talking with more than one person at the same time. From time to time, she checks her e-mail inbox for any new messages, but is surprised, disappointed, and frustrated to find “zero incoming messages.” After waiting for a long time, a message finally arrives, which she quickly opens without reading its address or subject line. Here the author refers to the story’s first theme, the younger generation’s recklessness in seeking knowledge; the age of speed in which they live does not allow them any room for investigation or reflection. This generation strives for ready-made data that does not require any research or critical thinking. When the girl opens the message, she finds a horrific image of the Antichrist. She is appalled by the grotesque sight and becomes extremely terrified, covering the screen with her white hands and rushing to tell her mother. Her mother advises her to read and memorize Surat al-Kahf, a chapter of the Quran, which will protect her from any harm. When the girl begins reading the Quranic verses, she realizes that it will take a long time to do so. It then crosses her mind to print the verses from an internet site, but she does not know how to search for it. She asks for help from one of the neighbor girls, a university student who has just finished her second year of computer engineering. The young woman tells her that she too does not know of any Islamic religious sites, and thus asks her for more time for research and thought. On the following morning, when the girl opens her bedroom window to air out her room, she glances at the Quran on her shelf, “then quickly averts her gaze, claiming she didn’t see it. She proceeds to the door, tenderly pats her computer, and leaves her room.” Through this story, Alyaqout sheds light on several topics concerning the younger generation’s connection to the internet, as well as how they deal with it in a superficial way, despite spending long hours staring at their computer screens. By the end, it becomes clear that the author believes that this generation will remain transfixed by the internet and immersed in its superficiality. In her eyes, this generation will not make the effort to obtain knowledge through reading or research because it prefers ready-made information that only the compassionate computer provides.

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As for other novels that deal with the misuse of social media by teens and young people, we must mention Saudi author ʿAbdallāh Dāwūd’s novel Fatāt al-Yūtyūb (2012).63 The novel tells of Ghadeer, a university student and bibliophile with a general excitement about life. Ghadeer becomes involved in a false romance with a young man called Haytham whom she meets online one day from a computer at a public library. Ghadeer falls head-over-heels in love with Haytham and is unconsciously swept up in her emotions. Thinking that she will be his future bride, the day comes when Haytham asks to see a picture of her; she innocently gives him three. It is then that the wolf bears his fangs and Ghadeer’s rosy dream goes up in smoke, finding herself stuck in a major predicament. Haytham begins threatening Ghadeer, saying that he will either meet up with her in person or publish her photos on YouTube and scandalize her in front of her parents and community. She then feels extremely scared; her love for him quickly turns to hatred. As her psychological pressures mount, she falls into a depressive state and becomes captive to YouTube, which she scans daily in search of her scandalous photos. In the end, however, Ghadeer struggles on in spite of herself, manages to escape from her spiral of despair, overcome her sworn enemy, and live a happy life. USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO INSTIGATE POSITIVE SOCIETAL CHANGE Despite the many negative aspects of social media that literature addresses in various ways, this medium has become an integral part of our daily lives. What is remarkable is the massive popularity that social media still enjoys among individuals and societies. Billions from all over the world have accounts on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, while millions of readers and followers frequent them daily. As such, it would be foolish to only use social media for entertainment, recreation, and fooling around, and not employ it to develop and improve societies in various fields of interest. Thus, despite all its flaws, it is only natural that literature draws attention to the important role that social media plays in effecting change within societies in general, and Arab society in particular. The novel Qiṭaṭ Instagram/ Instagram Kitties (2015) by Kuwaiti writer Bāsima al- ʿAnazī is a good example of this. It sheds light on how Instagram has permeated Arab society, how it is used, and the extent to which Arab society benefits from it. On one hand, the author notes those users who mess around on Instagram and lounge around the site “like alley cats,” snatching up any salacious bit of news that they can come by. On the other hand, she also points out the

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followers who consciously and seriously exchange news and resources published on websites. The novel’s protagonist discusses losing her job at a company. Due to the company’s economic downturn, it is forced to lay off several employees. Faced with the struggles and free time of unemployment, she creates an Instagram account and makes her cat, Spice, the star of her page. At first, she just takes pictures of her cat in various scenarios and posts them to her page, enjoying all the trivial comments made by her followers. Over the course of a few days, her page earns more and more followers. The protagonist observes, “The number of followers rose quickly, something which I couldn’t have imagined, especially after the wildly popular Ms. Asrari on Twitter and Instagram posted that she starts her day off feeling refreshed and comforted after checking my feed.”64 At this point, the protagonist realizes that she can exploit her page’s newfound popularity to publish her opinions about the economic crisis occurring within her country and how to avoid it. Using Spice, she then proposes important economic projects and plans to her followers: Spice is happy with the spike in the price of a barrel of gas to $105, even though he’s sad due to the latest fuel tender. Why do individual and family corporations only get to bid first on these mega-projects? Where are the publicly-listed joint stock companies?65

The author hits the nail on the head with regard to another important point on this topic: the popularity of an individual, their page, and the number of their followers have become a considerable part of one’s personal curriculum vitae, especially when applying for a specific job. When the protagonist is invited for a job interview at another company, she thinks that it is due to her work experience in investments and marketing and her master’s degree. She is shocked to find that the real reason is because of the popularity of her Instagram page, or as the company’s director says, “Because you’re trending right now and have over 100,000 followers, we will pay you 5,000 dinars a month. We want Spice to eat our competitor’s mouse, while we appear blameless.”66 The protagonist then adds that the companies have started to choose specific pages of certain personalities who have massive followings for the sake of their advertisements, regardless of these influencers’ qualifications or skills. She continues exploiting her page to publish incisive critiques and commentaries on crooked food corporations, unlicensed arms dealers, money launderers, cronyism, election rigging, and other facets of corruption for the purpose of social reform. She posts, “Spice will do the impossible to achieve

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his goals. Corruption is present everywhere and at all times. All he can do is try and reduce it as much as he can.”67 Another novel that deals with the use of social media to effect positive change is Ḥurriyya Dūt Kūm/Freedom.com (2008) by Egyptian author Ashraf Naṣr. The critic Muhammad Hindi said of this novel that it was born from the womb of our lived reality during its modernist phase and conceived with a youthful, rebellious bent.68 As irony was the most important manifestation of this experience, he poured into this novel all of his rage toward politics, art, sports, literature, society, and religion. Opinions varied so much on this novel that they cannot all be presented here, which goes to show that this book represents an expressive and psychological outlet for rebellious, satirical personalities. Among the poetic texts that address using the internet and social media for greater and higher purposes is the poem “Al-Intirnit wa-l-Thawra al-Miṣriyya”/The Internet and the Egyptian Revolution (2011) by Egyptian poet Mustafa Hamid. ‘Yes, my lord,’ we once said, But we never considered the youth, the . . .

In this poem, Hamid discusses the role that the internet played during the eruption of the 25 January Revolution against the Egyptian regime and subsequent removal of President Hosni Mubarak from power: But then came the media, film, games, Terrorism, and the internet . . .69

In this chapter, we discussed the subject of social media literature, in terms of content, analyzing several literary texts by authors from all parts of the Arab world. Written between 1995 and 2015, these works represent the period from when social media began to permeate through the Arab world to our present day. Based on the foregoing, two opposing viewpoints on social media became apparent, one positive and one negative. After analyzing several texts, it became clear that many of the authors treated social media in a negative fashion, expressing their concerns and anxiety toward the virtual reality created by social media, as well as the dire psychological and social harm that social media users may have to endure as a result of this medium. Social media has contributed to the falsification and obfuscation of facts and reality, as any single user could present themselves as any number of personas that are vastly different from their own true identity. For some, social media represents a massive waste of their time, a window for corruption, and a winding road fraught with dangers in which social

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and moral issues abound. Some weak souls use social media to prey upon impressionable young people, both male and female. Some users’ minds are brainwashed, swayed away from doing the right thing and toward behaving in manners that lead them to an abyss of intellectual, social, and moral corruption. This also undermines their faith in their principles, as well as destroying their family ties. Other authors’ works reflected a positive stance toward social media. In many cases, the writers expressed true admiration for the virtual worlds that they enthusiastically described. They also praised social media’s ability to achieve dreams, wishes, and hopes that may otherwise be impossible to realize in the real world, especially in conservative social contexts. Some of the authors viewed social media as a long-awaited savior that would open the floodgates for young men and women who suffer from repressive eastern societies to realize themselves in various ways. It cleared a path for them to communicate and familiarize themselves with the wider world, as well as achieving nationalistic victories and triumphs that they had long aspired to, even in light of oppressive, authoritarian political regimes. Social media afforded young girls and women the opportunity to rebel against forms of social discrimination in their male-dominated societies and protest against the lack of rights and appreciation that they deserve outside the scope of their physical worth. In the end, the overarching message that the authors strove to convey through social media literature is that technology is a double-edged sword; its effectiveness is determined by the intent of its wielder, the purpose for which it is wielded, and the way in which it is used. We certainly do not agree with writers or others who lay all the blame for any harm done to individuals and society as a result of virtual relationships squarely on technology, warning us about the dangers, evils, and consequences of social media. In our opinion, the problem lies not in social media, nor in virtual reality, but rather in ourselves as a society, and consequently in our cultures, collective consciousness, and insufficient education on how to adapt to virtual societies. This responsibility falls entirely on educational institutions, which should work to prepare the next generation to consciously handle the realities of technology and adapt to them in a positive and safe way. This will benefit both individuals and society, moving them away from the superficiality and negativity that can potentially arise in the virtual world. Sociologists have explained how every means or tool for communication passes through four stages within a society before it becomes settled, accepted, and legitimate therein.70 In the first stage, society takes interest in the tool as a fascinating “toy,” but does not take any specific position toward it. In the second stage, society’s interest in that tool deepens and is subject to criticism, spurring questions and discussion about its nature and the extent of

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its impact. In the third stage, the tool transcends the previous criticisms and earns society’s trust due to its technical and technological development. It is during this stage that society has a deeper, more profound understanding of the tool. In the final stage, the tool’s legitimacy is recognized by a large portion of the populace, as it has entrenched itself within society and become an indispensable part of its general culture. This raises the following questions: How does social media literature reflect these four stages? To what extent can we say that we have reached the fourth stage, and what sort of awareness or maturity is required during this stage to handle and adapt to social media? Based on the results of our study, we found that literary texts were truly able to clearly express each of these four stages. Most of the works written between the late 1990s and the end of the early 2000s exemplified the first two stages outlined above, which are characterized at times by shock and at other times by doubt and anger toward this new technology. The literary examples in this regard include Taghrīd al-Ṭāʾir al-Ālī (1996) by Ahmed Fadl Shablul, Wa-lī fīhā ʿAnākib Ukhrā (2003) by Taha Adnan, “Al-Batal al-Iftiradi”/The Virtual Hero (2005) by Aida Nasrallah, Aḥādīth al-Intarnit (2017) by Nada al-Dana, “Barīd Ilaktrūnī” (2008) by Fatima Bouziane, and others. By the start of the 2010s, another trend emerged among some of the authors, in that they treated social media with a greater awareness of technology. In these texts, the authors went beyond the phase of criticism, beginning to deal creatively with these media and engaging in deep philosophical discussions about them. For example, both the novel Laylā wa-Layālī l-Fāysbūk (Dandash 2015) and the dialogue Masāḥa Iftirāḍiyya wa-Makān (ʿĪd 2014) raised the issue of the alienation felt by Arab individuals in virtual reality, as outsiders rather than original inhabitants. The story “Raḥīl Manāḍil Kabīr”/ The Passing of a Great Hero (2013) by Suheil Kiwan also discussed creative interaction with social media, as well as how to use it to build a persona with ideological dimensions that are influential and active in society. The poem “Al-Intirnit wa-l-Thawra al-Miṣriyya”/The Internet and the Egyptian Revolution by Mustafa Hamid likewise explained the huge role that the internet played in support of the Egyptian revolution. As for Instagram Kitties (ʿAnazī 2015), the author addresses social media as a lifestyle and inescapable reality, focusing on how it can be used to fight all forms of corruption in society. There was a noticeable slump in social media literature after 2015, as authors’ enthusiasm and excitement toward the technology subsided. The literary scene no longer saw that same overflow of output as it had at the start of the information age. Perhaps this is due to the authors’ gazes turning toward other topics. The outbreak of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, for example, captured the minds of the entire world; it was only natural that it

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would capture the interest of authors as well. The literary scene started to witness a new literary movement, “corona and post-corona literature.” Examples of this form of literature include the novel Niyāndirtāl/Neanderthal (2020) by Sirāj Munīr, Hāribūn min Kūrūnā/Fleeing from Corona (2020) by Mustafa al-Qarna, and Wahm al-Kūrūnā/Dillusion of Corona by Ḥasan ʿUbayd ʿĪsā (2020) among many others. Based on the foregoing, one can conclude that social media literature has not yet, except for a few of the texts, reached the intended phase of maturity, although authors have expressed ways to deal with social media and the means of employing it in society. We are still left with a strong sense of wonder and shock by an idea that had not crossed our minds, a solution we had not thought about, an issue we had not heard, or a topic that had eluded us. We have envisioned a literature that catapults us from mere description, indecision, fear, excitement, passivity, or anxiety, toward something much deeper. This literature presents an innovative vision for interacting with social media. For example, let us return to the story “The Passing of a Great Hero” by Suheil Kiwan. In this story, we find that the author narrated the events in a way that did not advance matters with regard to the issue at hand. For example, he could have had the crowds insist on holding a memorial service despite them knowing the truth of the situation. Then the author would have offered a deeper message about the essence of the virtual personality and the power of its influence. What distinguishes this persona from its real counterpart is its spiritual presence, rather than its material presence. To the crowds, it is an influential personality, even if it did not really exist in the real world. This suggests a psychological factor within an individual’s perception that there are others in virtual reality who actualize identities online and ensure their virtual viability, even if they have never truly existed at all. We need a literature that deals with social media creatively. We live in a world that is changing day after day. Every day, we hear new terms describing this current era and its people: the post-human age, digital revolution, information age, digital human, transhumanism, cyborg, knowledge society, and media society. Let us also not forget all the terms that portend the end of the forms and patterns of civilization of the previous age: “end of the print era,” “end of the printed word,” “end of the intellectual,” and so on. All of these are new topics waiting to be dealt with by literature in an unconventional way, to surpass our understanding and expectations, and to transcend the literal translation of the phenomenon. Given these rapid, radical changes, authors will need to take a serious stance on creativity, keeping pace with and envisioning the future of Arabs and of all humanity. Both locally and globally, we strive for a literature that can express the features of this age, the digital age, as well as the human being and society produced by this era. It would also behoove our writers to think about using

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social media to hurry toward revitalizing science fiction, a genre that remains stagnant and lacking in Arabic literature, despite all the scientific achievements seen around the world in various areas of life. Arabic literature in general, and social media literature in particular, both move within the orbit of reality. We have yet to find texts that envision a paradigm shift for a distant future, or one which we aspire to realize. We are in desperate need of a literature that can show us where we should be after one hundred years, one that can bring us to a better future, or at least give us a rough sketch of the possibilities. NOTES 1. Musa, ʿIlm al-Ijtimaʿ al-Adabi, 18–19. 2. Duman, “Naẓariyyat al-riwāya li-Jūrj Lukatsh,” 24–31. 3. Kraut, “Internet Paradox,” 1017–1031. 4. Castells, The Rise of Network Society. 5. Shablul, Taghrīd al-Ṭāʾir al-Ālī. 6. Shablul, Taghrīd al-Ṭāʾir al-Ālī. 7. Kiwan, Madīḥ li-Khāzūq Ākhar, 124. 8. Najm, “Makān Jamīl li-l-Talaṣṣuṣ.” 9. Ali, Taḥaddiyyāt ʿaṣr al-Maʿlūmāt, 255. 10. Ryan, Narrative as Virtual Reality, 40–44. 11. Adnan, “Al-Shāsha ʿAlaykum.” 12. Kiwan, Madīḥ li-Khāzūq Ākhar, 104. 13. Sārī, Thaqāfat al-Intirnit, 29–30. 14. Farghali, “Thaqāfa Ilaktrūniyya.” 15. al-Dana, Aḥādīth al-Intirnit. 16. The collection was published on Muhammad Aslim’s website: http:​//​aslimnet​ .free​.fr​/ress​/bouziane​/index​.htm. 17. Raḥḥāl, Khuṭūṭ Tamās. 18. Dāwūd, Rajul wa-Khamas Nisā’; ʿArīfī, Al-Amākin fī ʿUyūn Jumāna; Shaykh, Yawm Iltiqaynā wa-Yawm Iftifaraqnā. 19. Sārī, Thaqāfat al-Intarnit, 184. 20. Ṣāniʿ, Banāt al-Riyāḍ, 25. English translation by Marhaba Language Expertise. 21. Ṣāniʿ, Banāt al-Riyāḍ, 71. English translation by Marhaba Language Expertise. 22. Idrīs, “Ḥabībat al-Imāyl.” 23. Idrīs, “Ḥabībat al-Imāyl.” 24. Idrīs, Tamazzuqāt ʿIshq Raqamī. 25. Samman, Al-Ḥabīb al-Iftirāḍī, 133. 26. Idrīs, Tamazzuqāt ʿIshq Raqamī, 14. 27. ʿAwwād, “Al-Khiyāna al-Iliktrūniyya.” 28. Delmonico, “Cybersex.” 29. The poem was published on the poet’s Facebook page, 2013.

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30. Younis, Alf Lāyk wa-Lāyk, 152. 31. Nasrallah, “Al-Baṭal al-Iftirāḍī.” 32. Nasrallah, “Al-Baṭal al-Iftirāḍī.” Also available in Younis, Alf Lāyk wa-Lāyk, 70. 33. Nasrallah, “Al-Baṭal al-Iftirāḍī.” Also available in Younis, Alf Lāyk wa-Lāyk, 75. 34. Nasrallah, “Al-Baṭal al-Iftirāḍī.” Also available in Younis, Alf Lāyk wa-Lāyk, 75. 35. Sanajila, “Shāt.” 36. Sanajila, “Shāt.” 37. See: Sanajila, Riwāyat al-Wāqiʿiyya al-Raqamiyya. 38. Bouziane, “Barīd Ilaktrūnī.” 39. Younis, Alf Lāyk wa-Lāyk. 40. Younis, Alf Lāyk wa-Lāyk. Original at http://aslimnet.free.fr/div/2005/malika4. htm. 41. Younis, Alf Lāyk wa-Lāyk, 66. 42. ʿĪd, Masāḥa Iftirāḍī wa-Makān. 43. ʿĪd, Masāḥa Iftirāḍī wa-Makān, 44. 44. ʿĪd, Masāḥa Iftirāḍī wa-Makān, 45. 45. Zakkī, “Al-Mujtamaʿ al-Ifjirāḍī.” 46. Zakkī, “Al-Mujtamaʿ al-Ifjirāḍī.” 47. Al-Ghalāwīn, Fatā sayyiʿa. 48. ʿAmri, “Hijā’ al-Intarnit.” 49. ʿAmri, “Hijā’ al-Intarnit.” 50. ʿAmri, “Hijā’ al-Intarnit.” 51. Dandash, Layla wa-Layālī al-Fāysbūk. 52. Dandash, Layla wa-Layālī al-Fāysbūk, 93. 53. ʿĪd, Masāḥa Iftirāḍiyya wa-Makān, 64. 54. Kiwan, Madīḥ li-Khāzūq Ākhar, 221. 55. Fahmawi, Ḥubb fī Zaman al-ʿawlama. 56. Kiwan, Madīḥ li-Khāzūq Ākhar, 221. 57. Farghali, “Al-Faḍāʾ al-Iftirāḍī.” 58. Kiwan, Madīḥ li-Khāzūq Ākhar, 223. 59. Kiwan, Madīḥ li-Khāzūq Ākhar, 225. 60. Rāshid, “Wāqiʿiyyat al-ʿālim al-Iftirāḍī wa-Iftirāḍ al-ʿĀlim al-Wāqiʿī. 61. Ḥaysūnī, Nikāḥ Iftirāḍī. 62. Alyaqout, Hayat, “Masīkh al-Ilaktrūniyan.” 63. Dāwūd, Fatāt al-Yūtyūb. 64. ʿAnazī, Bāsima al-. Qiṭaṭ Instagram, 19. 65. ʿAnazī, Bāsima al-. Qiṭaṭ Instagram, 44. 66. ʿAnazī, Bāsima al-. Qiṭaṭ Instagram, 47. 67. ʿAnazī, Bāsima al-. Qiṭaṭ Instagram, 62. 68. Hindī, Al-Intirnit wa-Shiʿriyyat al-Tanāṣ, 82. 69. Younis, Alf Lāyk wa-Lāyk, 162. 70. Gumpert, Inter/media.

Chapter Two

Literary Genres on Social Media

Literary writing is constantly adapting and changing according to new or prevailing aesthetic and stylistic trends. Now there is an electronic medium that has begun charting a new course for the aesthetics of literary texts, greatly expanding the circle of their reception. The first century of the new millennium witnessed the emergence of a new literary phenomenon that began to form with the spread of various forms of social media. These new platforms led to radical changes in several established literary genres. They took on different features and new characteristics that had never been seen before, with some works defying established genres altogether. According to critic Amal al-Tamīmī, the form of literature via social media is not static or fixed; rather, it changes according to the characteristics generating it. In this way, literature is always producing new forms of expression that were created over the ages to depict the times in which they emerged. They have a strong relationship to the characteristics of the era that produced them. Consider, for example, the muʿallaqāt of the pre-Islamic age, the satires of the Umayyad period, the maqāmāt of the Abbasid period, the novel of the modern era, and the tweets of the contemporary age of digital technology.1 The Egyptian critic Asmaa Shinkar noted the reasons that prompted authors to publish their creations through social media, which we touched upon in the introduction.2 These include the difficulty of traditional publishing and its exorbitant costs (which are often paid by authors in the Arab publishing industry), the desire to spread their ideas and directly communicate with readers beyond the pages of publishing houses, and the wish to protect their compositions from the eyes and dangers of censorship. However, the most important reason is the desire to experiment, innovate, and keep up with the times. This new era has witnessed a paradigm shift in many fields thanks to social media. This is an age in which the sky is the limit and new global trends have emerged, effectively transforming the world into a small, digital village. In this chapter, we will examine the changes in form that occurred within some literary genres as they moved from print to digital publication via social 45

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media, as well as the new styles and forms of genres that emerged as a result of social media. In this way, we will build a broad foundation for tracking this literary movement, in light of social media’s dominance as a key platform for publishing and receiving literature. This chapter consists of several sections, each of which will deal with a specific literary genre: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry, and Autobiography. The chapter closes with a general summary, bringing together all the most significant changes that affected the literary discourse in light of its publication via social media. We will discuss literary texts published via the most popular and widely used social media that convey the Arab literary experience: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, blogs, and forums. TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE NOVEL The novel is one of the literary genres most influenced by social media. Each social media platform las left its own mark on the novel as new and innovative novels emerged on it. If, as Hegel suggested, the conventional novel is the inevitable result of the development of human consciousness, moving from the unconscious stage to conscious stage, then the novel spawned by social media is the inevitable result of the development of a society that has moved from the human stage to the post-human stage. Technology has become the center, with the computer as humanity’s partner in many key functions. One of the most prominent critics interested in studying the Arab novel and its connections to sociopolitical factors is the Moroccan writer and critic Mohammed Berrada. He observed that the concept of fiction writing in Arabic literature changed noticeably since the start of the 1960s, when a set of novels came out whose authors’ styles and forms foreshadowed the explosion of realistic writing embodied by Naguib Mahfouz. “Experimentation” was the unique feature of this new burst of fiction, achieved through new methods of narrative and divergent linguistic levels.3 There were texts that experimented with reviving Arabic heritage and imitating the language of ancient historians, inlayed with elements of religious traditions, folktales, Arab history, poetry, regional dialects, popular proverbs, and songs. Examples of this include the novel Zaynī Barakāt (1974, English translation 2004, AUC Press) by Gamal al-Ghitani and Qāl Abū Hurayra/Abu Hurayra Said (1973) by Mahmoud Messadi. Some novels also emerged with a language and style that blended a variety of literary genres. There was the “poetic novel,” which consisted of pure, poetic linguistic arrangements: Rama wa-l-tanīn/Rama and the Dragon (1979, English translation 2004, AUC Press) by Edwar al-Kharrat; Al-Zaman al-Ākhar/The Other Era (1985) by Salim Barakat; and Dhākirat al-Jasad/

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Memory in the Flesh (1993, English translation 2003, AUC Press) by Ahlam Mosteghanemi. Another innovation was the “play novel,” whose language and style brought together the conventions of both the novel and theater into a single work: New York 80 (1980) by Yusuf Idris and Amāma l-ʿarsh/Before the Throne (1983, English translation 2009, AUC Books) by Naguib Mahfouz. There was also the “autobiographical novel,” which mixed elements of autobiography, historical accounts, and fairy tales: Bayḍat al-Naʿāma/The Ostrich Egg (1994) by Ra’ouf Musʿad and Al-Shamʿa wa-l-Dahālīz/The Candle and the Corridors (1995) by Tahar Ouettar.4 This style represents the changing nature of the concept of Arab selfhood, resulting from the vicissitudes and traumas inflicted upon the Arab world during the modern era. Two factors lie behind this explosion of creativity in the Arabic novel: the expansion and openness of Arab culture to European culture; and the significant sociopolitical shifts that occurred within Arab societies, namely the defeat of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. This infamous military loss heralded the end of the period of nationalization, along with its social values, which caused Arab regimes to lose their legitimacy in the eyes of their citizens. As a result, the bright, optimistic ideologies of Pan-Arabism gave way to feelings of depression and impotency. Against this backdrop, Arabic literature (especially the novel) reclaimed its relative independence, engaging in a practice known as “speech acts” to speak the unspoken, as well as excavating the genealogy of one’s identity, existence, and relationship with society and the other. This was done through developing a new, pluralistic narrative language that reveals, exposes, delves irreverently, shouts, disgraces, discloses, and discusses. These new works took on a different character from the writings that had come out of the early twentieth century, which considered language as a sacred link binding the past, present, and future together, as well as a crucial element for conveying a unified identity for Arab peoples.5 Despite these developments, the novel’s linear form and structure remained unchanged even in their digital form. They also preserved in various ways Modern Standard Arabic (MSA, Ar. Fuṣḥā) as an essential language, using Arabic dialects sparingly to add some realism and to express the diversity of voices that exist within Arab society. This situation lasted until the lighting of the fuse of the technological revolution at the end of the previous century, which would leave its mark on the form and language of the modern Arabic novel, as we shall now explain. The Hypertext Novel Forums are wildly popular, as they are open platforms in which any person, either with their own name or a false one, can exchange ideas, opinions, and viewpoints about any and all topics. The growing acceptance, participation,

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and interaction on forums led to the emergence of a new kind of Arabic novel known as the “forum novel.” The forum novel is a serialized work of fiction that comes in parts on a specific forum (usually part of a larger forum) designated for fiction. Forum novels are characterized by their quick and easy means of publication. Whenever the author finishes writing a section on their computer, they simply copy the text from their word processor, paste it into a “Share” window on the forum, then enter the command to publish it. This new chapter of the novel then reaches its readers, all eagerly awaiting the next installment, in less than a minute. These novels are also distinguished by the high level of interaction between the writer and readers.6 It may be said that forum novels are a true expression of the changes that swept over the Arab World in general, and the Arab Gulf in particular, during the decade of 2010–2020. Although these novels do not measure up to refined, academic literary sensibilities, being mostly written in Arabic dialects, they did truly speak to a broad segment of readers at the heart of the creative process for whose sake these literary works were written.7 In most cases, forum novels are not discussed within academic literary criticism courses, which typically refrain from entertaining the vulgar, popular, and quotidian for various reasons. Nevertheless, these novels constitute a welcoming space for works of cultural criticism whose only connection to literary convention is that of expressing the prevailing culture and civilization in which they are produced.8 In order to discuss social media’s impact on literature as one of the most important facets of life in the digital age, and the most significant factors that impacted the development of culture, we must approach this impact holistically. Given that dialects are one of the most prominent linguistic features on the internet in general, and in social media in particular (as we will explain in chapter 3), we will not ignore the expressive forms produced on these sites written in a colloquial Arabic dialect. We all know that dialects are the languages used to communicate between people in their everyday lives. These common spoken languages do not require the same level of effort or thought in speaking or writing as MSA does, with its many rules for grammar, conjugation, and spelling. As such, it is natural that most people, namely young people, prefer using dialects more willingly and in conformity with the necessities of this current, high-speed age. This does not mean that we support or encourage this notion; we merely highlight it as a common phenomenon that cannot be ignored in our study and discussion. In a very significant way, forums helped publish and circulate Arabic dialects in both poetry and prose. In seemingly no time at all, forum novels gained new readers from among the younger generation, especially in the Arab Gulf. When looking at the number of readers for a certain forum novel,

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one is surprised by the staggering figures. Table 2.1 contains the names of some of the forums that provide a large number of novels written in dialects. This list includes some of the forums that provide a significant number of novels written in dialects. Over the course of our review of the large number of forum novels, we found a set of features that characterize these works: Forum Novels as Women’s Novels: It is noteworthy that most forum novel authors are female. Though we cannot find a literary explanation for this phenomenon, the solution to this question could lie in other fields, such as psychology and sociology. Fake Names: The forum novel abounds in fake names, both among the authors and the readers. It is not strange that the same author may use one fake name in a certain forum and another one in a second forum. The same applies to the readers as well, which makes it difficult for various critical movements to observe and track these sorts of novels. Technical Deficiency: Forum novel readers have no illusions of the low level of technical skill, in terms of these novels’ plot construction, series of events, and character development. The reason behind this is that most of the female authors of these novels are very young girls who have not yet refined their creative skills or experience. For them, writing may simply be a space to vent, an excuse to engage in idle chatter, or a desire to attract many followers and fans who do not necessarily possess mature literary tastes or sober critical sensibilities. This may explain why so many of them resort to using fake names instead of their real names. Reader Interaction: Forum novels enjoy unparalleled levels of interaction from among their readers. With the upload of each new chapter, the readers start expressing their opinions and leaving their comments on the section itself, as well as on one another’s comments. This interaction strengthens the group experience of the novel, transforming the act of reading literature from an individual experience to a social one in every sense of the word. Nicholas Carr made this same point in his famous article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” published in the July/August 2008 edition of The Atlantic, which caught the attention of critics, both supporters and detractors alike. Carr states that the group experience is negative because it prevents readers from reading a piece or article critically and Table 2.1. Forums Forum’s Name Kifee Joroh al-Waqt Al-Frasha Liilas Graaam

URL http:​//​www​.kifee​.com​/vb​/index​.php http:​//​www​.joroh​.com​/vb http:​//​alfrasha​.maktoob​.com​/index​.php https:​//​www​.liilas​.com​/vb3​/f426/ https:​//​forums​.graaam​.com​/152/

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objectively.9 Instead, the readers are influenced by one another’s opinions on the text. Others, however, have a completely opposite view, seeing that the group reading experience is positive and beneficial, especially as it is done within a conscious interactive framework that enhances and enriches the experience.

Blog Fiction Blogs are extremely popular in the Arab world due to several factors, the most important of which are political. These sorts of sites give individuals the space to express their opinions freely and outside the authority of censors. However, although political blogs have earned the lion’s share of attention and interest, literary blogs have also generated a great deal of interest related to this literary genre. They have also initiated the opportunity for artistic experimentation outside the vise grip of the literary elite and traditional forms of literature, thereby irreversibly altering the reality of Arabic literature. It is worth noting that there is a clear prominence given to female voices in the blogosphere and forums. Perhaps this newfound sense of confidence in women did not come from their identities as authors in an open, digital space, but rather from the opportunity to express their own anxious selves and defend their opinions, positioning themselves as active individuals on a completely equal footing with others. This also afforded them the opportunity to create new identities for themselves, especially in conservative, traditional societies in which women suffer from particular patriarchal oppression in the Gulf states, as well as other Arab countries. Additionally, the ease of setting up a personal blog from the comfort of one’s own home made it simple for women to enter the virtual space without needing to leave their houses. Writing under fake names also helped improve the possibilities of communicating with others without fear of the societal pressures put on women.10 Novels published on blogs share many of the same characteristics of forum novels, namely the widespread use of dialects. One such example is the novel ʿĀyza Atgawwiz/I Want to Get Married by Egyptian blogger Ghada Abdel Aal. She began writing this as a blog, without mentioning her name on the internet at first. The blog garnered a broad reception and appeal that caught the eye of a major publisher, which turned the blog into a printed novel that became one of its bestsellers. Abdel Aal launched “wanna-be-a-bride.blogspot.com” in 2006, and it became an immediate hit as it pinched a sensitive nerve in Egyptian society. It has been described as a satirical comedy that mocks the problem of finding a life partner in Egypt, since the nation’s common customs make it impossible for a polite girl to intermingle, flirt, or even go on a movie or coffee date with young men. As such, there is no other way for a girl to get to know her future husband except through a family-arranged marriage, potentially late in life. Egyptian critic Susanne Schanda had this to say about the blog:

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Through her blog, Ghada Abdel Aal also demonstrated her writing talents. She said that she had never thought the observations she blogged about would be considered fit for publication into a book, especially since they were written in the Egyptian dialect. However, the agents at one of Egypt’s largest publishing houses thought differently, publishing her blog into a book in 2007, consisting of ten stories about potential suitors coming to her family’s home to ask for her hand in marriage. In each story, the author gives her thoughts on topics such as “The Good Girl,” “How to Hunt Down a Husband,” “Why Do I Want to Get Married,” and “Spinsterhood.” The book immediately shot to the top of the bestsellers’ lists and was translated into several languages, including English, German, Italian, and Dutch. It was even turned into a primetime Ramadan TV series for which Abdel Aal herself wrote the screenplay.11

This novel generated a major debate among Egyptian critics and writers over its transition to print and literary value. Egyptian author Ezzat El Kamhawi was among those critical of turning blogs into books, explaining that blogs had expanded the horizons of free expression in writing, creating new kinds of styles, offering a different, youthful vision of the world, and putting forth divergent ideas about the body, family, and power. In doing so, however, they had greatly overstepped the bounds of traditional language, such as their use of colloquial dialects, foreign loanwords, and youthful slang words.12 Despite the harsh criticism that this and other novels written in dialects received, they exerted a great amount of force over their societies and gained a massive audience, such that they could not be ignored in our study. Digital Interactive Fiction (IF) Novels on Blogs Interactive fiction (IF) refers to interactive computer games that require the player to embody the role of different characters and guide/control them throughout the story.13 From this concept came the idea of IF novels, which rely on employing hypertext, multimedia, and other techniques and technologies to enable the reader to control the characters of a story and guide the plot according to different options and paths placed before them. These types of novels encourage the reader to interact with the text by adding content, commenting, messaging, etc. One can read many examples on the Interactive Fiction Database (IFDB), a treasure trove of English-language IF novels.14 One can also partake in the experience of writing a digital interactive novel on the website SoapZone.15 As for Arabic literature, there are very few IF novels to date: Ẓalāl al-Wāḥid/Shadow of the One (2007) and Shāt/Chat (2016) by Muhammad Sanajila; and Al-Zinzāna Raqm 6/Cell No. 6 (2018) by Ḥamza Qurayra, which was published on Literature and Art Interactive.16 Al-Zinzāna Raqm 6/ Cell No. 6 relies upon several A/V effects, such as images and video clips.

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This novel makes the reader an active participant in the story, as it gives them the opportunity to help write the novel. This opens the possibility to add new, different paths at certain points via e-mail written by the reader to the author. The novel tells the story of a young man from an unspecified Arab country who is sentenced to prison on the accusation of communicating with his cousin, a terrorist, on Facebook. The protagonist is put into a cell beneath a military garrison that lies only meters away from a market, which allows him to hear the goings-on in the market without anyone else being able to hear him. Upon his entrance into solitary confinement, a revolution occurs within his country. He resides in the cell for more than two years, forgotten and forlorn, until he is released due to his strange appearance. He prefers to keep his beard and look like a madman in his city, which itself has also gone mad. After many adventures, he remains lost in the city with a cast of other characters. At this point, the reader can intervene in the interactive version of the story by creating and guiding events according to their own personal vision or experience. In this way, the reader becomes the narrator of the IF novel. During a meeting with the author, Qurayra reveals that the novel’s protagonist is Murād, who has an ID card and Facebook page through which the reader can actually communicate with him, escaping from the confines of the novel and its events. The Facebook page can still be accessed here: https:​//​ www​.facebook​.com​/profile​.php​?id​=100036914081817​. Interacting with and liberating the characters in this way is a kind of narrative experiment through which the author attempts to transcend conventional character patterns by creating animated personalities that seem real and dialogue with the reader, thereby making them part of the novel. The IF novel is a mosaic, blending together various forms of arts and texts; the story coincides with drawings, music, and cinematic productions. In these novels, we also find the narrative existing alongside poetry and prose. IF novels go beyond language for the purpose of expression, instead relying on other expressive media, such as images, colors, animation, and sound effects. They require a special kind of reader who can read what lies behind the different forms of media and grasp the semantic relations between them to arrive at the ultimate meaning. I would also like to add that using hypertext breaks the linear structure of the novel, thereby taking the story in multiple possible directions and branches. This means that the novel’s structure adapts with every change in the direction of the reading and reader. A single reader could read the same novel in different ways according to the altered course of events via the various links. Despite the massive possibilities for enriching the text that blogs grant to their readers, as well as the variety of media that digital publishing offers to the text itself, there is still an aesthetic risk in transforming the textual structure from print to interactive works. Tastes may change with the alteration

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in structural patterns: text spaces used to be two-dimensional in construction and were received accordingly, going in one direction; then these texts became multi-dimensional (3-D and 4-D [that is, time]). Accordingly, the way of receiving the text will become different aesthetically. Texts will not go in merely one direction; this will necessarily generate other aesthetics. We do not know the extent of the risk to general tastes, so we must be careful in dealing with interactive texts, as they are driven by taste. Through their rapid, unlimited, and unconditional spread, they have become more effective and influential, which makes them a double-edged sword. In summation, this kind of novel has made great use of the massive potential offered by computer and internet programs, transcended normal language, and shattered the linear construction of print novels. It is a genre that undoubtedly remains open to experimentation and innovation in both Western and Arab cultures. The Facebook Novel The “developing novel” (a term we are proposing here) is a novel whose plot and events grow, develop, and come together gradually with the readers’ input and interactions. The first novel of this kind, Zwirbler by Gergely Teglasy, appeared on Facebook in 2010. The first Arabic developing novel, ʿAlā Buʿd Milimitir Wāḥid/One Millimeter Away (2013) by Moroccan author ʿAbdulwāḥid Istītū, became a pioneer of the genre.17 Critics called Istītū’s novel the “Facebook novel,” as no other novels like it had yet emerged on other social media sites. However, in our opinion, this designation is now no longer appropriate, as similar novels have appeared on other social media platforms, such as Ad-Dūshīsh/Double Sixes (2021) by Nāẓim al-Dughaym, which was published on Twitter.18 It is worth noting here that the critics Ahmad Z. Rahahleh and Muʿādh Jamīl al-Ḥiyārī termed the totality of narrative forms published on social media as al-sardiyyāt al-raqamiyya al-tawāṣuliyya, “communicative digital narratives.”19 However, we find that this designation is too general and inclusive of all narrative genres. Instead, we propose the term “developing novel” to describe this type of novel specifically. ʿAlā Buʿd Milimitir Wāḥid/One Millimeter Away tells the story of a young man from Tangier, Morocco. His life completely changes after wavering for one second to delete one of his female Facebook friends. This hesitancy stems from the acceptance, then love, that joined him together with this girl, before realizing that there is more to her than meets the eye. He pulls back his index finger “only one millimeter away” to prevent himself from deleting her, which then leads to many unexpected events unfolding. What distinguishes this type of novel is the process it undergoes before its plot and construction become complete. ʿAlā Buʿd Milimitir Wāḥid was

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formed in a free and independent space in which the readers worked with the writer to craft the story with their comments and instructions, all of which are different according to each reader’s tastes and intellectual background. Books in this form give readers a wide space for interactive participation in shaping the novel’s events piece by piece, all depending on their own aesthetic, literary, or realistic vision. Istītū describes this experience of writing and the features of the developing Facebook novel as follows: I am always trying to explain and differentiate between the Facebook novel and IF novel. The former is a novel whose sections are written directly on the site, where the readers can interact with it and may also help in changing its events. ʿAlā Buʿd Milimitir Wāḥid relied on opinion polls posted for the readers to deliberate and vote between two distinct routes that the novel could take, thereby giving them the freedom to make decisions over the protagonist’s fate. Whichever option won the most votes then became part of the story. Facebook also has a feature for posting videos and pictures, two technologies I relied upon for describing settings in the novel, songs that the protagonist listened to, for example, and films that he talked about . . . Literature-wise, writing a Facebook novel differs from writing a classic novel; Facebook readers become bored with redundancy and convention. If an author finds himself writing something long, uninteresting, or verbose, then his many readers online will mock him. Playing around with different styles and abandoning certain plot points and characters would be dependent upon the following that the story receives. Suspense, excitement, and the element of surprise at the end of every chapter are absolutely necessary. These are conditions that every Facebook novel must have or be about, whether the author abides by them or not, or realizes that they affect his literary offering, even when writing a regular novel.20

In addition to posting thirty-five chapters of the novel, the author posted pictures and videos of the novel’s places and events, as well as releasing the novel’s own musical track entitled “Ṭanja Ḥakāt/Tangier Has Spoken,” which can be viewed on YouTube.21 The images represent a parallel discourse alongside the written text. The use of images and videos in Facebook novels has symbolic and reductive connotations as well, just as the proverb states, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Istītū used this trait of pictures to great effect in his works in a way that serves them in several regards, both aesthetically and artistically. The images can be grouped into three categories: 1) Setting Images: The author included several real-life pictures of various places that helped the readers better connect to and interact with the setting, making them feel as if they had been there. These images included, for example, pictures of Tangier, such as the Tangier American Legation Museum, the café in which the protagonist, Khālid, meets his girlfriend, Hudā, and other

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places the protagonist visits. 2) Images that depict certain events of the novel, such as the overcrowded boat aboard which Khālid traveled. 3) Extra-textual images: These images are unrelated to the events of the novel. For example, the author included pictures of himself while writing the novel or responding to readers’ comments. This type of image is an artistic innovation that is worthy of more contemplation, as it adds another dimension in assessing the relationship between the author, readers, and the forms of their interaction with and reception of the work. Aside from the images, the author also added links to different songs that gave the work a distinct appeal that other digital novels do not possess. In this regard, the author asked for the readers’ opinions and comments about these songs, as well as about what feelings these songs stirred within them. Istītū’s experiment did not end with this novel alone. He published his second Facebook novel Al-Mutasharrid/The Vagrant in 2015, followed by a third entitled Al-Muḥārib/The Fighter.22 Both of these novels shared the same characteristics and qualities featured in his first novel. Fan Fiction on YouTube The development of the novel on social media did not stop with Facebook, but rather extended to YouTube as well; the latter left its own mark on the novel. Before touching upon the changes that occurred within the novel when it adopted YouTube as a platform, we must first mention the massive role that this site has played in developing and supporting the literary movement in general. YouTube allows its users to post video recordings for free, which can then be live-streamed (instead of uploaded), shared, and commented on. The users then continue to use this feature in various fields, including literature. Over time, the site has become one of the contemporary sources and means for looking up information or specific literary texts. It provides both the critic and the reader a rich buffet of literary resources: filmed cultural programs; interviews with authors and critics; educational resources presented via PowerPoint slides and filmed with audio-visual elements; recorded lectures; clips from academic conferences; children’s literature; etc. This is not even to mention all the different kinds and genres of digital literature, such as video poems, Flash animations, interactive stories, and novels. Writers of novels have not ignored this basic feature of the site. Indeed, they use it as much as possible to offer their novels in new and creative ways, in accordance with the user’s or reader’s expectations. This was the birth of “fan fiction.” The term fan fiction refers to a novel or story written by fans of a particular film, musical group, or novel. Although the fan writing the novel relies heavily on the source material, they also use their own imagination to add to the story. For example, a fan of a certain band could write a story in which the

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bandmates are the main characters, imagining their lives and relationships according to what they hear about or observe of the band members in the news, while also adding their own embellishments, of course. A lot of fan fiction appears on YouTube, where the novel is presented in a serialized format with a series of pictures and scenes. Each scene or image can depict a specific event, place, or character in the novel, thereby representing a single page of a traditional novel. However, the writing that appears on the image/scene/clip is most often short or brief. In some cases, the passages are read aloud by a certain narrator. Sometimes soundtracks or music are added while each image is displayed. This form of novel is presented in a segmented or serialized fashion, divided up over periods of time, such as a week or more. One of the most notable examples of Arabic-language YouTube fan fiction is the novel Muntaṣaf al-Layl/Midnight, written and produced by Amal Aḥmad over several parts. The main characters of the novel are the members of the popular K-Pop band BTS. We also mention her other novels Khaṭawāt al-Shayṭān/The Devil’s Footsteps and Tawʾam Rūḥī/Soulmate.23 Aḥmad identifies herself as a fiction content creator, and by this definition, there is the implication that writing novels or fiction on social media does not merely involve writing skills, but also requires one to become a creator in every sense of the word. One of the defining traits of YouTube fiction is that it is very short, each part only lasting ten to fifteen minutes. Any surfer of the internet would be well aware of the vast popularity of this form of fiction, which draws in huge audiences of viewers and readers, as opposed to digital novels, which still languish relatively in terms of readership. It is worth noting that YouTube offers a great deal of fan fiction translated into Arabic, which still attracts several readers according to the site’s own statistics. Considering their new and innovative style, these sorts of novels may be a possible solution to enhance and rehabilitate reading among a new crop of young readers who already have an aversion to digital novels. The Instagram Novel Instagram is a massively popular social media platform that relies primarily on pictures, not text. Nevertheless, some amateur authors have started investing in the site’s popularity to provide a new flavor of creative experiences, thereby reaping a greater number of followers and readers. It is worth noting here an important digital novel project initiated by the New York Public Library, which provides dozens of beloved classic novels in an animated form on Instagram.24 The project affirms the role that social media can play in generating a love of reading in a younger audience, contrary to common

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beliefs. Looking at Arab efforts in the field of fiction, many literary pages on Instagram are meant to present novels or excerpts of classic and contemporary fiction, yet they are not done so in an innovative way. They mostly preserve the same features found in print versions of the novels, with the only exception being the addition of cosmetic pictures adorning the text. However, a paradigm shift in fiction writing on Instagram occurred when some young authors started writing new novels in the form of a series of short sections that they uploaded at set intervals of time. The first foreign novel written on Instagram was Sympathy (2017) by the young British author Olivia Sudjic. Arabic literature includes several similar experiments, such as riwaia.jore by a female Palestinian author, who uploaded four short novels between 2017–2019, including Riwāyat Ayla/Ayla’s Story (told in 248 parts), Asīrat Qalbik al-Aswad/Captive of Your Black Heart (told in 343 parts), and Ghumūḍ Hadhā l-Rajul Yajdhabunī/This Man’s Mystery Attracts Me (told in 389 parts). We should also mention the experiment of Jordanian author Nesreen (novel.nesreen), who published her novels Luʿbat al-Qadar/Game of Fate and Abkī bi-Damʿ ar-Rūḥ Lā al-Muql/I Shed a Tear from an Eyeless Soul in 200 and 325 parts, respectively. We will also cite the experiment of Saudi writer Jumāna (novel.n99), who released her novel Aḥtalanī Ḥubbuka/Your Love Has Conquered Me in 239 parts. Aside from the aforementioned experiments, there are dozens of others that we cannot mention here. Rather, we will move to the defining characteristics that bind these experimental novels together: Most Instagram fiction writers are young and usually female, as is the case with forum fiction. Most of the female authors write under fake names. It seems that the aim behind this is to gain an attractive and eye-catching alias. Some of the writers make use of Instagram’s technological capabilities, such as decorating their writing with images, videos, or soundtracks. Note that these adornments do not serve the text in terms of the story’s content or meaning, but rather act as nothing more than accessories. The fiction is presented to the reader in the form of sections, as opposed to the print novel, which is presented to them fully formed and complete. The reason for this is the small space available in the browsers of smartphones or other electronic devices. Most of these young writers’ artistic talents have not yet ripened, which leads to a weak and brittle level of literary writing with a mix of MSA and colloquial Arabic. Instagram fiction has garnered a high amount of followers, in most cases numbering more than 10,000 followers per story. Thus, it may be said that Instagram fiction has not utilized the services and benefits afforded by computer programs and digital publishing on social media to present fiction with distinct characteristics, as compared with IF, developing novels, and fan fiction. To its credit, however, we cannot deny

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the great popularity that Instagram fiction enjoys. If those who frequent this site prefer reading literary works presented in short sections or parts instead of long books and print novels in one go, then we must think about how to exploit this fact to offer literary works that rise to the desired level of artistic quality. Collective Fiction Also known as “collaborative writing,” this term refers to a style of fiction (whether novel or poetry) in which more than one author participates in writing the work. Several attempts at this sort of fiction were made prior to the digital era, such as the novel ʿĀlim bi-lā Kharāʾiṭ/A World Without Maps by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra and Abdul Rahman Munif. On this topic, Fatima Al Breiki noted that these attempts at collective fiction remained few and far between because of how hard it was for authors to communicate and then execute such an endeavor in the past. However, when authors logged onto the internet and began publishing their works on various sites, they could overcome that earlier obstacle. Collective texts have become common and widespread.25 Digital novels with more than one author include those published on IFDB and the novel ʿAlā Qad Liḥāfika/What You’ve Got, which we will now examine as an example. ʿAlā Qad Liḥāfika is a collective novel composed by three bloggers: Sūlū, Jīfārā, and Biyānist. The three authors explain the rules of their game at the bottom of the cover page that appears on the home page: ʿAlā Qad Liḥāfika is a novel that the three of us will alternate in writing . . . None of us knows any of the paths, events, or characters the novel will have . . . Neither will we know what the others will add to the story. However, each will write so that perhaps the writing itself will lead the writer to know . . . It is a game, then, in which three imaginations will overlap . . . A single improvised novel with three narrators trying to work with what they’ve got and coax their imaginations to create a single, shared world . . . We had ʿImād Shabbāk design the cover art and panels for this story, but even he did not know what kind of story his cover would enfold . . . In this way, the narrator will sit alongside with the reader in the same waiting room to see and read how the story will unfold.26

The novel’s nine chapters were distributed between the three writers as follows: Sūlū wrote the introduction and chapters Three and Six; Biyānist wrote chapters One, Four, Seven, and Nine; and Jīfārā wrote chapters Two, Five, and Eight. The critics Ahmad Z. Rahahleh and Muʿādh Jamīl al-Ḥiyārī had this to say about the novel:

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In reflecting upon this narrative form, it bears a striking resemblance to “interactive” fiction, yet lacks the typical reliance upon its other common digital techniques and technologies, like hypertext or branching, “choose-your-ownadventure” features prevalent in those types of works. Nor does this work utilize other technological applications. Rather, this collective narrative work deserves the designation of “fiction,” as any novelist could deal with its conception. However, the way in which this novel was formed is what truly sets it apart. It is very likely that this work could only have been produced and completed thanks to the wealth of communication technology available to us nowadays. After designing the cover, it would be easy to publish it in the template of a print novel, if its authors wished to distribute it more widely.27

We conclude that digital publishing facilitates collective writing and makes it more achievable than ever before. Yet, contrary to what Rahahleh and al-Ḥiyārī assert, we believe that these works should not move from their digital form to print, even if that were possible. In doing so, we would only further bind ourselves to print media culture and fail to advance the successes of digital media. Twitter Novels Twitter novels (or “twovels”) are novels written in the form of serialized short tweets that may span hundreds of tweets. The first Twitter novels appeared in 2008. The origins of the term “Twitterature” are hard to determine, but it was popularized by Aciman and Rensin’s book of the same name. Since then, the phenomenon has been discussed in the arts and culture sections of several major newspapers. In addition to “twovel,” the terms “twiction” and “tweet fic” (Twitter fiction), “twiller” (Twitter thriller) and “phweeting” (fake tweeting) have also emerged. This type of fiction then entered the Arab experience. In a manner of speaking, one such example of the Arabic Twitter novel is ʿAbdullāh al-Naʿīmī’s Isbrīsū/Espresso. The novel starts off in the form of tweets between a young man and woman over the course of several years. However, al-Naʿīmī then extracted the story from Twitter, put it into a print template, and published it in book form (Dubai: Kuttab Publishing, 2012). The novel then went on to become a bestseller. Al-Naʿīmī described this experience as his first experiment in writing what he termed a “Twitter novel,” which was the result of years of exchanging dialogue with Twitter entities: I started this novel with a short story about a romantic problem and a relationship between a young man and woman. It then developed into a novel dealing with the angst of Arab society and its societal issues, as well as the relationship

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between men and women. It is a relationship that is fundamentally based on a lack of understanding on both sides, one that is governed by society’s traditions and level of consciousness. Thus, the relationship between the two protagonists undergoes many problems and eventually ends with a tragic conclusion.28

The novel faced a lot of criticism from readers and critics alike for its superficiality, weak style, and lack of artistry. Nonetheless, one cannot ignore the fact that this novel represented an unprecedented step in the composition of a novel, as Twitter’s word count limit of 140 characters certainly poses a major challenge to creative writing. At the same time, perhaps this novel is only suitable for readers and people of this current age, one in which everything is geared toward speed. In other words, there is definitely room for this genre to grow and develop, provided that there are writers capable of molding these tweets in a creative, yet serious manner. TRANSFORMATIONS IN SHORT STORIES In its most basic definition, the short story is a literary genre focused on artistic features and characteristics, such as unity of action and characters within a short period of time. It relies on concentrating suggestive language and phrasing so that the story provides a radiant flash of life.29 Critics vary on specifying the birth of this art form in Arabic literature. While some see the roots of the short story stretching back to ancient Arabic literature, especially the maqāmāt, others believe that it is a modern art form that developed in Western literatures and then entered Arabic literature via translations. Despite its recent emergence, the short story has been able to garner a broad audience of both authors and readers. This rapid spread is due in part to its artistic qualities and the human issues they propose, as well as a modern person’s need to arrive at their goal quickly. The press played a major role in publishing short stories among various Arabic literary milieus during their emergence in the Levant, Egypt, and other Arab countries. There were also several magazines to which the short story art form is indebted for its development and propagation, such as the Lebanese Al-Jinan and late nineteenth-century Egyptian periodicals and newspapers Al-Hilal, Al-Muqtataf, Al-Ahram, and Al-Mashriq. These journals provided safe entry for the short story to access the Arab world.30 Journalism was an important aide in spreading the short story and defining it, as well as its authors, as a literary genre outside of its native environment. However, upon entering the digital age, social media began taking the place of the traditional media in publishing news and art. Just as social media affected the art form of the novel, it likewise had an impact on short stories.

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It is indisputable that speed became the most important and prominent facet of everything in the digital age, including literature. This makes the short story, flash fiction, and prose most suitable and responsive to the needs of this age of speed. Thus, it is no surprise to find social media pages overflowing with this same sort of literature, as many users are no longer attracted to long texts. Rather, they search for short and quick reads that they can consume rapidly, like fast food. It seems that the “hamburger culture” even extends to the literary realm, where there is little room left for longer texts. In this chapter, we will concern ourselves with how social media has affected the short story in terms of structure, as well as the formal/external changes that occurred within the genre. Short Stories in Mobile Applications Social media smart phone apps, such as WhatsApp, Viber, text messaging, etc., have become one of the most important channels of communication between individuals and societies, as well as a means for authors and critics to engage with literature. Through these apps, people post and share literary texts, especially short stories, given the small, confined space available on smart phone screens. For example, the “International Short Stories of WhatsApp” page on Facebook contains the choicest selections of short stories by top writers and novelists of the world, including several Arabic stories as well.31 All of them were published on a variety of WhatsApp groups to give people some space and reprieve from life’s annoyances, even if only just a bit. The following is a sample of the short stories found on WhatsApp, written by Aḥmad al-Ṣughayr: His girlfriend broke up with him all the sudden by text message. He asked her why she was dumping him, and she told him that she had found the sheikh’s personal number and sought his counsel about their situation. He opined that she should only talk with learned men. She said, “While applying his advice to our forbidden relationship, I feared for my afterlife, and felt that my womanhood needs daily religious council.”32

The first thing we notice about short story writing on the app called WhatsApp is that the written structure of the story starts to take the form of a poem, as short lines are necessary due to the small and limited space of the phone’s screen. This structure leads to a breakdown of some standards that print media has relied upon for formatting written texts. As such, the external

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appearance or construction of the text is a visual standard by which the reader deems this type of text suitable for reading. Critic ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muḥsinī has identified a set of criteria that distinguish the smart phone short story, one of which is condensed language. This feature is not only found in these types of stories, but rather extends to the short story form in general. However, al-Muḥsinī claims that using a smart phone as a means for producing creative texts has “provided an opportunity for condensed language, thereby achieving a standard of brevity, one which we admit has other socioeconomic reasons as well.” The greater issue here, however, is that those messages have reaffirmed the value of brevity in Arabic as a rhetorical device. The technical limitations for producing these sorts of texts necessitate that the creator cut through their needless chatter by condensing and trimming their work down to its essential parts. This is made evident in short story works by which creators correspond, forcing them to abbreviate and summarize, as seen in the following text by author Aḥmad al-Ṣughayr entitled “Bubble.” “Fish cream tamarind” was one of the messages he exchanged with his woman during a year rife with hypocrisy. He started perusing all the texts they had written to one another, and then decided, without any context or introductions, to print them into a novel.33

Lastly, we must note that one issue with smart phone texts is how difficult they are to gather, as they are usually personal messages sent between authors and critics, meaning that the great majority of them are lost when their creators are not careful in preserving them in one form or another. This matter leads us to emphasize the important notion of establishing major projects to preserve our Arabic heritage that is threatened by being lost in the pitfalls of digital publishing. Short Stories on Facebook Facebook is a platform in which the short story has been able to spread and flourish. One need only type “short story” in a search engine to find dozens of Facebook pages devoted to this art form. Some of these pages are for amateur creators newly embarking on a writing career, while others are devoted to posting the stories of well-known authors who have helped establish and develop this genre, such as Yusuf Idris, Zakaria Tamer, and others. The

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following is a list of the most popular Facebook pages concerned with the art of short stories: Muntadā Ibdāʿī l-Qiṣṣa l-Qaṣīra/The Short Story Creativity Forum: A Lebanese page for amateur short story writers to share and post their creations.34 Kuttāb al-Qiṣṣa l-Qaṣīra/Short Story Authors: A page concerned with posting short stories by different writers from the Arab world.35 Mukhtārāt min Adab al-Qiṣṣa l-Qaṣīra Jiddan/Selections of Flash Fiction Literature: A page that posts various works of flash fiction by different authors from all over the world.36 Kuttāb al-Qiṣṣa l-Qaṣīra/Short Story Writers: A page providing information about the most famous short story writers in Morocco.37 Al-Mihmāz/The Spur: A page made especially for posting Zakaria Tamer’s works.38

Aside from these pages, we also find several short story authors who post their finished works on their personal pages, such as Palestinian writer Farouk Mawasi, Egyptian author Hāla al-Jundī, Syrian writer Dima Mustafa Sakran, Moroccan author Mālika ʿAssāl, and Iraqi writer Raḥīm Razzāq al-Jabūrī. Despite all the many drawbacks we have identified with posting a literary work on Facebook, we cannot deny the many benefits and advantages this site has offered to literary discourse. The Jordanian critic and short story writer Subhi Fahmawi noted that the art form had started developing rapidly and noticeably when it came online and appeared on social media sites, namely Facebook. He states, “Short story writers were now able to offer their works to a greater possible audience and followers on their Facebook page, immediately earning ‘likes’ and comments for what they had written. In fact, some of these comments helped them to develop their craft.”39 Many Facebook comments could certainly be seen as personal, subjective opinions lacking any basis in learned criticism, but not all who “like” or comment on a post are necessarily critics. Moreover, we can agree with Fahmawi’s assertion that the comments left by readers (and by this we mean, of course, those comments with an academic basis) represent a touchstone in the development of the short story art form. This is a clear indication of the impact that the reader has on the writer and the positive, direct interaction between them, something unavailable in printed stories. It is also worth noting that short stories published on Facebook are often accompanied by visual images, which in some instances act as a supplementary extension to the text, thereby becoming integral to the work. In this

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case, the image takes on an indisputable aesthetic value. However, from our interviews with some authors who attach images to their texts, it seems they do not see these visual effects as having any additional value within the overall work. They consider them to be nothing more than external, expendable decorations. Among the prose and flash fiction writers on Facebook who choose to incorporate pictures in their works, we will mention a sample from the Jordanian writer Oraib Eid:40 On that night in which I observe her stars, I swing to launch my body toward the skies. My throat sings through a flute, cutting across the void. Perhaps it embraces his specter, making the composition all the more beautiful.

The image takes up a much larger space than the text itself, which makes it of paramount importance. It is almost as if it is provoking or calling out to the reader to read it instead of merely looking at it. The critic Ibrahim Melhem commented on this image, saying: Given that it is nighttime in the text and picture, the expression suggests that she suffers from her loneliness at being separated from her beloved. She has nothing save her sad flute in whose sound lies his specter  . . . The image adds something else to the composition, strengthening the scene in the text. It makes you feel that it is possible and real, on the one hand. However, on the other hand, what the image has added to the preceding text is that this self-emancipation should necessarily take one back to childhood, a time where youthful innocence and imagination take things to their illogical conclusions when re-examined on the basis of their mythical, pure nature. It is a time when you can achieve anything you want.41

Other Facebook short story writers who include images with their texts are Shīrīn Ṭalaʿat, Subhi Fahmawi, and Ibrāhīm Ṭāhir, among others. In this context, we must ask: which came first in these kinds of works, the text or the image? If the text came before the image, this would mean that the author writes a text, then searches for a suitable image in a search engine like Google Images. In this case, the work in its entirety becomes suspicious, even if the image has a semantic role, since each part of the creative work is supposed to emanate from the author’s imagination, or come as a response to their emotions or fantasies at the moment of the work’s birth. Thus, choosing a suitable image for the work means that it is not from the author’s own inspiration. Consequently, the work can only be partially attributed to the writer. Only the text, minus the image, can be attributed to the author, which leads us to consider other issues, such as originality and intellectual property.

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However, if the image came before the text, the work would undoubtedly have a greater aesthetic value than in the previous case, since the image would provide the inspiration for the author to write the text. This would mean there exists a causal relationship between the author and the text. Moreover, a writer must think about how to cleverly employ images in this case so that they do not remain mere visual expressions of linguistic texts. Rather, the images should say what text could not, fill in the gaps of the text, or leave the reader with some additional room to rouse their imagination. However, the work in this case still raises the question regarding the issue of intellectual property and the use of images. Short Stories on Blogs Blogs have played a significant role in publishing short stories. The types of blogs in this regard vary. There are public blogs, such as Mudawwinat Wāḥat al-Qiṣṣa l-Qaṣīra/Short Story Oasis Blog, which are concerned with publishing stories and all the interaction that process entails, including other authors and critics posting their views on the stories and highlighting certain aspects that are open for criticism.42 There are also personal blogs, such as “Muʾmin al-Wizān/Faithful Analogy,” which are concerned with publishing the stories of certain authors.43 We will not, of course, discuss blogs that rely on publishing stories in a conventional way, as is the case in print publications. Rather, we will examine the blogs where authors flock to publish their stories in creative ways by investing in the data of the digital medium through which they are posted. These sorts of blogs include, for example, “Min Quṣuṣ al-Zayn/Among Beautiful Stories.”44 One of the first things one notices when visiting this blog is the information appearing in the blog’s right-hand column. At the top of the column, we find that the writer has included a list of followers under the heading “Their Hearts are with Me.” Next, we find the blog’s archive; there we learn that the blog has been active since 2007. We also find that the writer cared about programming the blog using Web 2.0 features, especially given the presence of three elements that provide the reader with important information about how widely the blog has spread, as well as the number of the site’s visitors in general or at any given moment. This data is extremely important, as it gives the reader a first impression about the blog’s standing, popularity, and reception, which in turn reflects how eager visitors and followers are to read the stories posted there. In addition to all that, as soon as a user enters the blog, they will hear songs begin to play. In this case, the author uses a program called Mixpod to include an album of classical guitar instrumentals played by the Turkish musician Melih Kibar.

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As for the stories themselves, the author seems eager to use a lot of visual effects, such as colors, font, and images. At the end of every text, the reader can evaluate the text by clicking on one of the buttons, which read “Fun,” “Attractive,” or “Interesting.” The reader can also write a comment and peruse those of other readers. Writer Nele Lenze commented on this blog, saying that this form of blogging is composed with what is known as “Gesamttexte,” as it relies more on images and music and contains more than one type of literary genre within a single text, all of which keep the reader engaged and focused on the work.45 For example, let us examine a text entitled “Al-Ḥubb fī Zaman al-Lāḥubb”/Love in the Time of No Love, which was posted in February 2011. We notice that there are many features distinguishing this text, which starts as a short story, then in no time at all transforms into a blend of several genres. The text begins with a black-and-white picture of a girl. Starting off the text with an image makes the photo very significant, as if it is the key to the text and the threshold of entry into it. The text itself then begins as follows: “During the age of revolutions, when politics eclipsed any available moments for love . . . that poor thing ducked behind the celestial veils . . . The fox creeping closer and closer on its paws, making seven passes around . . . ” The writer includes a second photo followed by text, then a third photo followed by text, and yet a fourth photo followed by a series of instructions: “Be beautiful so that he loves you / Be gentle and tender-hearted so that he loves you / Be a good housewife and skilled cook with nimble fingers so that he loves you . . . ” These instructions carry a gendered dimension that expresses the role of a girl or wife toward her husband in a patriarchal, Eastern society. “Your original sin is fixed throughout history, oh Eve . . . It sold you into a life of concubinage with little love / A question at the margin of the list of regulations that may go on and on / Where is the advice given to him?!” The text ultimately ends: “Damn this tiresome age . . . / And damn those promised meetings that won’t happen.” In sum, blogs have opened new and welcoming vistas and horizons for short story creativity. Writers can now present their stories with A/V effects, as well as attach user-facing surveys to assess their quality. They can create with absolute freedom and without any restrictions or conditions. For example, they can start their text as a short story, but quickly direct it down other detours, blending the story with poetry, prose, dialogue, dialect, and formal Arabic, all while taking advantage of the speed and flexibility of digital publishing. Moreover, this free expression is far removed from the strictures of print publishing, which stipulates that authors write according to their specific, customary standards. If any work goes beyond the pale of these conventions, it will not survive under scrutiny or questioning, and may ultimately end up being rejected.

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Interactive Stories on Blogs An interactive story is a set of texts that are connected to one another through the use of hypertext technology. The world’s first interactive story was afternoon: a story [sic] by American writer Michael Joyce and appeared in 1986. In 1996, ten years after the story was published, another interactive story emerged, Sunshine 69 by author Robert Arellano, which used more complex technologies, such as hypertext and multimedia.46 In Arabic literature, several interactive stories have been written that garnered attention from researchers and critics concerned with digital literature, including the following short story collections: Labība Khammār’s Ghuruf wa-Mirāyā/Rooms and Mirrors and Mirāyā Saʿīd Raḍwānī/Saʿīd Raḍwānī’s Mirrors, as well as Ismāʿīl al-Buwayḥiyāwī’s Ḥafnāt Jamr/Handfuls of Embers.47 Such stories are usually published on the author’s own website or blog, which forces us to include them in the context of this present study. What distinguishes these stories from other genres is their use of A/V effects (such as blending images and animation, light/glowing effects, and the mix of whole words with fragmented words here and there), as well as their use of a set of individual, connected stories that weave into a single, changing, and impermanent text. This text is formed based on the reader’s choices by browsing the different links present in the narrative, thereby resulting in a different text each time it is read. Khammār had this to say about her short story collection Ghuruf wa-Mirāyā, which she published on her blog: The role of the links goes beyond securing the passage from one data node to the next. Rather, they reveal a narrative through various roles that control the structure and development of the characters, connect events, and allow them to branch out and digress, and control the plot. All of this affects the structure, artistic formation, and semantic worlds of the story. Thus, the links are the essential tool for what makes the world of Ghuruf wa-Mirāyā so coiled, diverse, divergent, and different, making the story head toward its own completion through trimming off its various elements. It becomes more connected as it is separated, more unified as it is scattered, designing overlapping and intersecting corridors and pathways in the course of their connection to the overall network. In the end, through its interconnectivity and interactivity, it becomes a mirror, while also remaining a mirror, a memory penetrated by shadows. The links are nothing more than shadows that are already bound to other shadows. While writing and reading it, Ghuruf wa-Mirāyā is a network that I chose to be interconnected, like simulated reality in its connection to illusion, or the self to its other . . . The story is its doppelganger or reflection . . . It is like an idea trying to figure out what to wear.48

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The author describes what prompted her to write in this way, saying that she had always wanted to create a book that bore something of her own personality or DNA, to find a structure that could contain her, even if only a little bit of her essence. As such, she could find no other way to do so except through the synthesis method. She wanted her story to resemble a rhizome, while also being short, succinct, and interconnected at the same time. Khammār also wanted to tell her story in a textual format, composed of tales whose identities were undefined except through their intrinsic possible relations with the whole collection of stories. She wanted it to be a process of emergence, disappearance, and perpetual back and forth between the explicit and hidden, each text declaring itself through its multilateral relations with the other texts.49 Author Ahmed Bouzfour also commented on Khammār’s other short story collection, Mirāyā Saʿīd Raḍwānī: Mirāyā is distinguished by its unique, singular feature: its being a mirror. Each of the stories weave together, within the reader’s mind, this extraordinary potential that the human imagination possesses: the potential for another world, and to create an equal for everything, a place where each animal has its look-alike, and each person has their counterpart . . . This linguistic see-saw dizzies the reader, but it is a fun vertigo somewhat akin to an orgasm. And isn’t this story just like sex, in that it also propagates and multiplies life? Mirāyā is not merely a collection of stories. Rather, it is a storybook, an immortal, eternal, endless book of tales . . . With every page, word, and sentence it multiplies, as if Borges himself had dreamed of the realization of that book!50

In her anthology Ḥafnāt Jamr/Handfuls of Embers, Khammār relied upon grid technology to connect her extracts. She did this through a flash fiction story entitled “Suwayʿa”/A Little While, which assumed the duty of framing the rest of the stories that were different from it in terms of function and kind. She also defined the essential topic and general context in which the short stories were written, which multiplied to fill out the space entitled “I am a Writer, I Always Need to Tell Stories.”51 In describing al-Buwayḥiyāwī’s “Ḥafnāt Jamr,” Khammār stated that the story’s foundation is a grid, a large screen tasked with presenting a “handful” of short stories that resemble news transmitted from various places around the Arab world, or snapshot accounts from various peoples’ lives. The common denominator among all the stories is various forms and instances of pain, suffering, and self-combustion. The stories differ from one another, with the characters’ features, identities, ages, and actions hidden. Yet, all the stories share the same motif of combustion, and thus are characterized by burning. We all know that interconnectivity is found in literature from time immemorial, with Kalīla wa-Dimna and One Thousand and One Arabian Nights

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perhaps being the best examples of this. In these cases, the tales emanate from an original frame story that forms the nucleus of the work by which all the other tales are connected. The shorter stories begin from and eventually return back to this narrative nucleus. However, the digital interactive narrative has gained a unique structure that distinguishes it from its printed counterpart. The former resorts to employing colloquial, linguistic, visual, photographic, figurative, and cinema elements, as well as adding static and animated text. This intense use of linguistic and non-linguistic texts and signs poses significant challenges to readers, who will find themselves in the middle of a seemingly endless maze. While they know the beginning of the story, they will never know where it will ultimately end, nor what to expect from link to link. This opens the floor to reconsider many terms used by aesthetic reception theorists to describe the functions of the reader, such as “the reader’s horizon of expectation,” “the implied reader,” or “the model reader.” These short stories represent unique and independent texts on the one hand, and an interconnected story on the other, as each can be read on its own, or all of them can be read together as a single story that extends over the others. This means that the sum total of these interactive stories can be transformed into a novel, or in other words, the novel here is a group of short stories that are both independent and interconnected at the same time. This is what distinguishes interactive stories from the interactive novel discussed in the previous item, as the latter does not consist of a set of independent, self-sufficient texts. Rather, it consists of a set of texts that propagate and emanate from one another, but which cannot do so on their own. Thus, reading any of its texts in isolation from the other texts could be possible, but in doing so the reader would not be able to understand the work as a cohesive whole. Video Stories on YouTube A YouTube story is one whose production and reception relies on video and is usually published on YouTube. It is worth noting that this kind of story has not enjoyed the same level of interest as other literary genres found on social media, whether in an Arab or Western cultural context. It may be said that Labība Khammār was one of the first Arab writers who produced this form of short story literature through her two video stories entitled “Ḥidhāʾ al-Ḥubb”/Shoes of Love (2007) and “Hiyya wa-l-Ḥamām”/She and the Dove (2012).52 The critic Ibrahim Melhem touched upon her first story, “Ḥidhāʾ al-Ḥubb” in his book Naẓariyyat al-Adab al-Raqamiyya fī Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī/Theory of Digital Literature on Social Media Sites (2018). In it, he notes the most important elements comprising this work:

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Thresholds: The most important of these is the title, which arouses the readers’ curiosity, as the only way to understand its meaning is through reading the text. Music: The author resorts to using a piano soundtrack, which dominates over the other verses of the story. At the same time, the music fits in with the dialogue going on between the two main characters, a man and a woman, during their expressive dance. Written Text: This appears to the rhythm of the music and at a speed suitable for reading along visually, which reads as follows.

Armed with all the advice she had gleaned from her aunts and the neighborhood girls, she replayed all that she had heard them whisper during those calm evenings: “Don’t trust a man until he tears up his shoes.” She wasn’t sure how shredded shoes had anything to do with love, but she heeded and applied their advice nonetheless, to the “t,” anytime a man started to admire her. She would then look at him seductively and flirtatiously, letting him walk behind her every day for a long while, occasionally showering him with smiles from a bowed head. He would keep on walking and walking . . . Images: The author relies upon two types of images: pictures and animation. Characters: The two main characters of the story are a man and a woman. At times they appear complete; at others, they seem to disappear and transform into feathers wafting in the air, expressing the sense of separation, alienation, and annihilation, according to the text or the connotation behind it.

Melhem goes on to add: We have a succession of short sentences and paragraphs. Each paragraph is usually formed letter-by-letter on a single segment, behind which the two lovers dance expressively, thereby allowing the reader to both read the text and see the background together. The word selection seems suitable for smart phone technology. The words are clear, and they seem to take on more significance than merely their purely lexical or literal meaning. For instance, the first word of the text is “armed.” In this case, the reader sees the woman carrying a weapon and holding it tight, never letting it go. It is not a conventional weapon; it represents the words that the women had said to her . . . This style of visual writing even extends to visual expressions of time as well. For example, the author says, “The apricot ripens,” to mean that the woman has come of age, “The orange branch flowered,” to signify the period between youth and middle age, and “The ripe apples fall,” to signify middle age . . .53

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Her story “Hiyya wa-l-Ḥamām” tells of an Arab girl called Nādiya who belongs to a traditional, conservative family and society that believes a girl’s only path to freedom and salvation can come through marriage. She rebels against these conventions and declares that she does not need a man. Khammār produced this story differently from her previous one, starting it with a picture of a young woman sitting in front of a mirror. Next to her lies a picture of a dove, which we learn by the end symbolizes men, as well as her desire to snare it in a cage so that it cannot control her or limit her freedom. She accomplishes this by breaking the dove’s egg. The author successfully employed images as a background to the text in an expressive way. For example, she included a picture of the girl as she stands, black smoke escaping from her hands as a symbol of her rebellion and rejection that she declared at the beginning of the story. She also played around with the text’s colors. In the beginning, the white text expresses Nādiya’s unconscious childhood. The font then changes to blue, which expresses the start of her maturation process. Finally, the text turns red, symbolizing her attainment of full consciousness and maturity, as well as her determination to rebel and reject the patriarchy, and consequently her salvation from and victory over it. The writer also used visual scenes skillfully. For example, she included a shot of a plastic bag floating through the air, and dry, yellow leaves swirling around the girl, as a sign of her freedom from men, who mean nothing more to her than an empty nylon bag which she apathetically left to its fate. Khammār borrowed this scene of the plastic bag from the film American Beauty, which she credits at the end of the story. This raises another aesthetic aspect of literature on social media, which is the ability to mix more than one text or technology (known as the “remix”). If print literature relies upon a blend of texts through intertextuality and citation, literature via social media relies upon blending texts with other technologies and tools, including scenes, images, video clips, and songs. Finally, video literature is closely related to YouTube, which greatly contributed to its spread and development, due to the site’s wide popularity and massive technological capabilities. Short Stories on Twitter In 2017, the newspaper Al-Riyadh published an article entitled “Al-Qiṣṣa al-Qaṣīra Jiddan: ʿAwda li-l-Ḥayyāt fī Zaman Twītir”/Flash Fiction: Coming Back to Life in the Age of Twitter. The piece stated that the art of flash fiction would have vanished had it not been for the emergence of social media, and Twitter in particular. This sort of literature had been on the margins for years and remains hotly debated in literary circles as a dubious genre that may or may not qualify as literature. However, the spread of flash fiction during the

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social media era has revived this literary form and brought it into the limelight once again.54 Even though we do not agree with the aforementioned assertions, we cannot ignore Twitter’s contribution to supporting and spreading flash fiction. Prof. Khālid al-Bātilī, the Deputy Chief Editor of Al-Maʿrifa magazine, has noted that Twitter led to the appearance of #flashfiction, meant for writing a complete story in a 140-character tweet. He added that some authors have found more fame from a 140-character tweet than another author’s 140-page book! The Yemeni writer Ahmad Zein describes such tweets as literary “nuggets,” very similar to what is known as “wall literature,” as they are texts that are read “on-the-go” and have fans from among the information revolution generation. Literary pioneers helped in its rise to popularity because they found it a quick way to reach their readers. Zein also adds that modern social media clearly and tangibly helped to program the receiver to become accustomed to this new style of writing. We concur that Twitter certainly helped spread and produce the flash fiction art form, making it the literary fast-food most preferred and desired by readers. In our estimation, flash fiction would not have gained the additional value it now enjoys without Twitter existing to spread and publish it. Flash fiction has four main components: concentration/focus, insinuation, irony, and a surprise ending. Through our review of several flash fiction works published on Twitter, we noticed that it still preserves these key ingredients on one hand, but also has another set of characteristics that it has produced. These characteristics are as follows. Flash fiction is subject to Twitter’s word count and space requirements. Instead of trying to circumvent these restrictions by resorting to blogging programs that would allow for longer texts, or by dividing the story into two or more tweets, flash fiction writers strictly adhere to the 140-charater limit and small space. Many of them do not even use all the space that Twitter provides, writing flash fiction with less space and letters than permitted. As a result, we call flash fiction published via Twitter “Tweet Stories,” distinguishing it from other genres in recognition of their character limits. Many stories are posted on Twitter without titles. Critic al-Malgami noted this characteristic, stating that the lack of a title in Twitter stories affects the process of generating meaning within the text; the title is a semantic axis and one of the most important structures of a parallel text. In his opinion, it is the threshold over which the reader enters into the text. Given its absence in the text, the work must then rely upon smaller semantic axes provided by its linguistic structure and context.55 Many Twitter stories express the virtual world through which it is published, namely Twitter, such as in the following examples:

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@amajarmakani: You loved him very much . . . But you couldn’t have him . . . Because he used to live in the computer. @Ethar: He used to really like white people until he saw his other face on Twitter! . . . @wesamkamal: Her tweets appeared on a thousand and one walls, but they returned to her empty-handed, begging her tearfully. She used to wait for flowers, a call, or a hug. She wasn’t satisfied by e-chats.

TRANSFORMATIONS IN POETRY The general renewal of Arabic poetry is a natural development and phenomenon in any time or place. Over the course of its long history, the Arabic poem has gone through several developmental stages. The renewal in each of those stages did not come by chance or accident, but rather as a result of socio-cultural changes in which the poem emerged and by which its historical development was guided, as discussed by Snir.56 ʿAmūdī verse, for example, was the natural response to the sociocultural conditions that produced it, as the nomadic society of the Bedouin relied more on oral or spoken traditions than written texts. This meant that audience members relied on their hearing more than any of their other senses; the poetry had to accommodate the necessities of their sense of hearing. In this way, their poetry was overflowing with verbal embellishments and maintained the unity of verse and rhyme so that it would, on the one hand, make a stronger impression on the listeners’ ears, while on the other hand make it easier for them to memorize and transmit the poems among other tribes. A paradigm shift in the structure and form of the Arabic poem occurred when poetry moved from its oral stage to its written stage. In this stage, poets began taking great care in the visual formation of the text, realizing the importance of the visual element in writing and its impact on the receiver. Thus, vision was given its due concern, which it had been denied for a long time in favor of hearing. This prompted poets to write poems in different artistic forms. It is worth noting that this phenomenon developed and flourished during the Ottoman and Mamluk eras. The second paradigm shift in the development of the structure of Arabic poetry occurred with the emergence of Romanticism in the West, a trend which spread to the Arab world through the poets of the Apollo School, Diwan Association, and Mahjar poets. Notable figures from these movements include Khalil Mutran, Gibran Khalil Gibran, Bechara El-Khoury, and Ibrahim Nagi. There are several reasons why this trend was accepted into

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Arabic poetry, the most significant being: Arab contact with Western culture via educational delegations and translation movements; the rejection of the prevailing traditional curricula of the Classical Revival schools; the desire for renewal and to flee from the painful reality Arab nations had suffered under colonialism, which attempted to obliterate the Arab character through its ideological invasion; and finally the suffering and ravages of the First World War, which fostered an explosion of grievances in Arab societies. The innovative Romantic movement caused a clear disruption in poetic forms and their elements. Romantic poets preached radical, often offensive poetic theories, rebelling against older models of Arab poetry in terms of both content and form. They tended to discuss literature with metaphysical Romantic concepts, surrendering themselves to dreams, imagination, spiritual contemplation, and descriptions of nature, and placing the heart above the head as their guide. These poets also invented new meters and developed forms in the Arabic poem, among other poetic matters that they strove to ingrain within the literary scene, arranging poems according to liberated blank verse over rhyme schemes and constructing a portion of their poetry according to different meters. They also favored calm music and short, light verses.57 The Romantic trend remained prevalent among some poets between the First and Second World Wars. However, this period also provided political and socioeconomic factors that drove Arab poets toward a new school of “Realism.” These factors included: the rise of a new generation of poets who had tasted the ravages of war and witnessed the destruction wrought by the nuclear bombs in Japan; the awakening of the postwar Pan-Arab consciousness, which sought to rid their world of colonialism; sentiments of injustice, humiliation, and rage; the doctrinal conflict between the capitalist West and socialist East; and cultural pluralism and the influence of Western poets. These and other developments prompted poets, in both the East and West, to quickly embrace Realism within their poetry. Romanticism no longer served any purpose; there was no room for flights of fancy, crying, or bemoaning a reality plagued by warfare in which the strong ruled over the weak. Realism emerged to deal with reality instead of flee from it; it shed light on everyday issues. The Realists believed that artists had to be firmly committed to and honestly express the issues and struggles of their people, as well as offer solutions. All of this required new expressive forms, both in prose and poetry, which led to the emergence of free verse. This new convention represented a paradigm shift in the history of Arabic poetry. Some of its pioneers include Nazik al-Malaika, Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati, and Badr Shakir al-Sayyab. Nazik al-Malaika claimed that free verse satisfied the demands of the society in which it emerged and crystallized, leaving no room for circumspection and contemplation in an age of speed and scientific progress. Poets were to

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liberate themselves from the restrictions of rhyme and shatter the unity of verse to respond quickly to real-life issues. Free verse poets soon grasped the necessity of renewing the intellectual and expressive dimensions of the Arabic poem and broadening the horizons of Arabic literary genres. Doing so helped to distance them from the framework of the world of traditional rhetoric and explore a new framework that would bring about experiments in epics, drama, narrative systems, story elements, and theater to the realm of poetry. Poetry began incorporating language that was closer to prose and quotidian vocabulary, as well as symbols, legends, personal experiences, and historical events. In her book Qaḍāyā al-Shiʿr al-ʿArabī l-Muʿāṣir/Issues of Contemporary Arabic Poetry, Al-Malaika stated: If I didn’t start the free verse movement, then it would have been Badr Shakir al-Sayyab who did, may he rest in peace. If neither of us had started it, then it would have been another Arab poet besides us. In those years, free verse had become a ripe, sweet fruit on the family tree of Arabic poetry, and the time came to pluck it. Some harvest had to be reaped, in some corner of the Arab homeland, because the time had come for new, spectacular stalks of grain to grow within the garden of poetry, crops that would change the usual patterns and start a new literary era full of vitality, fecundity, and initiative.58

The renewal movements eventually reached poetry and led to the introduction of the next twentieth-century textual innovation on the literary stage: prose poetry. This new form completely did away with meter and rhyme, relying instead on a variety of internal rhythmic forms found within the structure of a single poem. Some of the pioneers of this genre include Rashīd Ayyūb, Adonis, and Ounsi el-Hajj. This form of poetry firmly entrenched itself and crowded out all other forms and genres from the spotlight, as it allowed writers greater opportunities to express themselves freely and without restrictions.59 Of course, the development of Arabic poetry did not just end with poems themselves. It had to continue keeping pace with the current age in which poetry started going in new directions, namely after the emergence of social media, which opened the floodgates to poetry and poets. Statistics show that in 2018 there were around 100,000 Arab poets on various social media platforms, not to mention the large of number of diverse pages dedicated to Arabic poetry of all kinds and forms. Some examples include the “Mawsūʿat al-Shiʿr al-ʿArabī”/Arabic Poetry Encyclopedia Facebook page, the “Al-Shiʿr wa-l-Adab al-ʿArabī”/Arabic Poetry and Literature page on Twitter, and the “Al-Shiʿr al-ʿArabī l-Faṣīḥ”/Eloquent Arabic Poetry page on Instagram.60

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Despite the strong presence of poetry on social media, this has roused strong reactions from conservative voices, who have started calling into question its literary legitimacy and value. In this context, the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat published an article in April 2019 entitled “Al-Shiʿr Yantaʿish bi-Faḍl Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī”/Poetry is Revived Thanks to Social Media Sites. The piece stressed that, despite negative positions toward poetic phenomena on social media, the data confirms the contrary, that social media has restored the prominence and prestige due to Arabic poetry, which was stolen from it in favor of other forms of expression, primarily the novel. According to the article: Rupi Kaur, Nayyirah Waheed, Erza Daily Ward, Lang Leav, and Robert M. Drake, names which may mean nothing to some. However, these personalities have used social media sites, especially Instagram and Tumblr, as their launchpad for publishing their own works of poetry that have earned wide regard, acclaim, and popularity, thereby generating greater interest among Western publishers. The style is distinct: short verses; simple and clear vocabulary; posts accompanied by drawings or pictures; topics usually revolving around love, betrayal, depression, and women’s concerns. Yet, the most important matter here is the massive number of followers who interact with these posted verses with “likes” or comments, as well as the poetry collections sold in record numbers (2.5 million copies of Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur; 160,000 copies of Love and Misadventure by the Australian Lang Leav; 160,000 copies of Black Butterfly by the American Robert M. Drake; and 120,000 copies of Chasers of the Light by Tyler Knott Gregson).61

Thus, despite the disparity in the level of poetic texts that we find on social media, no one can overlook the massive role that these various social media platforms have played in creating new poetic patterns on one hand, and effecting the spread of poetry on the other. In this way, social media has increased poetry readership and changed poetic tastes and the way in which the work is received. Critic Aḥmad Karīm Bilāl discussed the new features in the poetic phenomenon that has developed via various social media sites, the most prominent of which were as follows: Poet’s signature by using hashtags: In printed publications, we are used to seeing the poet’s name written immediately after the poem’s title or at the bottom of the page or magazine in which it is published. We see the same thing in social media poems, where the poet’s name is under the poem posted on his page or some other literary page. However, social media allows poets to sign their works differently to make their presence more robust and effective through writing the name in blue with a “hashtag” (#) in front of it. This form of signature allows readers to access all the poet’s works that are hash-tagged in the same way,

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which can be used to advertise and promote the poet, granting the latter unprecedented levels of exposure for all their works. Dropping the title: As we saw with short stories on social media, we find that dropping titles or writing poems without a title has become a defining and widespread characteristic of social media poetry. Poetic holidays: A poetic holiday is a kind of social and literary gathering among poets. It has been well-known for a long time, as these holidays occurred in the real world during actual social networking sessions among poets. These gatherings were like a linguistic and literary competition that were usually conducted in a harmonious and cordial setting. However, digital publishing added another dimension to the mix. In the virtual world, a poet could post a verse or two on his page, then allow another poet to comment, repeating the same process with several poets. After that, those poets would communicate and interact with the poem together in a virtual room, just as the carousing poets would do during the Abbasid era. Unlike those early days, however, poets can now communicate with their colleagues from many different countries at the same time, transcending the barriers of time and space, which earlier poetic holidays could not. During the real-life poetic holidays, the poet was supposed to immediately respond to what was said. Nowadays, we find that poets may take hours or days to respond to one another during these virtual sessions, even if the ball remains in their court, so to speak.62 Social media poetry keeps up-to-date with current events: So long as breaking news plays a critical role in the lives of humankind, it will continue to serve as creative inspiration for poets. However, during the era of printing, poems about special occasions remained with the printer until they could be published in a book or newspaper, thereby delaying their spread, or removing them so far from the occasion itself that there was no continuity between it and what was said at that time. When social media came about, it made the impossible possible. Readers could now read a poem immediately after it was posted, while the events were still hot and fresh in everyone’s minds. We should remember here the massive quantity of poems published in tandem with the unfolding events of the Arab Spring as they occurred in many Arab countries. Writing incomplete poetry: One of the latest trends in social media poetry is posting incomplete poems, whether parts of a poem or simply a few verses. This phenomenon is known as “poetry of the moment.” Social media poets do not hesitate to immediately disclose whatever crosses their minds, even if it is an idea, thought, or burst of poetry that has not yet fully matured into a coherent text, similar to a stillborn baby who failed to finish growing. All of this serves to bring readers squarely into the poet’s consciousness, fully aware that the reader may interact with him/her at any moment or time, and then share their thoughts without hesitation as well. Many poets post their poems on their personal pages

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immediately after writing them, without revising or re-examining them. As such, poems go unfinished as a matter of style within web texts, unlike print poetry, which is not published until it is absolutely ready.

In speaking of this phenomenon, Syrian poet Tammam Tellawi noted: Today, I started writing and posting new things, or immediately writing down thoughts and feelings as they come. This is a special pleasure similar perhaps to that of improvisation . . . I’ve also started writing and sharing my midnight ravings with others, sometimes spending all night long in discussions about our crazy thoughts . . .63

It is remarkable that many incomplete texts often cannot be defined by literary genre, as poets write what they consider to be only part of a poem, or so they say. However, as a result of the speed and lack of careful thought over what they are writing, we find that what they write is beyond any characteristic of a poetic text. Rather, their works are closer to prose than poetry. This applies to some short stories as well. So far, we have explained the general features that distinguish this poetic phenomenon on social media. Now, we will move on to a discussion about the changes that social media has wrought in the structure and form of the text, which has resulted in brand new poetic patterns. The Short Poem We have shown previously that literary texts published on the internet usually tend toward brevity, due to reasons of reception, as the age of speed dictates that brevity be one of the most prominent features of web texts. This phenomenon is not limited to a specific literary genre, but rather extends to all genres, including poetry. Over the past few years, we have started noticing an inclination in poetic texts on social media toward different kinds of brevity in a very striking way, such that these texts have overdone it to a certain extent, sometimes simply posting a poem consisting of no more than a single verse. It is worth noting that the idea of a single verse was not born on social media, but rather is an old idea in Arabic poetry. It was originally based on the concept of the independent single verse. The critic Khalifa Mohammed Tillisi wrote a book on this topic entitled Qaṣīdat al-Bayt al-Wāḥid, which was published by Dar El-Shorouk in 1991. With the development of Arabic poetry, from the pre-Islamic era to the mid-twentieth century, single verse has returned with new forms and patterns to take the place of modern Arabic poems thanks to the influence of various

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critical schools and currents. The digital age has brought single verse poetry back to life to reclaim its rightful position and reinforce readers’ acclaim for it in a new way. The following are some examples of single-verse poetry published on Facebook.64 Note that this phenomenon is also widespread on Instagram and Twitter. Egyptian poet Usāma Shafīʿ: Fuel without fire, loss without hope . . . words without knowledge, how happy are those saved [from these]

Saudi poet Muḥammad Yaʿqūb: The heart turned toward Syria . . . A hand raised toward those coming from Aleppo

Palestinian poet Tamim al-Barghouti: How many seekers know not what they seek . . . Their pursuit pushing them toward destruction

Flash Poetry The idea of writing short poetic texts is very old in literature, appearing in the Abbasid era under the name “tawqīʿāt,” also known as the “epigram” in fifth-century ancient Greece.65 The epigram is a literary form of poetry or prose characterized by concentration, emphasis, and a single-mindedness that one line offers. This style relies upon satirical language and a contradictory structure, whether at the level of words or meanings, usually ending with a kind of surprise or twist. The Palestinian poet Izz al-Din Manasirah is considered one of the most famous writers of this form of poetry. The idea of flash poetry converges with that of the haiku, a type of poetry that appeared in Japan during the seventeenth century with the pen of Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694). The haiku is a form of single-verse poetry consisting of seventeen syllables in the Japanese language, often written in three lines, yet sometimes up to five. The haikuist tries to express effusive emotions and profound feelings in very few words in order to achieve the element of surprise for the audience.66 Arab poets transferred haiku poetry into Arabic literature during the mid-1960s, during which time they wrote flash poems characterized by their brevity and concentration. Arab critics have also called these types of poems by various names and designations, such as flash, epigram, fragment, and inscription.

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Although the flash poem is not a new literary genre, social media facilitated its rapid spread, as it satisfies the rushed digital reader’s needs and suits the demands of the age of speed. Twitter especially has played a significant role in strengthening flash poetry texts due to its 140-character limit policy. It is worth noting that any diacritics also count as a single character in a tweet. This presents a major challenge to poets, since poetry, unlike other genres, requires vowelization in many instances. Image Poetry The poetic texts published on social media benefitted from digital image technology, such as Google Images, which contains millions of pictures from various fields. Poets utilize this massive resource to innovate new poems, creatively combining the image’s structure with the text. Critic Aḥmad Karīm Bilāl explains that the inspiration behind connecting images with poetry has a long history predating the rise of social media. Some researchers trace this tradition to the ancient Greeks and Romans. In Arabic poetry, we have attempts at this method at least as far back as the poet Al-Buḥturī in his description of the image at the front of the monument at Taq Kasra. There are other examples in which some poets of the Apollo School and Arab Modernism movements were inspired by images that were sought specifically for writing a poem. In most cases, however, these images were fresh in the minds of the creators when producing their poetry. These images were not made to be given to the reader with the poem, to be contemplated together at the same time, save for those images printed on the covers or that crept into the pages of poetry collections. With these pictures, one could readily establish a semantic relationship between them and the poem’s contents. Despite all this, examples of functional pictures made for audiences of poetry remain limited in Arabic literature, while they are abundant in the poetry published on social media, perhaps excessively so. This is because images are the ideal tool and most effective and impactful form of media, allowing them to occupy a leading role in the field of contemporary communication. The current era has been dubbed the “age of the image.”67 The following are some examples of image poetry. Palestinian poet Turki Amer published this on his Facebook page in February 2020: This world . . . Oh, my son . . . is truly a jungle This jungle is guarded by wolves,

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The poet chose an image that harmonizes with the pessimistic attitude found in the poem, namely his view toward the darkness of the world—full of evil, it chews up and spits out humans until they resemble dogs and wolves. While some people in my country are dogs, And in various ways . . . dogs always fall.

Although one might not see any essential artistic value in the image, it could not simply be removed without affecting the reception of the poem. This is not always the case, however, as we will see in poems that employ visual images in a more profound way. She emerged from a river like a nymph. She wore nothing but wisps of rosy light.

This poem, also by Turki Amer, is a love poem meant to flatter a woman, inspired by the Pharoah Queen Nefertiti, who was renowned for her striking beauty. She found a mirror resting on its side. She lifted it and gulped. She began examining her entire form.

However, what draws our attention here is the use of the image. The poet conjures up a modern image of Nefertiti that combines the figure of a contemporary woman and that of a Pharaonic woman in traditional garb, saturated with feminine allure and appeal as described in the text. This stresses the notion that femininity has remained the same over the passage of time, and that the only thing that changes is the outer shell. In speaking of image poetry, it is worth noting that some images included by poets are pictures or paintings that they have drawn themselves, thereby combining the creator’s literary and artistic talents. One such example is Jordanian poet Maen Sanajleh, who is both a poet and visual artist. The following is the opening of “People Are Followers,” one of his visual poems published on Facebook: People are followers; following those whom they fear, or those who dazzle with their bags of gold They follow any arrogant fraud or conman; they delight in every smooth-talker

In this case, the author painted a picture, forming the inspiration for the poem. The reader of this work can integrate the picture and poem upon receiving it at the first threshold of the poem, the title. The characters and

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other details of the picture tilt toward the right-hand side of the panel, as if signifying “subservience” in all its forms, a theme that the readers explore as they progress through the poem. It is obvious to the reader that this image represents subservience as found in Arab society. This can be deduced from our reading of the image, whose elements and details (such as the steeds, desert, palms, and Arab Bedouin) were created in the mold of Arab culture and heritage. All these details make clear references to Arab culture, and consequently to the special form of “subservience” found therein. Critic Ibrahim Melhem termed this form of poetry “portrait poetry” to distinguish it from other image poetry.68 The portrait refers to art created by poets, in contrast with an image included in the work that is usually taken from a website or any other place, and does not originate from the poet’s own creativity. Visual Digital Poetry Western critics see visual digital poetry as an extension of artistic movements prevalent in Europe during the twentieth century, such as Cubism, Futurism, and Dadaism. However, Arabic visual poetry appeared much earlier, during the period of Mamluk rule. Many studies have been written about the phenomenon of visual formation in both Western and Arabic poetry, including Younis (2011) and Nasrallah and Younis (2015). All the studies in this field affirm the fact that poets in general have paid special attention to the visual dimension of a poem so they could impress the powerful impact of this dimension on the viewer. This began during times when artists had the simplest of writing tools to work with: ink and paper. In printed visual poetry, the possibilities for forming the visual space were very limited, essentially confined to how to distribute black on white and how to distribute words on a page. These early poets played with shaping the poems in different ways, forming figures such as stars, circles, squares, and trees. We can only imagine now what form the poem would take in an age full of technologies that offer limitless opportunities for writing, creativity, and artistic production. This type of poetry usually appears in forums or on poets’ personal websites and pages. Moroccan poet Munʿim al-Azraq led the way in the field of visual digital poetry, publishing several of his works on Medusa forums and then on his personal website under the title “Munʿim al-Azraq’s digitals.”69 His visual digital poems include: “Al-Dunū min al-Ḥajar al-Dāʾirī”/Proximity to the Round Stone, “Qālat Liyya l-Qaṣīda Dawʾuhā l-ʿUmūdī”/The Poem Told Me of Its Vertical Light, “Nabīdh al-Layl al-Abyaḍ”/Wine for White Nights, and “Sayyidat al-Māʾ”/Lady of the Water. We will now use these as models to explain how technological data is invested and employed in poetry to present a visual poem in digital format.

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In these poems, the poet tries to render his vision of existence and nothingness as a way of searching for truth. He utilizes multimedia technology, including A/V effects, enabling his copious ideas to overflow with symbolism. The poem includes a flood of elements and signs that are open to several interpretations, and which form the key for delving deeper into the poem and grasping its meaning. To break the poem’s code, readers rely on their ability to interpret and analyze each of the poem’s elements, put them all together, then understand the textual and symbolic relationships between them. Music is employed here to create a sense of relaxation and contemplation. The poet includes ambient nature sounds, such as birds chirping, ocean waves crashing, and calm breezes. The poet also uses colors, variations of the size and shape of the font, as well as animation, making the words jumble and gather together, shrink and grow, approach and retreat from the screen, and intertwine. Colors and nature imagery contribute to a sense of calm. All of this is done in a harmonious way that goes along with the meaning contained within the poetic verses, phrases, or clips. Hypertext Poetry The hypertext poem does not differ greatly from the visual poem, except for the addition of hypertext technology, thereby transforming the poem into a set of poems and texts that coalesce to form the overarching poem. Western criticism was keen on connecting the hypertext poem genre to Dadaism, a revolutionary artistic and literary movement founded in 1915 in Zurich, Switzerland, by the cinematographer and poet Tristan Tzara (1896–1963). In this context, Western critics believe that this early twentieth-century movement was the first to lay the foundations for multimedia thought before the dawn of the digital age. Many artists, writers, poets, cinematographers, and film directors joined the Dadaist movement, such as the painter Marcel Janco (1895–1984), multimedia artist Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968), artist Jean Arp (1886–1966), artist Francis Picabia (1879–1953), and artist Hugo Ball (1887–1927). The poet Rudolf Presber (1868–1935) and playwright Erwin Piscator (1893–1966) were also well-known Dadaist artists. What distinguishes Dadaism is this entanglement between artists, cinematographers, and writers in forming a poem that would be displayed as portraits in exhibitions. The poet and artist Francis Picabia presented his poem “The Cacodylic Eye” (in French, “L’oeil Cacodylate,” 1921) in a museum, featuring words mixed with collages made of posters on torn pieces of paper, photographs, and numbers. Sometimes the artist connected these elements to the overall meaning of the work; at other times the myriad of elements were gathered together in the same portrait without any relationship among them. These texts form a kind of multimedia

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poetry, suggesting that the start of the divergent thinking movement that began with Dadaism. In Arabic digital literature, there were comparatively few shifts in the field of hypertext poetry writing. Perhaps the only person to pioneer in this field was Iraqi poet ʿAbbās Mushtāq Maʿan, who presented the Arabic Digital Library with the first hypertext poem, “Tabārīḥ Raqamiyya li-Sīra Baʿḍhā Azraq”/Digital Agonies of a Biography Some of Which are Blue (2007), which garnered significant interest in a time before Arab critics grew interested in digital literature. The poem appears on the poet’s Facebook page. Other attempts in this field include a poem by Munʿim al-Azraq entitled “Shajar al-Būghāz”/Bougainvillea Trees (2008), which can also be accessed at the poet’s website. We now turn to “Tabārīḥ Raqamiyya” as a model for this type of poetry. This poem invests in several A/V effects, including colors, images, and music, in addition to hypertext, which makes it a very complex artistic and literary work. Aside from these effects, al-Azraq employed hypertext to to compose a mosaic of texts that combine poetry, narrative, and reports. Moroccan critic Fatima Al Breiki states that the use of links plays no role in the poem because they always appear at the bottom of the page (after the reader has finished reading the text), which contradicts the very principle of interactivity upon which digital literature is based.70 However, despite Al Breiki’s opinion, one cannot ignore the aesthetic value of this technology; it distinguishes interactive poetry from visual poetry. The former allows for a great many interpretations; with these diverse ways to read and form the poem, readers have many different ways of navigating the poem. Critic ʿAbd al-Zahra al-Rabīʿī considers the poem’s multiple texts as ultimately connected to a single theme, thereby enumerating the vision and angles of interpretation. The branching paths that the poem can take not only opens new windows, but also distributes the varying elements throughout the space of the screen or single window.71 Zaydān Ḥumūd had this to say about the poem: With this poem, Mushtāq tried to move time into another time, a time in which image is synonymous with sound. With the help of words, he tried to step outside the standards of imitation and convention and into more transcendent and advanced dimensions. He attempted to elevate the concept of a word in its response to the poetic fossilization on paper. He wanted to move to a time in which the wheel of technology rolls toward horizons farther away from our own present times. He did not leave the poem to express his inner motives as embodied by the words, drowsy childhood dreams at the threshold of his memories. Instead, he employed everything in his computer’s memory for the purpose

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of creative interaction with the poem, transferring it into a more egalitarian world to uncover the concepts within his imagination.72

The fun of reading this poem is not merely satisfied within the confines of the reading process alone, but rather through going beyond it to warmer worlds. The pleasure is connected to the music, portraits, and digression through the winding paths connecting the body of the text and its citations and margins. All of this makes the reader feel like they are going down many pathways and corridors without knowing where nor how they will end. As such, they can do nothing but watch and wait until, either through boredom or anxiety with the never-ending experience, they can return to safety or their point of initial departure, change their course, or decide to withdraw. Overall, the text’s technology has expressed form’s response to content, thereby practically and artistically expressing the poet’s life story, one which is full of mazes, winding paths, and divergent branches. Collective Poems The collective poem is one in which more than one author partakes in its composition, just as is the case in the collective novel discussed earlier. It is worth noting that this type of poem can be simple by depending on the written text only, or complex by blending the written text with various technologies. Collective poems are no different than digital visual poems in terms of the effects used or their structure. Rather, what sets the former apart from the latter is the number of writers contributing to its creation. The idea of collective writing in poetry emerged well before the rise of the internet. One of the most famous modern experiments in collective poetry writing was a collection entitled Ralentir Travaux: Slow Under Construction (1930), written by three French poets: André Breton, Paul Éluard, and René Char. In 1940, American poet Charles Henri Ford invited poets from all over the world to join in what he called a “chain poem,” in which each poet would write a single line, then send it to the next poet in the mail, leaving space for them to write their single verse and continue the process. Some female poets during the 1970s adopted this concept as a means for discovering a shared, feminist voice. Historically, collective compositions appear in early Japanese poetry, as well as in folk songs, satires, zajals, and popular sayings.73 The field for experimentation in this genre also extends to the digital age. We will now turn to the poem “Al-Mirsā”/The Anchor, which was published in the eponymous forum in 2007, as a model of collective writing in the realm of digital poetry. The following excerpt is from the introduction to the poem: “This is the Anchor poem, and it extends its hand out from its balcony to all members of these forums. Please help extend its life and check its

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horizons with whatever beautiful assistance and supports you can offer it” (The Anchor, July 15, 2007). This introduction gives a direct order from the forum admin to all who can participate and contribute to the writing of the poem to extend and lengthen the poem’s life, an immediate call to write the poem in a collective manner. One writer inviting another to complete a verse or poem is not something new in the realm of Arabic literature, as this was a well-known practice in early poetry. Khaḍra (2006) identifies five terms used in the past, referring to forms of poetry similar to the collective poem, four of which are based on improvisation: al-ijāza, al-ifnād, al-mumātana, and al-tamlīṭ. These four types were known as musājilāt (“competitions”).74 The first poet would recite a poem to two or more other poets, then another poet would say a line or verse, followed by another line or verse from the next poet, thereby completing what the first poet had started. These musājilāt would often occur randomly and without any prior planning whenever two or more poets happened to gather in a public or private setting to pass the time, hone their craft, or compete with one another. The fifth type was called al-murāfada (“supporting or assistance”), and these kinds of poems did not have to be improvised. Also known as al-taʿāwun (“collaboration”), this practice was usually performed between two poets, with one poet assisting another with a single verse or more, considering it as a gift to his colleague. This could come at the request of the poet in need of assistance, or at the initiative of the assisting poet, or from an offer by a third party, provided that the gifted poem be similar to the requesting poet’s style. If the concept of collective writing is very old and well-known in literature from centuries ago, what new innovation did digital publishing bring to this style of writing? To answer this question, we will return to “The Anchor” and discuss its features and characteristics as a digital collective poem.75 The poem is divided into several sections. At the beginning of each section there is a note about the author of each poetic fragment, including their nationality, membership number, number of times they participated, and the history of each participation. Table 2.2 lists the names of the poets who participated in writing “The Anchor,” as well as their nationalities, place of residence, and number of times they participated in writing the poem. Each of these poets added one or more poetic fragments to the poem, all of them maintaining the same general topic or basic idea of the poem on one hand, while also using A/V effects suitable to the quality of the effects used in the previous section in terms of colors, images, and presentation method. This was done in order to make the poem seem like a single, cohesive tapestry. The poem combines various A/V effects: there are words that are highlighted, shrunken, glowing, and shaded. The element of animation is present

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within the poem in a prominent way, in all directions. The poets also used many drawings and pictures, most of which were related to the sea. There are images of fishes of various sizes and colors, anchors, aquatic plants, and seagulls. The poets also employed a joint lexicon; they all used vocabulary belonging to the same semantic field of the sea. These words complemented the blue background, giving the impression that the poem emanated from the deep blue sea. Some of these nautical terms included open sea, boat, sail, oyster, diving, water’s surface, and wavy. Perhaps what is most noticeable in the poem is that some of the poets contributed by merely adding an image without any accompanying text. For example, we see one of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Sakākī’s contributions was adding pictures of various birds without attaching a single line of verse. This further affirms the fact that visual effects in digital poetry are no less important than the language of the text, which is no longer the only means of expression. Thus, despite the significant similarity in the concept of collective poetry in ancient Arabic poetry, collective poetry in the digital age has many essential differences from its predecessors, which can be summarized as follows: Ancient poetic musājalāt were usually done between only two poets, due to the geographical region itself. However, in digital collective poetry, an unlimited number of poets from all around the world can share in the experience together. In general, collective digital writing on social media has enabled poets of different Arab countries to write on the same page, working toward a unified vision and idea in a single work, produced by people from multiple countries.

Ancient collective poetry was oral and improvised in most cases, whereas digital collective poetry is not. Rather, it is usually done through a social media platform. The conditions and requirements by which the participating poets are bound so that the poem appears like a single cohesive tapestry varies between those of earlier collective poets and those of digital collective poets. With the Table 2.2. Participating Poets Writer

Nationality/Place of Residence

# of Participations

Munʿim al-Azraq Thurāyā Hamdūn

Morocco ---

10 8

Jamāl al-Maḥdālī ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Sakākī

Morocco Morocco

5 4

ʿAbd al-Karīm Akrūḥ

Netherlands

4

Aḥmad Qīqāī

Morocco

1

Muḥammad Farī Al-ʿArabī Laghwānī

Morocco (Rabat) Morocco Morocco

1 1 1

Muḥammad ʿAmārī

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former, the contributing poet was restricted by the concept, meter, rhyme, and rhythm in order to suit the style and structure of the host’s poem. In the case of the latter, all digital poets who want to add a section must do is take into consideration, above anything else, the A/V effects the poets before them used so their addition does not seem out of place. Earlier collective poets aimed at testing the abilities of two poets to create a perfect text and continue composing for as long as possible. It was like a competition to show off each poet’s skills and gifts. In contrast, digital collective poetry has several objectives, which are best summed up by the “Masnaʿ al-Shiʿr”/ Poetry Factory link found on Aṣdāʾ Magazine’s website.76 These goals are as follows: Discover the collective elements shared among individuals of a single culture, such as the linguistic, cultural, and poetic cachet. Transcend the negativity of the receiver toward active participation. Synergize individual creativities in various fields to produce high-quality poetry. Overcome the disease of ownership and its sickly symptoms, such as obsession with fame and copyrights, which remain the hallmarks of creative production. Rescue poetry from the vanity, egoism, and self-absorption of poets; transcend the general false concept of literature and creative production as being essentially self-centered and only expressive of the author on their own. Explore the joint venture that brings us all together as poetic entities, liberating ourselves from the narrow ideological, nationalistic, and political chains that continue to shackle and abuse poetry; focus on the collective human experience in the final product.

Digital collective poetry via social media is a multicultural, multinational project. It moves away from the single ego found in traditional print poetry and toward a diversity of egos, in all their differences and intricacies, all while maintaining the cohesion of organic, technical poetry. Video Poems Video poetry relies upon integrating video clips that present a poetic fragment with voiceovers. In this case, video clips are designed specifically to express a meaning that matches with what the poem is saying and is interwoven into the linguistic or figurative structure. In some cases, the poet may resort to previous clips found and displayed on social media sites as a source of

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inspiration to present their creative work, or to simply include them in their piece. Video poems are generally shared and spread on YouTube, but one can also read them on most social media sites. Perhaps what is most striking about Arabic video poetry is its strong connection to politics, which can be traced back to the great political transformations that Arab countries underwent at the dawn of the third millennium, also known as the “Arab Spring.” In Younis (2016), we discussed video poems published at the height of the Arab Spring.77 We explained how social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, quickly became political tools used by writers and young people to foment popular opposition to the ruling regimes in some Arab countries. Social media formed the key engine for revolutionary activities and events, starting in Tunisia, moving to Libya and Egypt, and finally arriving in Syria and Yemen. All of this was done through thousands of pages that bore revolutionary slogans, live video clips, and inflammatory images. Activists used them to organize demonstrations and protest marches, calling for democracy and working toward realizing change. Critics began to view social media as the essential fuel for the zeal and enthusiasm of young people in Arab countries, as well as the spark that ignited their revolutions. The role of these sites, especially YouTube, was not limited to stoking the flames of revolution; it continued in tracking, filming, and broadcasting revolutionary events as they happened, all in order to rouse public opinion. Writers and poets then quickly resorted to utilizing images and live video clips to play their part in spurring the masses. This led to the production of digital literary flash fiction that could be designated as “Arab Spring flashes,” combining written text with simultaneous audio and visuals. These flashes are characterized by their wealth of semiological value and their concentrated content and connotations. The Saudi critic ʿAbd ar-Rahmān al-Muḥsinī noted the relationship between video poems and support for global terrorism through publishing several Islamic anthems and content on YouTube. In his 2018 book, al-Muḥsinī emphasizes that the powerful impact these anthems possess does not lie in their words, but rather in the additional effects surrounding the religious anthems. It turns them into an ideological threat that has a great impact in stirring emotions, which can lead to terrorist acts that harm both Muslims and others.78 It is impossible to review all the video poems published on social media, given the sheer quantity; the largest category of literature via social media is formed by video poems. One video poem that caused a serious media backlash, because it contained political and ideological dimensions, was “Qāwim Yā Shaʿbī Qāwimuhum”/Resist, My People, Resist Them by Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour.79 The poem demonstrates the massive power of video poems,

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in terms of their ability to express content and influence public opinion, as well as their political and literary dimensions. Tatour is a Palestinian writer and poet from the city of Reineh. Her video poem was posted to YouTube and her personal Facebook account in October 2015. In the aftermath of the poem’s publication, the Israeli government filed legal suits and brought up harsh charges against the poet, such as inciting terrorism, calling for an intifada or jihad, and rousing public opinion. After three years of court proceedings, she was sentenced to five months of jail time, in addition to six additional months of probation. Tatour’s case calls to mind what is known as “Palestinian resistance literature,” as well as the fate that befalls those artists who produce it. Resistance literature, as we all know, is nothing new in the Palestinian literary scene; it emerged with the onset of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Since then, many Palestinian resistance authors have been subjected to numerous punishments by the Israeli government, sometimes leading to prison sentences, and other times resulting in exile, as was the case for Tawfiq Ziad, Mahmoud Darwish, and others. Despite the measures taken by the Israeli government against those writers, they usually came after a long history laden with resistance. Never before had anyone been thrown in jail for publishing a single poem, especially since Tatour was not a well-known figure in literary circles or the public consciousness. On this basis, Tatour’s case provoked several important questions. Where do the poem’s strengths lie? What makes them so dangerous to the Israeli government? Can video poetry actually be exploited as a means of terrorism? Are we witnessing the beginning of the institutionalization of a new digital form of Palestinian resistance literature? What horizons has digitalization opened to this literature? One cannot grasp the problem of this poem without first referring to the ruling protocols and understanding the state’s objections to the poem and the resulting charges brought against the poet.80 According to the state, the problem with the poem is essentially its power, which is realized at two different levels. Firstly, it is the type of poem, a video poem. Secondly, it is the poem’s fanbase, which read and watched it on social media. We will now investigate the issue as it relates to both these levels. However, we should first read this excerpt from the poem: Resist, my people, resist them In Jerusalem

If we presumed, for the sake of argument, that the poem had been published as a text with only words, and without any other effects, then perhaps

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no one would have really cared about it. Then the media would have had nothing to be outraged about. In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds And spat out my concerns to God

This kind of poetry is very common and normal to both Palestinian and Jewish readers in Israel; the political climate is full of almost daily tension and conflict. This makes politically charged slogans, expressions, and texts from both sides a natural part of the prevailing linguistic scene in the country, whether in newspapers, magazines, or social media, as well as graffiti on walls inside and outside Arab and Jewish villages and cities. For example, the Sonara newspaper allocates a weekly section for publishing the poems of the resistance poet Samih al-Qasim.81 Similarly, the website Al-Jabha contains thousands of texts by Palestinian resistance icons and many, many others.82 During a press conference held with Jewish attorney Gaby Lasky, Tatour’s defense attorney, she stated that she had presented before the court dozens of printed poems that were published by Palestinian authors from within Israel. They contained much more violent phrases and content than that of Tatour’s poem, yet the Israeli government had not arrested any of their authors.83 In another meeting conducted with the poet’s father, he stressed that all of the video clips used in the video poem were not originally produced by Tatour. They were already in existence on the internet, and had even been shown on various satellite TV channels.84 In this case, then, where is the issue? The fact of the matter is that listening to the language of the poem, accompanied by the live images and music used by the poet, makes the poem a different matter altogether. And bore the weight of my spirit on my shoulder For the sake of Arab Palestine

Tatour begins reading the poem in a faint voice accompanied by dramatic music that starts off calm, then escalates to become much harsher. I won’t be satisfied with a peaceful solution I won’t ever abandon my country’s dream

While she speaks, violent scenes of intense clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli army appear on the screen. So that I can expel them from my homeland I will make them bow in due time

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The combination of the linguistic text, carefully selected live video clips, dramatic music, and the author’s voice give the poem a three-dimensional power. The verbal, audio, and visual elements all harmonize with and nourish one another. Resist, my people, resist them Resist the theft of the settler

The poem was like a bomb that set off the government’s rancor. The ruling protocols stated: “The poem contains several phrases that incite terrorism, in addition to violent images and scenes. It is also accompanied by dramatic music and is read in a provocative way by the author.”85 As a result, the state quickly moved to bring serious charges against Tatour, among them being “calling for intifada and jihad,” justifying these two claims based on the poem’s words, specifically, “Resist, my people, resist them / Resist the theft of the settler / And follow in the train of martyrs.” The state did not just stop there, but brought even more serious charges against the poet, such as “inciting terrorism.” What is remarkable here is that the state based this charge on video clips, citing them as clear evidence to confirm the validity of this allegation, as stated in the ruling protocol: On 10/3/2015 and 10/4/2015, the accused posted a video poem on YouTube and her Facebook page, which ran for several minutes and contained violent video clips, including scenes of masked men throwing stones with their bare hands, as well as using other means to make the hurled rocks more powerful and go farther, at security forces and army jeeps. Viewers of the video poem can also watch scenes of car frames on fire, the burning of the Israeli flag, and other acts of vandalism . . . The poet confessed before the investigation committee that she spent an entire week carefully selecting video clips to go along with the text. Thus, the text’s content and the violence seen in the video are part of a violent message that the poet wanted to convey.86

In this same context, after a week of investigations, the judiciary noted that it was difficult to see the wording of the poem as a call to commit acts of violence. However, since the words were presented alongside images and video clips of violent protests against Israeli forces, the matter was problematic.87 The poem’s digital format imbued it with a set of additional powers to express the content and convey meaning, as the live video clips carried with them audio and visual messages that gave the poem additional meanings and layers not found in the linguistic text on its own. Aside from all of this, the poem’s fanbase played a role in exacerbating the issue. The uploading of the poem to YouTube and Facebook led to its increased influence and power over viewers, thereby provoking public

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opinion and enhancing the poem’s problematic nature. This view was shared by both the state and the poet. As the Protocol noted, “From the poem’s publication until now, it has received thousands of views and likes, not to mention supportive and encouraging comments from viewers.”88 In this context, Tatour was prompted to state that the “freedom to express one’s opinion” is one of the basic foundations of democracy. She added that democratic systems denounce labelling artistic expression as a criminal offense, especially in a state like Israel which identified itself (at that time) as a democratic country. In response, the state was left with no other choice but to provide several pieces of evidence from previous cases that affirmed the value of “free expression” as one of the pillars of its democracy. However, they stipulated that this right was only valid provided that it does not infringe upon other values, such as the “security and safety of its citizens,” “protection of the public good,” and “state security.” In Tatour’s case, the state believed that these latter values had been assaulted by her poem.89 The state also added that, from its point of view, the Counter-Terrorism Law required that Tatour be arrested for several reasons. According to the law, terrorism does not only mean violating an individual’s safety, but also violating the psychological safety of citizens through inciting a state of fear and panic in them. The poem posted on social media and the supportive comments from its viewers implied that they believed and approved of what the poet was calling for. As such, it would be enough if only one person had carried out a terrorist operation in answer to the line “follow the train of martyrs” to realize a terrorist act.90 Unlike with previous pieces mentioned in this study, we have gone on at length about this poem because it opens the floor to propose and discuss several questions about social media literature from different angles. The charges brought against the poet by the state lead one to reflect upon various issues, such as the relationship between digital literature and terrorism and whether this literature can be exploited for non-literary purposes (such as supporting terrorist organizations or promoting their ideals). Can a literary text such as this move beyond the sphere of creativity and into the realm of politics, and then be treated as essentially political content instead of a piece of creative literature? On the other hand, and completely separate from this issue, the poem itself also leads us to ask a question from another perspective: Can we say that we are now seeing the start of the institutionalization of Palestinian resistance literature in its digital form? At this point, we cannot begin to answer these questions in this present study. However, these questions are certainly up for various interpretations and criticism, as well as opening up new horizons for research and analysis of literary texts on social media.

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Animated Poems Animated poems rely upon animation techniques. While several kinds of these poems appeared in Western literature, there are few examples of animated poetry in the Arab world. Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish’s poem “The Dice Player,” which was one of the last poems he wrote before his death and was published in his last collection Lā Urīd li-hādhihi l-Qaṣīda an Tantahī/I Don’t Want This Poem to End (2009; English translation 2017, Interlink Books). Egyptian director Nissmah Roshdy presented this poem in a digital, animated format at the 2013 Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin and won first prize for it. Through this poem, Darwish tries to reveal what goes on inside his soul at the moment of encountering death. His biography is reviewed from his birth until his parting in the form of a tragedy united by time and space. The poem was based upon a strange vision of life, death, poetry, and art. The strangeness is based on coincidence, and that coincidence is what weaves together the details. As such, the “throw of the dice” becomes the coincidence that the poet is heading toward. At that time, Darwish had resided in Cairo for nearly a year, but decided to go to Beirut, which had the largest Palestinian community outside of Palestine. Coincidentally, some Israeli strikes and occupations had occurred there, and thus his chance departure for Tunisia was no accident. This experience made him explore the notion that life is like gambling or a game of chance; the dice roll called “Mahmoud” was tagged with every tragic quality. In this regard, Darwish writes, “I am nothing but a roll of the dice/ Between predator and prey.” The first thing we notice when comparing the original poem with its digital form is that the former essentially relies on language, while the latter relies on a number of technological techniques, such as “rotoscoping (animation), kinetic typography, Arabic calligraphy, audio (the voice of the poet himself), and music.”91 In addition, the director abbreviated the poem, selecting the most powerful lines that would suit the visual cinematography and excluding thirty-five fragments from the original poem. In this way, Roshdy strove to express the poem through a new creative vision. The director attempted to present the selected fragments with a distinctly Arab character. She chose a musical score played by “Le Trio Joubran,” a band of three oudists, which she had playing in the background of the work, blending with Darwish’s own voice from when he recited the poem in Ramallah during the last poetry night he participated in. For the background of the screen, she made it looked like ancient sheaves of papyrus. Roshdy also employed the music as an interlude between one line and the next. This musical interval represents the white space separating a linguistic fragment (the black space) from another on the paper text. The distribution

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of black letters on white paper is very important for critics when analyzing print poetry, known as the “spatial occupation” of the text. In this context, the black expresses emotional outbursts; the line is long or short based on the psychological state of the poet. As for white spaces, they express moments of silence. From a poetic perspective, the color white (the emptiness between lines) is not merely a material necessity imposed upon the poem, but rather a condition for it to breathe. Thus, the line stops when its task is complete and its power has been spent.92 In his book Al-Shakal wa-l-Khiṭāb/Form and Discourse, Muḥammad al-Mākirī defined two types of space in print poetry: 1) Textual space, which is the space containing the written signifying form (the text). The presented material remains, in its context, merely a text presented for reading. 2) Figural space, which is opposite of, and yet at the same time complementary to, the first space. From this perspective, what we receive visually in reading a work is not a text meant for reading, but rather a text meant for seeing.93 Interacting with a digital text requires a different treatment of these two spaces. The textual and visual spaces are not fixed in place because the words move, disperse, and form on the screen in different shapes and sizes, which calls for a different interpretation. In other words, the element of animation leads to the disintegration of the poem’s architectural structure and transforms it from a static to a dynamic, energetic form. All of this requires a new interpretation of the poem. In addition to these two spaces, there is a third that must be considered: the “audio space.” The sound of the oud adds a meaningful, suggestive sense in the intermediary space. The music employed by the director is dramatic, which suits the dramatic nature of the topic spoken about by the poet. It also keeps the audience in the same atmosphere and psychological state until the piece moves onto the next line. The digitalization of the poem undoubtedly gives it an attractive dimension that stimulates the audience’s various senses as they read, listen, and watch the piece all at once. Roshdy successfully presented the poem in a very concentrated manner, focusing mainly on the theme of coincidence and chance. She also depicted Darwish’s feelings of fear, longing, and conflict, as well as explaining the role of poetry in his life. On the other hand, she added new meanings and information that the original text did not contain, based on her own understanding of the poem. Roshdy also succeeded in expressing the verses that she chose, as well as some that she left out, through expressive, non-linguistic means, such as cartoons, colors, animation, and music. These means expanded the possibilities for interpreting the poem, as well as adding new meanings, which consequently require applying a different form of criticism to the text. Although the poem was presented in a completely different way from its original form,

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it remains first and foremost attributed to Darwish, and then secondly to its director, Roshdy. But can “The Dice Player” video poem really be treated as Darwish’s own poem? Can we even teach it on these same premises? We will try to discuss these matters in the study’s final section. TRANSFORMATIONS IN LITERARY AUTOBIOGRAPHY Autobiography differs from other literary genres that we discussed previously in this chapter in terms of its form and the extent of its impact via social media. Starting from their original structures, the other genres allowed for their works to take on new features and characteristics within the limits permitted by technology on the one hand and by the conditions that social media imposed on them on the other. In other words, these genres were present as a literary genre in the writer’s mind at the moment of their composition. Autobiography, however, did not go down the same path. Rather, certain written forms appeared on social media that were later considered a form of autobiography, and herein lies the difference. Since Philippe Lejeune, one of the most prominent critics of autobiography, analyzed this genre during its print phase, namely through his seminal work Le Pacte autobiographique/The Autobiographical Pact, it was only natural that he would consider the transformations that autobiography underwent during the digital age. In fact, these changes prompted him to rethink his previous ideas and articles. In an interview, he stated: Everything is historical and changing. Nothing is fixed (partially) except for the earliest forms. As for an autobiographical work, it is a system made of up innumerably diverse elements: the ego, impartiality, intimacy, etc . . . These seem like relative, mobile values, and we must be aware of that fact whenever we are distracted by the diversity of the elements.94

In the context of autobiography’s development in the digital age, Lejeune stresses the prominent role that the image started to play in expressing the ego, as the image can say more about the ego, without needing to resort to words. He also adds that various media (writing, sound, pictures, etc.) are not just “mediums” for expressing a static ego. On the contrary, the ego may be the product of the very means for expressing it. Lejeune’s words remind us of Marshall McLuhan’s famous saying, “the medium is the message,” which confirms the role that media has on the course of history in shaping a society’s culture and ways of thinking. In her discussion on the transformations in autobiographical writing during the digital age, Moroccan researcher Dr. Latifa Labsir states:

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We are certainly within the grips of an age dominated by speed. As such, our identity is necessarily subjected to the pace of this age and according to its formulations. The self in an age of advanced technology is now always experiencing strange paradoxes, separating it from the ego that used to refer back to the wares of its soul with a kind of secrecy and confidentiality. In the past, one’s private life was fenced in, and nothing would slip out of it, save whatever was able to be published on paper, the latter of which was used to sift through secrets and hide one’s thoughts within the confines of private diaries. Nowadays, we are crossing over another threshold that makes us confront this ego in every way available and not. Paper has stepped back to make way for the self’s other forms of expression that better suit the same device we use for writing, which represents our collective consciousness in various ways and puts us on display at all times. Even though we have started moving away from the crisis in which the individual was isolated in order to talk about their self, the self, despite all its forms and manifestations, remains stuck on the desire to speak to another, and thus creates another to whom it may tell its secrets. It is almost more akin to a great desire to break away from one’s isolation from the self.95

Labsir sees that nowadays we have changed previous customary systems for sending messages. Gone are the days in which the postal carrier brought us our written letters and mail, which we used to read more than once eagerly and with great care, the times when receiving and replying to a letter was subject to sending, waiting for, and receiving mail. Other means of instantaneous messaging, receipt, and reply have now taken the place of these older methods. We now have a new kind of sending and receiving that is only ruled by the present time, or real-time. It is as Lejeune stated, a frightful age ruled by new machines for writing and reception, one subject to new conditions of production and reception, even with regard to everyday people. Labsir adds that one of the most significant features of posting one’s daily life on the internet is that it can be structured in the form of well-arranged fragments or small, digitized chapters, since we prefer brevity, talking fast, and a desire for maximum interaction. The matter has reached the point that several studies have come out commenting on the matter of speed in receiving news and being glued to what is going on in world events. There are also studies that have criticized this speed that threatens the self, claiming that we are immersed in a present that buries the past and ignores the future. Thanks to technology, there is outstanding speed, as manifested in rapid communication and lightning-fast mobility, not to mention the simultaneous rapid change of customs and behaviors that result in outrageous feelings that there is simply not enough time. Self-expression is a sign of civilization, and among the various forms of modernity, the self finds itself in a true dilemma, as it wishes to divulge its contents despite all the many possibilities available today for all different

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methods of self-expression and revelation. However, these questions still stand: Has the self actually changed in terms of content, while it expresses itself through all the different forms of social media? Or is this issue only a matter of form? Do we now have a new recognition that forces us to summarize the transformations of the individual in the modern era? Or could this easy, widespread, and public form of recognition be just another kind of discretion? Is our permanent presence through our pictures and voices on all these social media sites turning us into modern-age humans, whose lives pass through pictures and clips that do not refer directly to us, but rather to other entities that only look like us? Without a doubt, self-expression is a latent desire hidden within every human who constantly wants to talk to others in order to evade isolation, even if most of what they say about themselves is built on lies, delusions, and imagination. These characteristics are found in everyone, including creative types. Despite all the literary works and theories that have accumulated around the “autobiographical pact” (the notion that affirms the conformity of the author, narrator, and personality), autobiographers still find themselves in a peculiar dilemma. They are buffeted by the numerous modern methods that have dominated the individual, enslaving them to another system of self-creation, imagination, and an aesthetic core that affects the sense of belonging in an era that is also subject to delusion. As a result, the autobiographical pact can do nothing else but comply with the new transformations that are known by the creative works produced by the individual, since they are, in turn, subject to another system. Thus, theorists, and Lejeune most of all, have begun reconsidering the matter of autobiographical writing. Because the internet opened the floodgates to expression in various ways and mediums, individuals face a great desire to speak about themselves, and loudly as well. As such, several forms of self-expression have appeared, paving the way for a new stage in the development of autobiography. In considering these new expressive forms, we are witnessing the creation of a new kind of writing dependent upon rapid self-communication and interaction. This raises several questions: Can everything written about personal success, illness, or the desire to express one’s feelings be considered an autobiography in every sense of the word? Or, is anything termed as “literary autobiography” simply that which is published and read in print? Opinions vary over the answers to these questions. We cannot ignore the new manifestations of autobiographical writing. Everyone has their own personal publications, tweets, and blogs through which they can express their egos in one way or another, even if they are false, under fake names, or very brief, as we will see shortly.

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Blog Autobiographies For many, blogs are a personal space in which they can express their own issues and hidden feelings. Of course, they vary by their content. There are personal blogs, where one can accompany the writer in their diaries as they record the details of their life; literary blogs, in which the author’s emotions and feelings are written and broadcast to the reader in a literary style; as well as political and other classifications of blogs. Nevertheless, no matter their subject matter or content, all these blogs undeniably reflect, in one way or another, an image of their creator’s ego, which thus makes them a form of autobiographical writing. Tahani al-Hajri’s blog provides a clear example.96 On the Qatari blogger’s home page, her profile picture sits at the center of the page, as if beginning with an introduction of her external self to the reader first before revealing her inner “egos” through the blog’s various links. Here is one of the first differences between print and digital autobiographies. Print autobiographies rarely include personal photos of their writers, except in some cases where the picture is printed on the book’s cover, or some pictures are included within the book itself to express some of the author’s significant memories. Under her picture, we immediately find a description of the blogger: Qatari writer, blogger, and human rights activist. I travel around the world to discover different cultures. I care deeply about human rights and entrepreneurship. I hold a Master’s of International Business and Finance and have published two books: Lā Taʿish Ḥayāt Shakhṣ Ākhar/Don’t Live Another Person’s Life and Ashkhāṣ Lābudda An Tatakhallaṣ Minhum/People You Can’t Get Rid Of. To collaborate or for press, please contact me at my email: [email protected].

From the citation above, we notice that the blogger gave a brief summary of herself that is very similar to what we would find on the back of a print autobiography, with one basic, yet essential difference: the use of the first person in the phrase “I travel.” Typically, the “About the Author” section of any book is written in the third person, which makes it seem as if it was written by another party and not by the author themselves. In addition to that, we find that the blogger put her e-mail address in her bio, which can be immediately activated with a single click. This allows the reader to message the blogger directly whenever they wish to do so. This immediacy is lacking in print texts, even if they include the author’s email address, since it still remains relatively farther from the direct interaction that a digital reader has. Aside from her e-mail address, al-Hajri also put her Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram account handles beneath the bio, a clear invitation to the reader to follow her and her “ego” via her personal accounts on other social media.

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On the same page, the reader finds different links at the right-hand side of the page: “Homepage,” “Personal Experiences,” “Travel and Tourism,” “Qatari Affairs,” “Business and Project Management,” “Various Articles.” On the left-hand side, the reader finds a select sample of what the previous links contain. The “Travel and Trips” page contains trips that Al-Hajri took to different countries. It goes without saying that travel literature is a form of autobiography, but it takes on a different form when it starts making its way through social media. To explain this idea further, we will follow the link entitled “My Trip to South Korea” to explore its contents. Al-Hajri begins by describing her journey to South Korea by displaying an image of Korean women in traditional garb, writing underneath it: I visited South Korea in March 2019. The temperature was very cold. On the first night that we arrived, it was -2° C. Those with GCC passports can travel to Korea without a visa, and there are many direct flights to Seoul. Currency: KRW—the South Korean won $1 = KRW 1,192.39 . . . Before traveling to any country, I like researching means of transportation therein. I found that there was a bus (#6015) shuttling people from the airport to the city center (near the Myeong-dong strip).

Here the blogger documented the details of her trip in words and pictures, including a photo of the bus that she mentioned. She then added: “The bus departs nearly every ten minutes, heading from Incheon International Airport to Myeong-dong. The ticket is priced at KRW 15,000. Be sure to pay in cash in the local currency, as credit cards are not accepted.” She addresses the reader directly in saying “Be sure,” which is another feature of digital autobiographical writing: direct interaction with the reader. Next, the blogger described the hotel in which she stayed, including a picture of the interior of one of the rooms, most likely a picture of her room. I booked a family-sized room at the Sky Park Hotel, which is a well-known chain in Seoul. The hotel’s location was the best part about it, as it sat on Myeong-dong Street and was surrounded by many restaurants and stores. There was even a Starbucks within the hotel . . . I couldn’t try Korean food. I tried to order vegetarian dishes to sample at the restaurant opposite of the hotel, but I didn’t know what was in it! Their English was not very good, so I decided not to risk it. Instead, I found a really excellent Indian restaurant near the hotel called “Taj,” which had hilal foods and many vegetarian options.

She included a picture of the Paris Baguette café, which sat next to the hotel on Myeong-dong Street, stating that it was a great place for breakfast, light

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meals, and soups. Since she prioritized vehicles and transportation while traveling, she spoke more about the subject: I tried taking the orange and gray taxis, which was a very bad experience, as the drivers did not speak English well and it was very difficult to interact with them. Thus, I turned to using Uber throughout the rest of the trip, which had professional drivers, most of whom could speak English well enough, even if they didn’t understand it that much. On the app, the map was clear as to where the drivers were, and it was very easy to deal with them and pay by credit card without using cash.

Al-Hajri then describes Myeong-dong Street: Myeong-dong, the famous commercial strip in Seoul, full of life and a desirable place to live. There are restaurants, cafes, massage parlors, banks, shops, and Korean and international stores. The souvenir and food stalls are open from 4pm until the end of the night. If you want to shop in peace, visit this area during the daytime, from 10am until 4pm. But, if you want to experience the nightlife of Myeong-dong, then you can visit it from 4pm to 10pm.

She included several pictures of tourist spots she visited, such as Changdeokgung Palace. She put a link (Location: Click Here) under each picture of a tourist attraction, taking readers to its location on Google Maps. By clicking the word “Here,” the map opens up so readers can see the site. Al-Hajri finally concludes by describing her trip with the following observations: There were so many details about South Korea that I will post a second part after this blog post. I hope this entry will be of use to you all and make your trip a little easier. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to write them in the comments and I’ll get back to them, God willing. With love, Tahani

Despite the author’s insistence on writing in a standardized tone, she could not help but use some colloquialisms as well, as some of her phrases sound closer to the spoken dialect, not to mention some of the linguistic errors. She is keeping in mind her target audience while writing her blog, addressing them directly by using a language that is closer to their own and which they will understand better. Up to this point, we have described one of the models of an entry under the “Travel and Trips” tab. If we were to look at a different section, such as the “Personal Experiences” tab, we would find several events and programs in which the blogger participated. The tab also contains some personal

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experiences that al-Hajri has gone through, such as undergoing corrective surgery for a deviated septum. In this post, she describes her experience in the clinic and offers several pieces of advice and medical guidance for people who intend to have the same procedure. In the “Various Articles” tab, there are several articles written by al-Hajri about different topics. After browsing through some of the articles, the author reveals certain aspects of her personality. We learn her areas of interest and points of view on various topics related to life and society. This personal blog is an autobiography in every sense of the word, yet one that has taken on a new form from traditional print autobiographies. The most prominent feature of this mode of autobiography is that it invests in a wide array of available mediums to reveal, speak, and describe the author’s self. In addition, this kind of autobiography invites the reader to participate actively and directly in the experience through the links and other means for communicating with the author, commenting on her posts, and expressing opinions about them. As there are now many other personal blogs on the internet that express bloggers’ personalities in one form or another, we are now witnessing new worlds of autobiographical expression, especially for women. In the past, traditional female autobiographies lagged behind in comparison with those written by men, yet this is not the case for digital autobiographies. Whether or not the level of writing manifested in these forms of autobiographies bears any relation to literature remains an open-ended question. Facebook Diaries Diaries are writings in which we recount the events that left a mark on us or our surroundings from one day to the next, typically writing about the events on the same day they occurred. The art of diaries is considered the best model through which a person can reveal hidden parts of themselves. Perhaps the reason for this is the level of transparency and honesty found while recording diary entries, leading some to include diaries in the genre of confession literature. The essential source for diary writing is personal thoughts, events that were experienced personally, opinions, sayings, and conversations. Authors do not rely upon any external source, nor can they write about anything that they have not been affected by or dealt with. They also cannot write about things that do not personally concern them or matter to their general environment. In his article about diaries, Al-Sayyid Najm states that we write many things we do not want to say or share with others in our diaries.97 Most people take great care of their journals and do not appreciate it when someone else, outside of a small group of people, examines them. We write down our

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personal feelings and positions on matters, what made us happy, angry, sad or pleased, our pains and our urges, our losses and our successes, our hopes and our despair. Sometimes, we write what we fear to say for subjective or personal reasons. In this way, our diaries are our private selves, our inner world, the keeper of our secrets, our patient friend who listens to us without disclosing anything. Diaries are a source of comfort and catharsis for the self. We rush to our journals and write every time we feel that we are drowning in a sea of emotions, finding ourselves relaxed after writing, as if we had thrown off the weight of the world from our shoulders. Of course, the art of the diary is not a modern innovation, nor a literary pattern specific to one people or culture. It has ancient historical roots and is widespread throughout all cultures and among all social classes. There are diaries of revolutionaries, soldiers, politicians, leaders, scholars, and writers. However, what concerns us here are the transformations that occurred within this art form when it entered social media, enabling each person to set up their own personal page, broadcasting their thoughts, opinions, and obsessions, and talking about their personal, even intimate, experiences. The extent to which these pages transferred people’s lives from their own private space to the public forum is where the difference lies. If catharsis and disclosure were the motives behind writing print diaries, while also maintaining one’s privacy and shielding their ego, then digital diaries’ motives are meant to intentionally reveal the ego in its rawest form and present it directly for public commentary and scrutiny. Each personal social media account is the same as a page of a notebook. Perhaps the phrase “What’s on your mind?” that greets us every time we log onto Facebook plays an important role in drawing out and encouraging people to write their own diary entries in one way or another. The reader can remain silent for a long time before this headline, then answer its call by writing a post, even something as small as an incident that affected them, an experience they lived through, or an idea that crossed their mind. Sometimes it is enough to post a picture and let it do all the talking, as well as letting it reverberate within the reader who receives this revelation, either in silence or by interacting and commenting on it. Lejeune states that writing via social media has led to the ego becoming entangled with everything: the other, a place, or a time. Privacy has suddenly merged with the wider world, and now it is much easier for the average person to present their life, under a false name, to unsuspecting others, who can then answer and comment on it. For the first time in human history, it has become possible for private diaries to be read as they are written, without waiting, as well as to adjust them day after day. Moreover, internet diaries can continue existing for years thanks to three readers, or without any readers at all, without causing anyone harm.98 Lejeune adds that diaries on social

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media can accompany every facet of our lives. There are diaries for dreams, funerals, wars, lawncare, cooking, education, reading, illnesses, work, unemployment, etc. Every picture, video clip, thought, or article that we write or post on social media reflects the many faces of the ego hidden within ourselves. In this way, these writings have become our public diaries that we share with others without hesitation. Indeed, we wait for others to interact with these posts, nor do we mind it when they share them with their friends whom we know, as well as those we do not. For this genre, we thought it unnecessary to present examples of digital diaries because they need no introduction, as they have become a daily practice that everyone from all walks of life carries out. However, we must not forget that the levels of daily writing vary from one person to the next, which is what ultimately determines whether it can be considered literary writing or remain outside of its purview. With that, we can list the features of digital diaries on social media as follows: Brevity: Most diary posts on social media tend to be brief and condensed, as the writer is constrained by the space of their smart phone’s small screen or character count limits on some sites, such as Twitter. Diversity of Mediums: Unlike their paper counterparts, digital diaries rely upon expression through linguistic and non-linguistic signs, such as pictures, colorful backgrounds, maps, audio files, etc. Direct Orientation to Readers: Unlike paper diaries, which are usually not aimed at a specific reader due to their being written for oneself, the writer of digital diaries knows several readers who will receive their daily posts. Sometimes, the writer will target some of their readers directly through an explicit sign or by using a hashtag. Reader Interaction: While paper diaries are maintained with a distinct space between them and their readers, digital diaries allow readers to provide feedback on what the author has written through commenting, liking, and sharing. Haste: One of the drawbacks that can occur with digital diaries is that real-time or daily publishing on social media removes the “safety valve” connected with reviewing and editing a piece of writing. Whatever is published quickly becomes final, without any time for thinking, which causes authors to fall into pits of accountability, criticism, and bitter attacks by their readers.

We are currently witnessing the growth of new practices in autobiographical writing on social media, which document the self’s relationship with all the successive and major changes and transformations that it is experiencing in

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light of technology. However, it seems that these practices will not invalidate or cancel traditional ones. Paper is still present; print autobiographies are still published. This means that the art of the autobiography is not so much concerned with the medium as much as true creativity and self-expression in every way possible and available. As a result, the spread of blogs and digital diaries on social media makes them live and breathe among us. We cannot turn a blind eye to them, pretending that they do not represent the current age in which we live. Nor can we deny the fact that the active reader/writer of the modern age has changed into the other, and is in the greatest need of us to listen to and interact with their blogs, tweets, and posts. NOTES 1. Tamīmī, “Al-Adab fī Wasāʾil al-Tawāṣul al-Ḥadītha,” 144. 2. Shinkar, “Al-Riwāya al-Faysbukiyya.” 3. Zaytūnī, Al-Riwāyā al-ʿArabiyya, 43. 4. Jābir, Al-Kitāba ʿabra l-Nawʿiyya, 104. 5. Berrada, Al-Riwāya al-ʿArabiyya wa-Rihān al-Tajdīd, 54. 6. Alathba, Taʾthīrāt al-Taknūlūjiyā (2009), 154. 7. Alathba, Taʾthīrāt al-Taknūlūjiyā (2009), 154. 8. Musawi, Al-Naẓariyya wa-l-Naqd al-Thaqāfī, 12. 9. Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” 10. Carr, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” 11. Schanda, “Ghāda ʿAbd al-ʿĀl.” 12. El Kamhawi, “‘ʿĀyza Atgawwaz.’” 13. Landow, Hypertext, 40. 14. https:​//​ifdb​.tads​.org/. 15. http:​//​soapzone​.com​/gh​/HyperFiction​.shtml. 16. https:​//​www​.litartint​.com/. 17. This novel is also known by the title Zaharālīzā and is accessible here: https:​//​ www​.facebook​.com​/rewayaonline/. 18. See https:​//​twitter​.com​/tariq2121​/status​/1263909546776383488​?lang​=de. 19. Rahahleh and al-Ḥiyārī, “Al-Sard wa-l-Taknūlūjiyā,” 189. 20. Arab Thought Foundation: https:​//​www​.arabthought​.org​/ar​/arabcreativity​/ awardeedetails​?id​=98​&urlTitle=. 21. Accessible at: https:​//​www​.youtube​.com​/watch​?v​=WCoHLaB3x1Y. 22. Al-Mutasharrid is available here: https:​//​www​.facebook​.com​/almotasharid. 23. You can read these and other novels written by the author at her YouTube channel: https:​//​www​.youtube​.com​/channel​/UCJvLY29ijJHSezkvxbZ9eeg. You can also follow the author on her other social media accounts listed below: http:​//​www​.instagram​.com​/amoooltic http:​//​twitter​.com​/AMOOOLTIC 24. For more information about the project, see: https:​//​www​.instanovels​.work/.

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25. Breiki, Madkhal ilā l-Adab al-Tafāʿulī, 171–172. 26. See http:​//​le7afak​.blogspot​.com​/2006​/03​/blog​-post​.html. 27. Rahahleh and al-Ḥiyārī, “Al-Sard wa-l-Taknūlūjiyā,” 187–188. 28. Abbjad website: https:​//​www​.abjjad​.com​/book​/2013396992​/​%D8​% A7 ​ % D8​ % B3​ % D8​ % A8 ​ % D8 ​ % B1 ​ % D9 ​ % 8A ​ % D8 ​ % B3​ % D9​ % 88​ / 2013396992​ / reviews. 29. Shuraybṭ, Taṭawwur al-Bunya al-Fanniyya, 21. 30. Ḥājirī, Nushūʾ Fann al-Qiṣṣa, 9. 31. https:​//​www​.facebook​.com​/pg​/storiesselected​/about/. 32. See: Muḥsinī, Khiṭāb al-SMS al-Ibdāʿī, 66. 33. Muḥsinī, Khiṭāb al-SMS al-Ibdāʿī, 94. 34. https:​//​www​.facebook​.com​/​%D9​%85​%D9​%86​%D8​%AA​%D8​%AF​%D9​%8A​ -% ​ D8​%A7​%D9​%84​%D9% ​ 82% ​ D8% ​ B5% ​ D8% ​ A9-​ % ​ D8% ​ A7​%D9​%84​%D9​%82​%D8​%B5​ %D9​%8A​%D8​%B1​%D8​%A9​-207010382643841/. 35. https:​//​m​.facebook​.com​/nazekdhamra1/. 36. https:​//​m​.facebook​.com​/mohtaratkkg/. 37. https:​//​m​.facebook​.com​/ecrivainmaroc/. 38. https:​//​m​.facebook​.com​/​%D8​%A7​%D9​%84​%D9​%85​%D9​%87​%D9​%85 ​%D8​%A7​%D8​%B2​-222667394486441/. 39. Fahmawi, “Al-Qiṣṣa l-Qaṣīra min Yūsuf Idrīs ḥattā l-Fāysbūk,” Arab48, available at: https:​//​www​.arab48​.com​/​%D8​%AB​%D9​%82​%D8​%A7​%D9​%81​%D8​%A9​ -​%DA. 40. https:​//​www​.facebook​.com​/oraib​.eid. 41. Melhem, Al-Taknūlūjiyyā al-Dhakiyya, 115. 42. http:​//​alwaaa​.blogspot​.com/. 43. http:​//​mudawnatmumin​.blogspot​.com​/2017​/11​/blog​-post​.html. 44. http:​//​al​-zain​.blogspot​.com/. 45. Lenze, Politics & Digital Literature in the Middle East, 21. 46. Ḥamdāwī, Al-Adab al-Raqamī bayna l-Naẓariyya wa-l-Taṭbīq, 93. 47. Ghuruf wa-Mirāyā: https:​//​labiba​-meroires​.blogspot​.com/. Mirāyā Saʿīd Raḍwānī: http:​//​labiba​-khemmar​.narration​.over​-blog​.com/. Ḥafnāt Jamr: http:​//​ narration​-zanoubya​.blogspot​.com​/2014​/07​/blog​-post​_930​.html. 48. https:​//​labiba​-meroires​.blogspot​.com​/p​/blog​-page​.html. 49. Khammār, Law anna l-ʿĀlim Ḍafīra. 50. Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) is considered one of the greatest fiction writers of the twentieth century. He was also a poet and critic. One of his most important works is “La biblioteca de Babel”/“The Library of Babel,” a short story about an imaginary library containing randomly distributed books of everything that has been or will be written. The books contain stories and texts that overlap without any rule or logic, as “knowledge and literature are the written ideas and secrets of the universe . . . before they are written.” 51. Khammār, Law anna l-ʿĀlim Ḍafīra. 52. The text was taken off YouTube for certain reasons which the author has mentioned on her Facebook page. Available at https:​//​www​.youtube​.com​/watch​?v​ =9kxEgytxKJs.

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53. Melhem, Naẓariyyat al-Adab al-Raqamiyya, 125. 54. “Al-Qiṣṣa al-Qaṣīra Jiddan,” Al-Riyadh. 55. Malgami, Al-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya, 613. 56. Snir, Modern Arabic Literature. 57. Younis and Nasrallah, Al-Tafāʿul al-Fannī al-Adabī fī l-Shiʿr al-Raqamī, 15–16. 58. Malaika, Qaḍāyā al-Shiʿr al-ʿArabī al-Muʿāṣir, 249. 59. Snir, Modern Arabic Literature, 213. 60. “100 Alf Shāʿir ʿArabī ʿalā Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī,” Emarat Alyoum, accessible at: https:​//​www​.emaratalyoum​.com​/local​-section​/other​/2018​-12​-11​ -1​.1162528. 61. “Al-Shiʿr Yantaʿish bi-Faḍl Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī,” Asharq Al-Awsat, available at: https:​//​aawsat​.com​/home​/article. 62. Bilāl, Al-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya wa-l-Naṣṣ al-Adabī, 280. 63. “ʿAn al-Ḥubb wa-l-Ẓāhira al-Shiʿriyya fī Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Iliktrūniyya: Al-Shuʿarā’ wa-Kuttāb al-Adab fī Fāysbūk  .  .  . Iʿtirāf wa-Bawḥun ʿĀlin min Raḥm Qaṣīdat al-Laḥẓa,” Al Riyadh, available at: http:​//​www​.alriyadh​.com​ /804289#. 64. Single-verse poems are available at the “Qaṣīdat al-Bayt al-Wāḥid”/Single Verse Poem Facebook page, accessible at: https:​//​www​.facebook​.com​ /% ​ D9​%82​%D8​%B5% ​ D9% ​ 8A% ​ D8% ​ AF% ​ D8% ​ A9-​ % ​ D8​%A7​%D9​%84​%D8​%A8​%D9​ %8A​ % D8​ % AA​ - ​ % D8 ​ % A7 ​ % D9 ​ % 84 ​ % D9 ​ % 88 ​ % D8​ % A7​ % D8​ % AD​ % D8​ % AF​ -154611611601750/. 65. The term “epigram” comes from the ancient Greek word epígramma, which is composed of two words: epos and graphein, which means “writing on something” or “etching on a gravestone” as a way of keeping the memory of the deceased alive, or to carve a statue for a personality. In this way, the epigram itself has transformed into a kind of permanent poetic monument. 66. Rawʿa Yūnis, “Al-Hāykū l-ʿArabī . . . Qaṣīdat al-Tawqīʿa al-Wamḍa,” Raialyoum, accessible at: https:​//​www​.raialyoum​.com​/index​.php/. 67. See: Bilāl, Al-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya wa-l-Naṣṣ al-Adabī, 828. 68. Melhem, Naẓariyyat al-Adab al-Raqamiyya, 77. 69. http:​//​imzran​.org​/digital​/qasayid​.htm. 70. Al Breiki, “Al-Mawlūd at-Tafāʿulī,” 38. 71. Rubayʿī, “Al-Qaṣīda al-Tafāʿulī al-Raqamiyya.” 72. Ḥumūd, “Al-Marʾī wa-l-Masmūʿ.” 73. Younis, Taʾthīr al-Intirnīt, 43. 74. Khaḍra, Al-Sariqāt Al-Shiʿriyya, 116–25. 75. http:​//​imzran​.org​/mountada​/viewtopic​.php​?f​=34​&t​=1229. 76. “Masnaʿ al-Shiʿr,” Majallat Aṣdāʾ al-Iliktrūniyya, accessed on March 12, 2007, http:​//​www​.asdaa​-magazine​.org​/collectivepoetry​.html. 77. Younis, “Manifestations of the Arab Spring in Literature.” 78. Muḥsinī, Baṣariyyāt Naqdiyya: Fuṣūl fī Taʿāluq al-Adab wa-l-Taqniyya, 84. 79. https:​//​www​.youtube​.com​/watch​?v​=R1qnlN1WUAA. 80. You can examine the ruling protocols at the Takdin (‫ )תקדין‬website: https://www .takdin.co.il/.

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81. http:​//​www​.sonara​.net. 82. https:​//​www​.facebook​.com​/AlJabha/. 83. https:​//​www​.youtube​.com​/watch​?v​=LIW8vqpWc6s. 84. Ibid. 85. Ruling Protocols, Item 3, 174. 86. Ruling Protocols, Item A, 180. 87. “Tabriʾa Juzʾiyya li-l-Shāʿira Dārīn Ṭāṭūr min Tuhmat al-Taḥrīḍ ʿalā l-ʿUnf,” http:​//​ar​.timesofisrael​.com/. 88. Ruling Protocol, 174. 89. Ruling Protocol, Item C and D, 177–178. 90. Ruling Protocol, Item A, 178. 91. Hosny, “E-Lit in Arabic Universities.” 92. Younis, Taʾthīr al-Intirnīt, 158. 93. Mākirī, Al-Shakal wa-l-Khiṭāb, 233–241. 94. “Al-Nāqid wa-l-Munaẓẓir Fīlīp Lūjūn Ḥiwār ḥawla Kitābat al-Dhāt (Al-Sīra l-Dhātiyya, al-Yawmiyyāt al-Ḥamīma, al-Takhyīl al-Dhātī).” 95. Ḥusayn, “Al-Sīra al-Dhātiyya.” 96. http:​//​www​.tahanialhajri​.com/. 97. Najm, “Al-Iltizām fī l-Yawmiyyāt/Adab al-Ḥarb,” accessible at: www​ .Kotobarabia​.com. 98. “Al-Nāqd wa-l-Munaẓẓir Fīlīp Lūjūn Ḥiwār ḥawla Kitābat al-Dhāt.”

Chapter Three

The Impact of Social Media on Arabic Literary Discourse

According to David Crystal, author of Language and the Internet, “If the Internet is a revolution, therefore, it is likely to be a linguistic revolution . . . My aim is . . . to explore the ways in which the nature of the electronic medium as such, along with the Internet’s global scale and intensity of use, is having an effect on language in general, and on individual languages in particular.”1 Crystal notes that the general linguistic landscape of the Internet is highly diversified. There is a distinct language for composing emails, chatrooms, commenting on various sites, creative literature, etc. Even though each of these languages has its own features and characteristics that distinguish it from the others, they nonetheless are affected by one another, leading to the unprecedented formation of modern linguistic diversity. As a result, it is not possible today to study the changes taking place within any living language, including Arabic, without considering the impact of technology and social media, as well as how the linguistic openness of globalization took various languages down new winding paths. In recent years, several studies have been written about the Arabic language, in light of technology, globalization, and the internet. Remarkably, most of these studies have focused almost exclusively on the results themselves, which can be summarized as what is known as “hybrid language.” Arabic is currently expressed in a blend of Fuṣḥa (Modern Standard Arabic) and dialects (according to region, ethnic group, etc.). In addition, Arabic speakers incorporate English into their speech and digital writing, as well as images, icons, and a wealth of typography. Critic Majdī bin Ṣūf believes that this phenomenon stems from a single central cause: the (un)conscious shift of the Arabic user from the spoken word to the written, recorded word. In his view, this has led to a conversation about a new age of writing represented by the Arabic language’s journey from an age of print writing to that of digital writing.2 109

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This raises the following question: Has this hybrid language, which has dominated the general linguistic scene on social media, seeped into social media literature and literature via social media? To answer this, we have analyzed the linguistic and stylistic phenomena in several of the sample texts and found how these new forms of expression have begun manifesting within literature. USE OF THE INTERNET LEXICON The internet is a digital, global, and interactive medium; all these characteristics apply in its resulting language, with the most dominant factor being the medium’s digital character. The most obvious of these characteristics is the nature of the computer’s hardware that we need to communicate on the internet and social media, determining the user’s options for communication. The nature of digital communication between the sender and receiver (or the network itself) also determines the kind of language used and vocabulary expressed via this communication.3 One of the most noticeable features of the new linguistic phenomena produced by social media is the use of internet language in creative writing, as authors have started drawing their words, vocabulary, and expressions from the names, actions, and terms of the lexicon of the internet or computer itself. Egyptian critic Nabil Ali concurs with Crystal’s position, in that this new language is the result of the nature of using machines in the process of writing and dialogue. The culture of the digital age requires a different creativity than what we are used to, a new creativity in the form of writing and fundamentals of reading, as well as a new linguistic creativity, as communication now flows through and with the computer. This human/machine discourse requires a profound understanding of the relationship between natural human language and artificial computer language, resulting in a new language derived from the medium’s hardware that produces it.4 Nabil Ali (2001) predicted what would happen to the nature of language in the information age, clearly discerning the way in every sense. His idea appears in the language used daily on social media in posts, comments, and various interactions with readers, as well as in social media literature or literature published via social media, as we will see in the following examples. During our examination of internet terms found among the sample literary texts, we were able to categorize these words into three groups: a.  Programming/computer-related words and terms, such as “digital windows,” “CD-ROMs,” “screen,” “cords,” “mouse,” “program,” “keyboard,” “save/store,” etc.

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b.  Internet/social media -related words, terms, and expressions, such as “internet,” “e-mail,” “chat,” “site,” “DM” (Direct Message), “virtual world,” “digital communication,” “mini village,” “Yahoo!,” “Hotmail,” “Messenger,” “password,” “username,” “link,” “.com,” “number of likes,” etc. c.  Verbs, expressions, and phrases related to the process of communication and interaction with and via the internet, such as “search,” “click,” “send,” “download,” “save,” “chat,” “email” (as a verb), “comment,” “share,” “message,” “tweet,” “add friend,” “leave message,” “logged onto my page,” “posted,” “browsing comments,” etc. The use of this new language by authors confirms that one cannot separate the language of the times from literary language. Nor can one express reality without using its current language. An excellent example of this appears in the previously mentioned poetry collection Wa-lī fīhā ʿAnākib Ukhrā (2003) by Taha Adnan, which abounds in internet language. As the poet says in his poem “Al-Shāsha ʿAlaykum,” “Good morning, Spider! . . . I’m ready: take me to my bright, shiny world.” In terms of narrative genres, we find many stories and novels full of this new language, such as the novel Barīd ʿĀjil/Urgent Mail (2006) by Saudi writer Khalīl Ṣuwayliḥ. The book’s narration relies heavily on internet language, as seen in the following passages: I cleared the data from the computer and added it to the personal file. (p. 25) Or am I the type of person who fumbles around the internet in search of an illusory friend in a virtual world? (p. 25) For a moment, I imagined a flock of carrier pigeons crashing into the window’s glass and smashing through the computer screen . . . While preoccupied with closing the screen, I caught sight of a window that was still open on the right-hand side of the screen; I clicked the mouse. (p. 31) Such are those caught in the spider’s massive web. (p. 112)

Use of New Rhetorical Styles: Techno-Literary Perhaps the most remarkable part of the movement of internet language into literary texts is its penetration into poetry. Poetic language has its own features and characteristics that make it different from the language of any other discourse, as ʿUmar Awghān notes in his book Al-Lugha wa-l-Khiṭāb/Language and Discourse (2001).5 According to the author, poetry is distinct from prose,

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in that it is a departure from a standard. This standard is not represented by conventional language, but by scientific language. Poetic language deviates from conventional language in multiple semantic and symbolic dimensions, far from the one-dimensional, objective language of science, which does not permit more than one clear or agreed-upon interpretation. Whereas the language dictated by technology and the internet has a rigid scientific quality, it is difficult to write without it, as it has forcibly imposed itself on literary content. It has become necessary for poets to massage and adapt this scientific language so that it suits the language of poetry. This adaptation reached its peak when internet language appeared in the gown of eloquence, and poets began generating metaphors, similes, living entities, and other artistic images and rhetorical devices with this starkly scientific terminology. Internet language entered poetry without harming the aesthetics and uniqueness of poetic language. In another poem from Wa-lī fīhā ʿAnākib Ukhrā, entitled “Waḥīdan Aḥfir fī Jalīd Ḥayy”/Alone I Dig in Living Ice, the poet states: I write about poetry in a virtual age About love in the time of AI

Here, the poet uses more than one artistic image to describe his condition after becoming addicted to the internet. I’ve lost myself in the internet It has sapped the last of my warmth

He specifies his romantic meetings on websites, which he compares metaphorically to gardens where lovers meet. In the gardens of the internet I’ve gained nothing from it but loneliness

However, he finds nothing but loneliness and anxiety from these virtual trysts. My friends are lost In the market of amorous competition

He also mentions his friends who are similarly lost in the wiles of sex and love on websites. And ardent passion in translation On frigid digital windows and machines.

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They are caught up in writing “transcontinental messages,” a metaphor for emails and DMs, through “frigid digital screens.” By this figurative language, the poet wishes to say that, despite all the opportunities available for young people to engage in romance and flirt, they all remain cold, as they are separated from the dimension of real human emotions. Another poetry collection that exhibits this phenomenon is Taghrīd al-Ṭāʾir al-Ālī (1996) by Ahmed Fadl Shablul, which is full of internet language. The eighteen poems in the collection set out to humanize the machine. The poet treats the computer as if it were a person with hopes, feelings, senses, desires, and a soul. In this passage, the computer acknowledges its defeat before the power of the human, its creator. It trembles because it cannot match its master’s capacity for imagination and vision. Try as it might, it will never be able to reach the spiritual heights necessary to respond to the fantasies and creativity of the poets. Rather, it is always vulnerable to malfunction, breakdown, and destruction, and its memory can be erased at any moment. As a result, it feels despaired and tortured, and thus begs for a cup of water. In the poem “Aʿtāb min Sawālib Al-Aslāk”/Cusp of Negative Wires in the same collection, the poet says: I gave it pleasure and anger I gifted it with memories

The poet interacts with his computer as if it is a traitorous human or friend. “The computer that I taught tenderness and security / Betrayed me.” He deposits all his beautiful and sad memories within it, and when he asks it to show them to him once again, the machine betrays him because it has broken down and could not recall as humans do. In this poem, as in many of the anthology’s poems, the poet uses words and verbs related to the digital medium, such as “magnetized strips,” “wires,” “computer,” “programmed,” and “save.” He includes them successfully within the linguistic context of the poem, their scientific character blending seamlessly with the poetic fabric in a way to express an emotional meaning that does not seem strange or out-of-place. In the poem “Min ʿAliyā’ al-Intirnit”/From the Heights of the Internet, the poet states: I used to walk with the sun With a hard drive in my skull

In this case, the poet uses the term “hard drive” figuratively for the twenty-first-century human mind, whose work will eventually become similar to how a computer functions.

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Moving onto the poem “Muḥādathat ʿalā l-Masanjar”/A Convo on Messenger by Syrian poet Juliet Badr, which was posted on the website Alif li-Ḥurriyat al-Kashf fī l-Kitāba wa-l-Insān in 2007, in which the poet states: While I typed, I couldn’t find the right letters for you In the quiver of the e-mail, I screamed repeatedly6

Badr uses the word “quiver” coupled with “e-mail,” thereby forming a new metaphor derived from the world and internet language. Even the use of the Arabic definite article “al-” with the word “e-mail” demonstrates how internet language has been localized, naturally and involuntarily, treated like any Arabic term, as if it is an implicitly understood term. This indicates the flexibility and adaptability of this language by authors; it blends smoothly with the text’s language, almost as if it were a familiar and natural term. It is stunning how the impact of internet language has extended into the field of love poetry. Whereas the Arab poet of old courted his beloved by mentioning her external features, the internet poet now flirts with his virtual lover as she appears to him via the internet using a new digital language. Consider for example the poetry collection entitled Tamazzuqāt ʿIshq Raqamī/Lacerations of a Digital Lover by Moroccan poet ʿAbd al-Nūr Idrīs, who published a large portion of it on the website Muntadā l-Qiṣṣa al-ʿArabiyya/Arabic Story Forum in 2009.7 The collection contains several of the first poems dealing with the theme of digital romance and the virtual worlds of the internet that have given space for this phenomenon. The following lines are from the poem “Imraʾa min Sīlīkūn”/Silicon Woman: Evening hung over me A sense of travel, pregnant with light, boarded me

It becomes clear how the image of the feminine figure is represented by the poet through his engagement with the optical pathways of the internet. The zero mounted me, laden with invitations The one snatched me away, richly adorned at the water’s front

He expresses his lover’s body through mentioning the binary numbers “zero” and “one,” which constitute the essential equation that form the basis of any computer program. I see you clad in the dress of our silicon wedding . . . You were the woman evoked by the prayers of my speckled mouse

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Through this engagement, as well as clicking his mouse, an optical illusion is formed before the poet’s eyes, as he can alter the woman’s silicon image according to his wants and appetites. You were an optical illusion For me, you were a silicon idol . . .

This woman is not described with the common attributes usually found in love poetry; her mouth is not like two cherries, and her figure is not like a swaying branch. Rather, she is a new, virtual Scheherazade with digital components evoked by the poet, who draws upon words and terms derived from internet language to summon her into existence: “silver screen,” “nylon lights,” “internet’s dust,” “prayers of my mouse,” “optical illusion,” “digits,” etc. In this way, the poet courts his beloved through brand-new internet flirting language, thereby establishing the emergence of a new stylistic phenomenon in Arabic love poetry. The language of literary discourse has been greatly affected by internet language. Authors today express the times in which they live by using the language of this era. In this sense, they are carrying out (whether consciously or unconsciously) the editors’ advice on writing during the digital age from the book Wired Style (Hale, 1996). In this book, the editors recommend employing the language of the times in creative writing, provided that it brings new meanings and uses that transcend cold technology. They advise, “Go beyond technology’s limits. Understand the technology, then describe it in a living language and clear metaphors. It can be as graceful as it is meaningful. As for its significance, it should be tangible, concrete, direct, and necessary.”8 We have already begun to see this trend in the new literary writing style of internet authors. Despite the vast distance between dry technological language and vivacious literary language, contemporary authors have been able to bridge the gap between them. Drawing upon words and terms from the world of technology, they craft a new essence for them through innovative artistic imagery and new meanings. This elevates the use and circulation of the language, as well as affirming that literature cannot remain isolated from reality. It must express and originate from reality, while also maintaining its own distinct literary style that stands out among other modes of expression and communication. BROADENING THE SEMANTIC FIELD One of the most significant issues related to using internet language in literary and non-literary texts is what is known as “semantic broadening.” There

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are many terms that existed before the internet, which now have gained new meanings, significance, and concepts thanks to the use of the internet and digital medium. Such examples include “window,” “disc,” “site,” “mouse,” “net,” etc. Critic Qāsim bin Ṭayyib noted this phenomenon in his study entitled “Alfāẓ al-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya bayna l-Tawassuʿ wa-l-Inḥirāf al-Dalālī fī Faʿl al-Tadāwul ʿalā Shabakat al-Maʿlūmāt al-ʿĀlamiyya”/ Semantic Broadening and Deviation of Arabic Words in Exchanges over the World Wide Web. According to Ṭayyib, the process of semantic broadening in literary texts published on the internet is distinguished by several characteristics that enable them to convey intent and realize the meaning of an idea. These characteristics include: Speed of Conveyance: The internet’s communication system provides its users a wealth of benefits, among them rapid communication and reception, instantly conveying our ideas to one another and resulting in rapid intellectual cross-fertilization. In the literary field, this process facilitates interaction between the author and reader, as clearly seen in the rapid spread of several words with a broad array of meanings. Reader Responsiveness: By virtue of the rapid and direct communication between readers and authors, readers have become intensely keen on responding and continuity, especially in regard to their interactions with new uses of words, prompting them to respond and ask for more. The Spread and Use of Terms within the Reader’s Daily Life: The incorporation of words (in what is known as semantic broadening) in literary texts published on the internet enables readers to use and employ them in their daily life and communications, resulting in a kind of an expansion in the use for which the words were broadly provided.9

We can easily see the phenomenon of semantic broadening in some internet words found in social media literature and literature via social media. Consider for example the change in the significance of the word “window” in the poem “ʿAlā Mashārif al-Taʾwīl”/On the Threshold of Interpretation by poet ʿAbūd al-Jabārī: How then will I open my window to the world And poke out my head

The term “window” is well-known and understood, but after the information revolution, the word underwent the process of semantic broadening and gained new meanings.

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How will I wave to the passersby And track the wandering butterfly

The “window” became associated with the computer screen, the digital screen which a reader opens through various links on different internet sites, and even the operating system “Windows.” In the poem, we see that the poet uses this new significance of the word, as he says that this window is different from a normal one. A regular window would allow him to see the moon, lights, and butterflies, as well as communicate with his neighbors. “How will my neighbor see . . . How will he know that I am still alive.” Even though the digital window opens up the entire world to him, it nonetheless keeps him isolated from it, such that no one would ever notice if he died, nor could his soul return to its Creator. If I die How will my soul ascend to its Maker.10

It is as if the window is both open and closed at the same time. “Mouse” is another word with a meaning that has broadened as a result of the information revolution. In the poem “Al-Shāsha ʿAlaykum” by Adnan Taha, the poet states, “I will bear my soul upon my mouse / I will throw it into the pits of cookies.” The mouse in this context, of course, does not refer to the common meaning of the animal, but rather the computer’s mouse. In this passage, there is a clear reference to the verses of the late Palestinian poet ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Maḥmūd, who said, “I will bear my soul upon my palm / I will throw it into the pits of perdition.” If Maḥmūd puts his fate in his palm, a metaphor for his willingness to sacrifice himself in defense of his homeland, then our poet here puts his fate into the computer’s mouse, suggesting the extent of the computer’s dominion and impact over his life. Ṭayyib explains that the process of semantic broadening for internet words in literary texts can be interpreted psychologically, sociologically, technically, and artistically: a.  Psychological interpretation: The authors’ feelings of freedom represent a psychological sensation, especially if the latter occurs at the level of publication. This is one of the factors pushing authors to liberate themselves from using words in conventional ways, producing new meanings for them. b.  Sociological interpretation: The author’s choice to publish on cyberspace and social media sites is, in reality, a sociological framework through which she can exchange views with the external world, as well as make use of and benefit from what she reads and writes. This may

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then spill over into her interaction with the language, and thus she may rely upon using some words according to their unconventional meanings. This process is what has elevated some words and enabled them to become eloquent and undergo semantic broadening. c.  Technical interpretation: The technique for interacting with the world wide web prompts many authors to bring this semantic process down to the level of their interaction with the words themselves. Thus, they strive to connect their writings with new meanings and semantics, which results in the broadening thereof. d.  Artistic interpretation: Every now and then, the art of writing requires authors of literary texts on the world wide web to fuel their texts with new, semantically broadened creations to ensure that readers will be drawn and attracted to their works.11 There are many words whose meaning and significance has expanded in light of the technological revolution and resulting developments in various fields. This phenomenon of semantic broadening is undoubtedly very important and can no longer be ignored, as it expresses the evolution of language and its response to surrounding socio-cultural changes. However, this development leads to updating contemporary linguistic lexicons by including the new meanings for words and terms that have undergone semantic broadening so that the Arabic language’s development can keep pace with the needs and changes of the times. This task has been thrust upon the shoulders of those presiding over Arabic language councils and lexicographers everywhere in the Arab world. Considering its significance, we have explored this topic in depth through reviewing some contemporary dictionaries published in recent years. We were surprised to find that this phenomenon has not yet received due consideration. Many words found in these lexicons still maintain their old definitions and do not include their expanded meanings to accommodate for new innovations. Consider, for example, the definition of some of the broadened words mentioned previously as they are found in the Qāmūs al-Majmaʿ fī Alfāẓ al-ʿArabiyya al-Muʿāṣira wa-l-Turāthiyya al-Shāʾiʿa/Comprehensive Dictionary of Modern Arabic Words and Common Heritage by Abū Khaḍra, et al., which was published in 2012 by the Al-Qasemi Arabic Language Academy in Baqa al-Gharbiyye, Israel: “Mouse: animal of the muridae family and rodent order; plural mice.” (p. 888) “Window: singular feminine noun; plural windows; an opening in a wall through which air may flow into or through a house.” (p. 1180)

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“Surfing: Riding the waves of a sea or ocean on a board or other nautical vessel; Surfer: one who surfs on the ocean.” (p. 8)

From these examples, it is clear the lexicographers did not consider the phenomenon of semantic broadening for these words, as they did not include their modern meanings in their digital context. The academy’s staff should have done so, especially since the title of the dictionary implies that it deals with modern definitions and uses of the language. Our review found Menahem Milson’s Al-Maʿjam al-ʿArabī al-ʿIbrī al-Iliktrūnī/Digital Arabic-Hebrew Dictionary more useful, which was published digitally in 2015.12 The author of this volume took semantic broadening into consideration, albeit partially, and included new definitions for specific words while maintaining their original meanings as well. The Arabic Language Academy in Nazareth also publishes posts in which new modern meanings for words are translated and localized. However, it has not yet published a unified list solely for internet language and slang. We hope Arabic language committees and academies, both local and international, will update general and specialized Arabic dictionaries and lexicons so they suit the current zeitgeist and express the language’s growth, development, and flexibility. USE OF ENGLISH In his work Al-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya fī l-ʿAṣr al-Ḥadīth/Arabic in the Modern Age (2006), linguist Nouhad El Moussa states, “What first comes to mind is that globalization has prepared the way for English to spread and diffuse a common lexicon that seems almost universal, a lexicon that we find in Arabic as well as in most European, Asian, and African languages.”13 The reason why English prevailed worldwide goes back to the internet’s dominance over international life in various parts of the globe. As the language of the world wide web is tinged with English, it was only natural that this language would impose its hegemony over other languages. The internet is a medium with purely American roots; it uses English for everything. Only with the globalization of the internet have other languages started to find their own spaces on the web, yet English maintains its primacy.14 A significant number of thinkers predict that English will dominate the future of world communication as a result of globalization, which will include the linguistic component as one of its more prominent goals. In his article entitled “Al-ʿAwlama wa-l-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya”/Globalization and the Arabic Language, Muwaffaq Zāzawī states:

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If globalization means bringing the village, planet, and universe under the control and hegemony of a superior world culture, the United States has done this over all other nations, in an attempt to transfer what is local to what is global. And if it can be said that the presence of a language that has grown from its local context to be spoken around the world over all its other original languages, then this without a doubt confirms that the domination of the English language has become apparent.15

Barbara Wallraff claims that one of the main reasons why English was best qualified to become a global language, thereby giving it the legitimacy to spread further than any other, was because it represented the largest portion of content found on the internet.16 Many researchers go so far as to promote English as the present and future language of the world. Industrialist Henry Ford once championed the slogan, “Make everybody speak English,” while Charles Kay Ogden titled his book “Basic English for All,” both in an attempt to encourage English and clearly call for the death of thousands of other languages.17 The call to replace Arabic script is nothing new. Ṣūf mentioned several instances from the beginning of the previous century in which people had proposed replacing the Arabic script used in Arabic, Farsi, and Turkish with writing with the Latin alphabet. This happened for Turkish at the behest of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1924. Louis Massignon called for this same change during his famous lecture delivered before Arab students at the Collège de France in 1929, in which he stated that there was no future for the Arabic language unless it were written with Latin letters. Ṣūf also points to the project that ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Bāshā presented to the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo in 1943 which called for the use of Latin letters over Arabic script.18 The diffusion and integration of English into Arabic writing led to the emergence of a new linguistic phenomenon known as “Arabizi” or “Franco-Arabic.” Jordanian writer Parehan Kamak has commented on this phenomenon, saying: This disfigured language—if I can even permit myself to call it this—unfortunately spread before we knew what the world wide web or internet was. It has permeated our homes, universities, streets, shops, and names of investment companies everywhere. It is an example of the distortion and civilizational misery in which we in the Arab world live. Simply put, or maybe not so simply, it is an expression of the fragmentation of our umma [Muslim community], as well as our fragmentation at the heart of the umma in a real, un-pessimistic sense.19

This phenomenon stirs many worrisome questions about the future of Arabic in light of globalization and what that entails from various ideological dimensions. However, the questions that most concern us in this study are: How

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does the literary discourse deal with this phenomenon? To what extent has English penetrated Arabic literary discourse, and what are its consequences? After reviewing a decent amount of social media literature, we found that there are many examples of this phenomenon. In the novel Girls of Riyadh, which we discussed previously, the author resorted to structuring the plot or drama in the form of e-mails. Based on the fact that the e-mail system is American in origin and has a set structure, the writer was forced to maintain this structure as it is and use English in her text as well. She also included many English words and expressions in the context of the narration, such as, “He told her once that he dreamed of marrying a girl who was his best friend [transliterated English in Arabic script].” In the Arabic version, we see that the definite article “al” was added to the English word “best,” thereby localizing the term and giving it a hint of Arabic flavor. In the sentence, “I didn’t expect all of this interaction with my e-mail,” the author added the first-person possessive suffix “yā’” to the foreign loan word “e-mail,” as well as constructing the foreign word correctly in the feminine plural form with an “alif” and “tāʾ.” The author also uses English letters when her characters say certain English words and phrases, such as “emotionally intelligent.” The phenomenon of “Arabizi” occurs throughout the novel, especially in the dialogue between characters (all non-italicized words are transliterated English words in Arabic script): “They don’t have a clue what’s going on out there.” “My God, he’s attractive.” “Actually, I like it.” “I was going there and saw with my own eyes that security wouldn’t let anyone in.”

These expressions, which did not come from foreign characters or those with a foreign culture, but rather from the mouths of girls born and raised in Saudi Arabia to Arab families, indicate the dominance of a foreign culture over the new young generation, as plainly seen in the use of English. English is over-used in the poetry collection Wa-lī fīhā ʿAnākib Ukhrā, as one can see in the poem “Al-Shāsha ʿAlaykum,” “Good morning, Peter.” . . . “As for me, I am no longer outside myself / The web, WAP, and Netscape all know me.”

Further examples of English appear in the poem “Marthiyya ilā Māmādū Diyālū”/Elegy to Mamadou Diallo from the same collection. In the poem “I

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Love You,” the reader encounters Arabizi from the very beginning in the title, and is then surprised to find that the author has included the e-mail addresses of some of his friends within the context of the poem: “[email protected], [email protected], / And [email protected], / As well as other e-mail addresses.” These texts make it clear that the use of English here is meant to express the spread and penetration of English within our world. The literature concerned with this topic acknowledges that most thinkers consider “Arabizi” to be one of the most serious threats to the Arabic language, as it involves several dimensions that help instill the idea of globalization, threatening the world’s cultures for the sake of American cultural hegemony. They have started waging a fierce counterstrike against it by demanding that official and informal agencies and institutions confront it and stop its spread. However, a cursory glance at the reality on the ground confirms that this attack by the intellectuals has not yet been of any use. In most cases it expresses a romantic, close-minded vision that refuses to accept any change that does not agree with the traditional view it relies upon. In our opinion, the spread of English, especially among the current generation, the smartphone and Android generation, is set in stone and a firm reality in our modern language. This precludes the success of any attempt at confronting it, as it has become nearly impossible to force any teenager nowadays to say “ishāra” instead of “hashtag,” or “ḥāla” instead of “status,” or “wajh bāsim” instead of “emoji.” Any attempt to counter this phenomenon, or any expectation of a return to a completely pure Arabic free of loan words, is unrealistic. The impact of English on Arabic is the natural result that the prevalence of the internet (an American invention) over public life has imposed upon users. As the web continually grows, a new language will develop along with it and force itself upon all other languages. Thus, if we insist on preserving the Arabic language as we knew it since the pre-Islamic era, we view it as a static thing, and not as a living entity that can change and adapt, a notion refuted by all theories of linguistics and its evolution. However, this does not also mean that we must encourage the use of English until Arabic fades away bit by bit. Rather, using English in the body of a text should only be for aesthetic or semantic purposes, appearing in the text as a necessary element required by the concept, situation, or message which the author is trying to convey. Moreover, it is our opinion that the fear over the Arabic language being eliminated, eroded, or going extinct by globalization is simply misguided and reckless. Arabic is protected by an impregnable fortress that will ensure its survival: the Holy Quran! We can only welcome the developments taking place within our language, including the phenomenon of “Arabizi,” provided that this reception is deliberate and we deal with this topic prudently. We

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must create boundaries and frameworks, as well as determine how we can integrate this phenomenon in a way that preserves the standing, power, and legitimacy of Fuṣḥā Arabic (Standard Arabic), namely through formal channels and within literature. USE OF SPOKEN ARABIC The language that acclimates well with the global revolution in technology and communications is the only one that can keep up with economic, scientific, and technological changes. Thus, there is no safe investment in a language without taking this aspect into consideration, because the nature of the modern world demands it.20 This quote raises the following question: what is meant by “acclimates?” Is the use of spoken dialects a manifestation of this? The Arab web surfer on social media sites will undoubtedly quickly notice the presence of two kinds of languages: one, a refined, eloquent form; and the other, a hybridized dialect. This, in fact, is an extension of the states of plurality and duplicity in which the Arab world lives. What concerns us here is the extent to which the spoken dialect has crept into literary discourse, and whether this is the definitive result of the linguistic acclimatization engendered by social media, or if it is a phenomenon that we should combat with all the might we can muster. Critic ʿAbdullah Ayt al-Aʿshīr commented on the spread of Arabic dialects on the internet, saying: The Arab soul is set ablaze with sadness and heartbreak over the dishonor done to Fuṣḥā [Standard] Arabic, cast down from its lofty position on high by digital media in order to level its edifice and further estrange it from everyday life. They have made the thicket of various common dialects into the language of record, the endearing focus of study, the mellowing voice, and the preferred option. This has cleared the way for the dialects to lay and hatch their eggs as they wish, as well as flow from the tongues of not just one segment of the general public. Rather, this custom has enabled dialects to seize control over politicians, men of culture, and masters of eloquent speech who are guided by their gifts, complying with them by randomly code-switching between nationalities and identities, a phenomenon which is now being seen within Arab societies.21

There is no doubt that social media has opened wide the floodgates for various spoken dialects to be accepted and well-received, as well as paving the road for them to crawl toward the center after remaining marginalized for so long. The appearance of dialects alongside Fuṣḥā Arabic in literature is not new. Authors have long resorted to employing spoken dialects in literary texts to add a sense of realism to their works, namely in the dialogue. However, with

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the emergence of digital publishing, the use of dialects has expanded into a widespread phenomenon. It has grown to such an extent that we have now started to find websites dedicated to the publication of novels, short stories, and poems written completely in dialects (without any formal Arabic in them at all). Herein lies the difference. This form of literature, and these sites, have their own audiences that subscribe and follow them with great interest. Let us take, for example, the website Alam al-Imārāt/Suffering of the Emirates, in which we find whole novels in spoken dialect, just as we showed in the novel portion of the previous chapter. After reviewing the number of visitors and readers of some of the texts posted on this site, we find that these figures are astronomical, which attests to the widespread popularity of these texts and their fans’ desire to read and receive them. Some sites specialize in publishing poetry in spoken Arabic. One such site is Abyat/Verses, a page dedicated to publishing poetry of the Arab Gulf region, with poets writing in their local Qatari dialect. Any visitor to the site can read these works, as well as listen to them read in their original dialect. Likewise, personal blogs have helped spread the practice of writing in Arabic dialects. Here we will mention the novel Ayza Atgawez by Egyptian writer Ghada Abdel Aal, which we discussed previously. She began writing the novel in sections on her personal blog in the Egyptian dialect. When the novel had won the approval of its readers, it was then published in print, which stirred some media hubbub around it. The considerations and reasons that push authors to write in Arabic dialects and publish digitally are different from those that prompt others to publish in print. Emirati critic Fatima al-Breiki, for example, believes that the reason for the spread of dialects on the internet is that most web users in the Arab world are young and are not necessarily literary-minded. These young people have become accustomed to text message or SMS language used on cell phones, chatroom parlance (which most often is spoken in dialects), as well as the short messages that appear on TV screens. All of this has created a suitable climate for the growth of texts written in Arabic dialects. As the audiences’ eyes have been trained to read and respond well to these sorts of texts, it has become easy for young people to quickly exchange them, thereby helping them to spread. In fact, these young people who started off using the internet at a young age have found a launchpad for their writing to reach a large reader base in the Arab region.22 In his article entitled “Al-Lugha wa-l-Intirnit aw al-Khaṭaʾ Ḥads bi-l-Mustaqbal”/Language and the Internet, or the Mistake of Predicting the Future, Nazem El Sayed states that the keyboard made everyone a writer. The days when the printed word was restricted to specialists, authors, and the like are over. Now that everyone possesses a computer or smart device, they can pass

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their words off as writing. And since they have no interest in the fate of the language, they also do not care how well they write, so long as they convey the idea that they wish to communicate to a wide swath of readers.23 Another reason for the spread and promotion of Arabic dialects on various sites is to protect Arabic’s presence online by any means, as the language itself has been invaded by many foreign languages already. For example, as Aḥmad Zein, an administrator of the Nādī al-Mubdiʿīn/Creatives Club forum at IslamOnline.net, explains in his comments on the opening of a “dialect poetry” subpage of the forum, the real reason behind the site publishing these sorts of texts is as follows: We are right to be very concerned about dialects in general and suggesting it within the Creatives Club. However, after several discussions, the work team considered including dialects on the site because we decided that the conflict wasn’t between Fuṣḥā and dialects. Rather, it unfortunately turned into a fight between the Arabic language in all its forms, diversity, and cultural differences on one hand, and foreign languages on the other.24

The fear over Arabic dying out due to the domination of other languages is one reason that cleared the way for the emergence of Arabic dialects in both literary and non-literary works on various internet sites. Zein’s notion is related to the concept of “language death,” which has become a source of anxiety for many thinkers who care about the fate of their languages on the web, which they have begun characterizing as a “language graveyard.” As previously mentioned, the internet is closely linked with the concept of globalization, which in turn is connected to the economic hegemony of the political and economic superpowers that impose, either directly or indirectly, their languages on various economically weaker nations. This ultimately leads to the regression of some languages in favor of others. In his book Taḥaddiyyāt ʿAṣr al-Maʿlūmāt/Challenges of the Information Age (2003), Nabil Ali states that the internet reflects a bleak image of linguistic diversity. Out of the six thousand languages of the world, only five hundred of them are represented on the web, most of which have a very weak presence. This “language gap” threatens to draw a sharp divide between the languages of the developed countries and those of the developing world, which cannot aid their mother tongues in the fierce linguistic battle occurring across the internet.25 The sweeping crawl of Arabic dialects across the web, and its overwhelming emergence on social media in particular, raises several very important questions about the future of the Arabic language in light of technology. Do concerns over the absence of Arabic online legitimize the use of dialects? Will the decline of Fuṣḥā in favor of dialects on the internet lead to considerations

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for setting grammar rules and standards for the dialects, as well as including them in educational curricula as dominant languages of today? What are the barriers between Fuṣḥā and the dialects? Will we need to rethink the framework in which these language varieties will be employed? How should we deal with the spread of dialect literature? Do we need to treat it as an informal literature? Or will promoting and spreading it force the literary establishment to recognize its legitimacy as formal literature? If we refer to the latest statistics on the representation of languages on the world wide web, we find that Arabic is in an unexpectedly comfortable position. Despite its sluggish start during the early days of the internet, Arabic has witnessed astonishing growth in use between 2010–2016, and was in first place among all other languages in terms of rising use and development. More importantly, it occupies fourth place among all languages in terms of use on the web after English, Chinese, and Spanish. Predictions over Arabic’s demise or destruction now appear mistaken, as they did not consider its history or global standing. Fuṣḥā (Standard) Arabic is a national and official language in every Arab country and one of the essential components of the identity of the Arab-Muslim umma (community). Native Arabic speakers make up 6.6 percent of the world, and Arabic is spoken by most residents of the Middle East and North Africa regions (MENA). Additionally, millions are willing to learn it, as it is the language of the Holy Quran. There are millions of Muslims in other countries who speak Arabic, and in 1974, it was approved as the sixth official language of the UN. Critic Mujāhid Maymūn sees that Arabic has its roots in a nomadic environment, but thanks to Islam it was able to develop and sustain one of the largest civilizations in the world. Despite the frailty it suffered from during certain ages and periods, it never died out. It survived to continue playing its role to its full potential, while other languages and civilizations perished, or at the very least changed their forms, as for instance the ancient Greek and Latin languages.26 Fuṣḥā (Standard) Arabic appears to be a lasting language. It is irrational to think that a language of this cultural, intellectual, historical, and geographical breadth could ever be marginalized or go extinct. Ibrahim Melhem claims that those critics who express their heartbreak and despair, or bemoan what has happened to the status of the Arabic language, or who antagonize readers to avert their gaze from any text written in a dialect on the internet, have misread the shared legacy of the language, all while beating the war drum without any just cause whatsoever. They know that criticism has gone beyond postmodernism, yet they believe that we still live in a society that grows up speaking Fuṣḥā, or that any text published digitally with any popular expressions has defiled the language! Melhem goes on to say that the mawāliyya style of poetry emerged during the golden age of the Arabic language, but it did not struggle for its own survival. Folk literature

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then emerged alongside Fuṣḥā Arabic, but it also did not survive. Logic dictates that popular languages have certain roles for reaching people and developing their cultures, values, and aesthetic tastes in the dialect closest to their heart or daily life. This does not go against the solemn roles that Fuṣḥā has played in the past, present, and future, so long as popular literary forms possess a level of refined expression.27 Fuṣḥā (Standard) Arabic is much stronger that any threat of extinction or death, and will remain the common denominator that unites all its speakers. Recognizing the legitimacy of dialects and accepting them within educational curricula or the literary establishment requires further profound research and serious study in order to consider the various facets of this widespread phenomenon. It is enough for our purposes here that we highlight the spread of this phenomenon within the literary establishment, leaving the answer to this matter up to future studies. USE OF PUNCTUATION AND EMOJIS David Crystal states that what distinguishes internet language is the wealth of typography available to the user. Users enjoy a wide diversity in typography, colors, punctuation, and word processing as means for linguistic expression that far surpasses the options available to the writer of a traditional text. For example, one can express a variety of sounds and emotions through repeating letters or punctuation marks (such as “Aaaaaah,” “Ughhhh,” “What are you saying???” and “Are you crazy?!!!!”).28 This wealth of expression comes from the set of letters, shapes, and icons found on the keyboard that determines the resulting linguistic capabilities at the touch of a button, which differs greatly from the possibilities available to anyone using a pen. All of this refers to the concept of expressive symbols or “emoticons,” which are written by grouping together different punctuation marks, such as parentheses, periods, and dashes. The term was first coined in 1982 by Scott Fahlman, a professor of computer sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. These symbols aim to convey the author’s emotions. Having earned the approval of readers and users, they spread extremely quickly throughout all parts of the world.29 Emoticons were the first steppingstone for the later development of emojis, which have seen a rapid and massive rise in popularity since their arrival in 2010.30 These symbols began taking the place of several spoken dialects, terms, and abbreviations commonly found on social media sites, thereby forming a global language with significant power. It was only a matter of time before these massive linguistic developments made possible by the keyboard, computer programs, and smart phone apps

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would leave their mark on literature as well. The poem “Shāt”/Chat by Moroccan poet ʿAbd al-Nūr Idrīs is a prime example in this context.31 Upon reviewing the poem, we notice that it is written in the style and presentation of dialogue used in chatrooms. The poet embellishes his poem with many digital symbols and signs, as well as repeating letters in some words to give the reader the impression that they are reading a real “chat.” Among the icons used by the poet are the following: @, ♥, ∏, and ←. Anyone reading the poem immediately knows that the writer undoubtedly used a keyboard while writing his piece, not a pen and paper as is the case with traditional writing. This is due to the wealth of typography that distinguishes the poem and draws the reader’s attention from the first moment. Using the keyboard has also led to people writing words as they would hear them spoken, and not as we would write them down by dictation. In this way, the absence of the ear was compensated by a new form of orthography, meaning that writers began delegating the tasks of the tongue and ears to their hands (via the keyboard) and eyes. This goes back to the influence of the type of dialogue used in internet chatrooms, where the dialogue is written, but with a spoken style. The novel An Takūn ʿAbbās al-ʿAbd/Being Abbas El Abd (2005) by Egyptian author Ahmed Alaidy abounds in a diverse array of typographical richness. The author was able to play around with his keyboard to express vocal tones and romantic feelings in a modern style that reflects the language of the times, as demonstrated in the following passages: There are things and then there are things There are things that ruin your day simply by being there . . . There are things that you care about because you are far away . . . over there . . . Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrre! (p. 11) I scream in the face of the Traffic Committee And your father And the café friends passing by (p. 12) (I(Ins(I)de)am) (p. 68). Shhhhhh! As long as I’m by your side, there’s nothing that can harm you He . . . he . . . hey, what’s … .i . . . in . . . n . . . th . . . is . . . this . . . r . . . r . . . r . . . room? (p. 92) A woman screams and pulls her hair, “Oooooh, myyyy GOD . . . Oh, my maaaan . . . Oh, my husbaaaand … .” Abbas scratches his private parts and smells his fingers. He then felt:) because his crotch didn’t smell like cloves. (p. 95)

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One can conclude that the authors have not ignored the new linguistic possibilities afforded by technology, whether in writing with the click of the keyboard, or with their fingertips on their smart phone or device. In any case, they were able to utilize technology’s capabilities to present texts that are rich in distinct typography, thereby expressing vocal emotions, stressed insinuations, and various symbolic semantics. We should also mention here that understanding this language and how to use it has become one of the necessary skills of digital literacy in the current era. Schoolteachers must consider this to prepare a digitally literate generation that is able to use the language of the times positively and effectively.32 SPELLING ERRORS The phenomenon of endemic linguistic errors in internet language is ultimately due to several factors: the widespread use of dialects and keyboards, writing speed, lack of editorial oversight, and others. Several linguistic mistakes have slipped into literary texts, especially spelling errors. Table 3.1 shows the most common spelling mistakes, which we mainly attribute to the use of the keyboard. This table shows the most common spelling mistakes in literary texts, which we mainly attribute to the use of the keyboard. Table 3.1. Most Common Spelling Mistakes Type of Error Forgetting the disjunctive hamza Adding unnecessary conjunctive hamza Using the letter “hā’” instead of the “tāʾ marbūṭa” Mixing up the “alif mamdūda,” “alif maqṣūra,” and “tāʾ marbūṭa” Using the letter “yāʾ” as a feminized diacritic and the letter “waw” in the middle or at the end of a word to denote the plural

Example

Correction

‫ أكثر‬،‫أفضل‬ ،‫ اكثر‬،‫افضل‬ ‫ أمر‬،‫أخذ‬ ‫ امر‬،‫اخذ‬ ‫أنت‬،‫ إلى‬،‫ أي‬،‫أو‬ ‫ انت‬،‫ اي‬،‫ الى‬،‫او‬ ‫ أوروبا‬،‫أحمد‬ ‫ اوروبا‬،‫احمد‬ ‫ إحمرار‬،‫ إستخراج‬،‫ ألشمس‬،‫ إمرأة‬،‫ احمرار إبن‬،‫استخراج‬،‫ الشمس‬،‫ امرأة‬،‫ابن‬ ‫ معرفه‬،‫ استجابه‬،‫ ممرضه‬،‫مدرسه‬ ‫استقاله‬

‫ معرفة‬،‫ استجابة‬،‫ ممرضة‬،‫مدرسة‬ ‫استقالة‬

‫ دعوى‬،‫ُعُلى‬،‫ صحى‬،‫ دعى‬،‫عصى‬ ‫ رانيا‬،)‫(بقصد دعوة‬

‫ رانية‬،‫ دعوة‬،‫ عال‬،‫ صحا‬،‫ دعا‬،‫عصا‬

"‫كيف حالكي؟ هل أنتي بخير؟‬ ."‫ ال توخذوني معاكو‬،‫حرام عليكو‬

‫ هل أنت بخير؟‬،‫كيف حالك‬ .‫ ال تأخذوني معكم‬،‫حرام عليكم‬

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In addition to these spelling mistakes, we also find several morphological and grammatical errors, as well as the incorrect use of grammatical constructions as posted on social media, as shown in table 3.2. These mistakes often appear in literature by young amateurs, as discussed in the previous section. In the following chart, we identify some of these errors, knowing that they are only the tip of the iceberg. There is not enough space to list all the mistakes because it would be too long and extensive; we will not deal with them all in this study. This table shows morphological and grammatical errors, as well as the incorrect use of grammatical constructions as posted on social media. There is no doubt that the widespread and flagrant use of dialects within internet language is one of the most significant factors contributing to the spread and exacerbation of linguistic errors. This is because internet language is, as Crystal termed it, “written speech,” as people more often tend to write how they speak. This refers back to the interactive nature of communication via social media. Since people generally interact through the spoken word, internet language expresses this type of interaction in one form or another. Table 3.2. Morphological and Grammatical Errors Type of Error

Example

Correction

Ignoring correct diacritics in nouns and the five verbs Lack of understanding of sources of words

” . . . ‫قولي ألبوك‬ ‫شفتهم يرقصوا ويغنوا‬ ‫رجال أنجاس‬

Including the definite article on the word “‫“( ”غير‬not” or “un-” Defective verbs

‫المناهج الغير مواكبة للعصر‬

Errors in number and agreement Defective nouns ّ /‫أّن‬ ّ  Confusion between ‫إّن‬ Improper derivation of the form of the noun Wrong prepositions and adverbs

‫ يرقصون ويغنون‬،‫قولي ألبيك‬ It should be ‫ٌس‬ ٌ ‫رجالَنَ ََج‬ because the sources of the word “‫ ”نجس‬are never pluralized or feminized. Rather, they always remain in the singular and stay the same for both male and female. ‫المناهج غير المواكبة للعصر‬

‫اللهم اعفو عنا‬ ‫اللهم اشفي مرضانا‬ ‫لم أنام طيلة الليل‬ ‫خمسة بنات‬ ‫سبع رجال‬ ‫محامي دولي‬ .. . . . .‫قال أّنّه‬ ‫الملفت لالنتباه‬

‫اعُف عنا‬ ‫اللهم‬ ُ ‫اللهم اشف مرضانا‬ ‫لم أنم طيلة الليل‬ ‫خمس بنات‬ ‫لاجر ةعبس‬ ‫محاٍم دولي‬ ٍ . . . .‫قال إّنّه‬ ‫الالفت لالنتباه‬

‫ أجاب على‬،‫ رغبت بالعمل‬،‫أثر عليه‬ ‫السؤال‬

‫ أجاب‬،‫ رغبت في العمل‬،‫أثر فيه‬ ‫عن السؤال‬

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Moreover, using a keyboard while writing plays a part in the spread of these sorts of mistakes. Some may not know where certain letters or diacritic markings lie on the keyboard, and thus they write carelessly in order to simply write for the purpose of communication, not for preserving grammar rules! Another factor contributing to the spread of linguistic errors is speed. The speed of communication and publication prevents people from reviewing what they write. Most authors and non-literary types post their writings immediately without subjecting them to linguistic editing or revision, not to mention the lack of editorial supervision and reception of these resources as they are. All these factors have given legitimacy to dispensing with the basic rules of the language, such as morphology, grammar, and spelling. However, the most important question that remains is not how do we handle this phenomenon, but rather if we can deal with it at all. ABBREVIATION “What’s on your mind?” is that first pithy sentence we see every day when we log onto Facebook. It encourages us to consider writing something, provided that it is brief and stimulating. In his book Microstyle: The Art of Writing Little, Christopher Johnson affirms that this kind of writing has become an essential skill of this century that must be developed and refined; it has a profound impact in every field. Christopher includes several guidelines and pieces of advice about how to write a short, impactful, and highly efficient text for various fields of interest, including literature.33 One can find examples of short Arabic literature from before the emergence of the internet and social media, such as short stories and flash fiction. However, these kinds of works did not constitute a dominant phenomenon within traditional print publishing, as is the case in digital publishing. This is mainly due to external factors outside of the realm of literature. According to Ibrahim Taha, literary genres change and develop as a result of a complex and complicated interaction between literary and non-literary factors. By non-literary factors, he means the sociological, technological, political, and other developments that occur within a society.34 These non-literary factors that make internet authors turn to writing relatively short texts can be summarized as follows: Physical Exhaustion: This refers to the physical exhaustion resulting from a reading device. Reading a digital text entails different considerations from reading a text printed on paper. For instance, there are medical concerns related to the light of an electronic device’s screen and its effect on the eyes, as well as the

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physical exhaustion that catches up with a reader after sitting for a long time in front of a computer screen. Speed: Speed has become a critical element in our lives; there has been much conversation around the age of speed and its requirements. There is no longer any room for tardiness and circumspection in an age dominated by speed in every aspect of life. As a result, there is less time to read long novels than in the print era. People now prefer shorter texts that go along with the pace of the times. Speed is the second of six elements that Italo Calvino considers the foundation of successful twenty-first-century writing. In his own words, “A writer’s success rests upon the subtlety of his concise and concentrated verbal expression, most often resulting from a quick burst of inspiration, which requires a diligent search for the right word.”35 Quantity: The massive quantity of texts available on the internet makes the reader overwhelmed with options, not to mention their desire to peruse and sift through this or that work, ultimately forcing them to quickly scroll between texts. This stems from a consumerist culture based on taking in the largest amount of knowledge possible. The rationale of this culture is marked by impatience, tension, and a desire to scarf food and information. It is a “fast food culture.” Lacking room for thinking or contemplation, readers prefer shorter texts. The Writing Device: Al-Breiki explains how writing short messages on one’s small phone screen led to the creation of a special, condensed, shorthand, and abbreviated language, especially in English. This, in turn, led to the development of internet language, which was developed and employed by internet users. Many of its words and terms were crafted in a way that helps economize one’s keystrokes on the keyboard. The basic goal of internet language was to save time and effort while writing, through reducing the number of keystrokes, as well as the strain on one’s muscles during the writing process itself. Global internet language entered Arabic, which became especially prevalent in chatrooms. In chats, two or more words are brought together into a single word, a phenomenon originally done in English, such as in the abbreviation “TYT” (“take your time”) or “BRB” (“be right back”).36 These sorts of abbreviations then appeared in literary texts, such as “Shāt”/Chat by Jordanian author Muhammad Sanajila. Limited Space: Social media has become the platform relied upon in all areas of life for advertising, media, and economics, the place to broadcast religious, political, or philosophical ideas, as well as the forum to post literary creations. Since there is very little space available for writing on these sites, authors have been restricted and had to think about writing texts in the most condensed way possible.

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Freedom to Publish: The freedom of digital publishing and democratic expression are hallmarks of the internet. Some forums allow the publication of any material regardless of its length. All these reasons encourage some authors, especially beginners who have not yet refined their skills, to submit their texts, even if only a single line or a few words, so that they may be published under the moniker of “story” or “poem.”

Among very short literary texts, for example, is a poetic work by Samar al-Ashqar entitled “Ghurba”/Estrangement posted on the website Jīrān/ Neighbors in 2007 in the poetry section.37 This text, or flash poem, is only two lines: The cruelest moments of estrangement Is when we aren’t together

Even novels, which in their printed form were typically long, have now tended toward brevity in their new digital form. Some authors and critics urge abbreviation in digital texts. For example, Jordanian writer Muhammad Sanajila asserts that the size of a digital novel must not exceed one hundred pages at most, and that there should not be room for using words consisting of more than four or five letters.38 Longer words should be replaced with shorter ones that provide the same meaning. The sentence must also be in this new language, quick and concise, with no more than three or four words at most. It seems that authors have actually begun applying this advice, even if it were something of an exaggeration, such as Jamāl al-Sāʾiḥ, who published his novel Ṣadīqī Mughram bi-Zawjatī/My Friend is Enamored with My Wife on the Arab Union for Internet Writer’s website in 2009.39 In the following passage from the novel, the quality of shortness even extends to the external structure of the text, in terms of the arrangement and succession of the sentences. The sentences in this novel do not follow one another and extend to the end of the line as they do in print novels. Instead, the author moves from one line to another as if they were verses of poetry: We had been married for nine years. We have and still understand one another very well.

In this way, the structure of the novel, which resembles that of a poem, facilitates the reading process, allowing readers to easily follow along with the lines of the story while scrolling through the text. Hale also did not neglect to mention the phenomenon of brevity in her book, Wired Style, but rather encouraged it:

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Look at a spiderweb, not embroidered prose. Consider the tale of surprise and suspense, a dramatic story of only 150 words. Think ingeniously about the text, not a heavily worded piece of literature. Think about passages overflowing with vitality and delight.40

It seems that authors, both consciously and unconsciously, operate according to Hale’s advice regarding the basic principles of writing in the digital age, especially “brevity.” Though found before the age of internet writing, short texts were never a general trend in printed literary texts as they are in those published digitally. Syrian writer Khalaf Ali Alkhalaf states that today long digital texts are rare, produced only by writers who use the internet as a substitute for the pen and the publishing house.41 In his view, such authors do not understand the internet’s characteristics or the fundamentals of dealing with them. It seems abundantly clear that critics, thinkers, and writers all agree on the need for short, concise, and quick writing that suits the requirements of the digital age, digital publishing, and digital reception. One can now say that digital literary texts tend to be brief, and that the age of the muʿallaqāt and novels that spanned more than 400 pages has passed, or has nearly so, with short texts taking their place. MULTIMEDIA AS A LANGUAGE In the previous section, we showed that several digital literary genres on social media have employed another language with a different system alongside conventional language: programming language. This language has captured the interests and focus of researchers and critics concerned with digital literature, analyzing the technological features (or “tech”) of digital media, and demonstrating its aesthetics, more so than studying the text itself. That was until the conversation on “digital rhetoric” began, as now a writer can use colors as a symbol, images as metonymy, and music as metaphor. Some have gone so far as claiming that language is not an essential component of a literary text, but secondary to another language, that is, technology in all its tools and features, which forces the reader to interact with it and read it differently until they break the code of the text and grasp its significance.42 Muhammad Sanajila is considered one of the most enthusiastic writers in support of the idea of writing with tech as an auxiliary language to conventional language. He explicitly called for this idea in his book Riwāyat al-Wāqiʿiyya al-Raqamiyya, in which he states, “The word will be nothing more than a part of the whole. Thus, in addition to the word, we should write with images, sound, and cinematic/animated scenes . . . ”43

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Despite the intense enthusiasm that programming language enjoys in digital texts, several critics still believe that conventional language remains the backbone of any literary text, no matter its kind or genre, and cannot be replaced by another. One critic who supports this view is Ahmad Z. Rahahleh, who wrote a comprehensive study on this topic entitled “Jadal al-Lugha fī l-Naṣṣ al-Ibdāʿiyya al-Raqamiyya: Qirāʾa fī l-Mashhad al-ʿArabī”/Language Controversy in Creative Digital Texts: A Reading of the Arab Scene.44 In his view, over the course of human history, literature has had a close relationship with language, whether spoken or written. The value and presence of language do not vary in the levels of literary expression, but only in the ways in which it is handled in terms of style, reading, reception, etc. Thus, the fascination with reading tech at the expense of language is misguided. Rahahleh adds that in Arabic digital works, tech cannot invalidate the language nor take its place; language remains the foundation. He then provides examples of this from the works of Muhammad Sanajila and Mushtāq ʿAbbās Muʿīn, stressing that it seems very clear to readers that both writers’ efforts center on refining the texts linguistically before applying tech to them. Amina Biʿalā discusses the danger and risk to the value of language if haphazardly replaced by tech.45 She stresses that technology, insofar as it has liberated humankind, also helped introduce it to other compulsions. Natural language has now become part of a complex structure of audio-visual, semiotic, and semantic systems, thereby paving the way to forfeit the elite status of literature and the authority of language itself. Sanajila’s call for creation with images, sounds, and cinematic/animated scenes is nothing more than an imitation of what the earliest Arabic linguists strived for, the basis of Arabic rhetoric. If the first trait (returning to roots) is to paint an image and conceptualize, then this is the foundation of language since its inception. An author’s use of figures, images, graphics, video, and programming language is what allows them to keep up with developments in writing itself, rather than compete with natural language. In fact, these devices support the work of language itself. Several digital literary genres have taken their name from the tech used in them, such as the “video poem,” “hypertext fiction,” “animated poetry,” “interactive story,” and others. Moreover, we still call them fiction, stories, poems, and so on, because the process of defining the literary genre (as Rahahleh also notes) must come from within, not without, the literature itself.46 Rahahleh and other critics, ourselves included, do not deny that programming language may impose itself on the world today in a major way, such that we may find future texts in which tech plays the key role in telling the story, while language’s role is relegated to the sidelines. Or maybe something altogether different will emerge. However, these genres will then be classified as a form of visual art, and not literature.

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NOTES 1. Crystal, Language and the Internet, 1–5. 2. Ṣūf, “Al-Lugha al-ʿarabiyya fī Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī,” 286. 3. Ṣūf, “Al-Lugha al-ʿarabiyya fī Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī,” 286. 4. Ali, Al-Thaqāfa al-ʿArabiyya wa-ʿAṣr al-Maʿlūmāt, 276. 5. Awghān, Ladhdhat al-Naṣṣ, 172–177. 6. Badr, “Muḥādatha ʿalā l-Masanjar.” 7. Idrīs, ʿAbd al-Nūr, Tamazzuqāt ʿIshq Raqamī. 8. Hale, Wired Style, 35. 9. Ṭayyib, “Alfāẓ al-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya,” 466. 10. Jabārī, “ʿAlā Mashārif at-Taʾwīl.” 11. Ṭayyib, “Alfāẓ al-Lugha,” 472. 12. https:​//​arabdictionary​.huji​.ac​.il​/Matrix​.Arabdictionary​/Register​.aspx. 13. El Moussa, Al-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya fī l-ʿAṣr al-Ḥadīth, 164. 14. Crystal, Language and the Internet, 269–270. 15. Zāzawī, “Al-ʿAwlama wa-l-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya.” 16. Wallraff, “What Global Language?” The Atlantic, Nov. 1, 2000, 52. 17. ʿAliyya, Āfāq al-Naṣṣ al-Adabī ḍimna l-ʿAwlama, 28–32. 18. Ṣūf, “Al-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya fī Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī,” 301. 19. Kamak, “Al-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya fī ʿAṣr al-Intirnit.” 20. Maymūn, “Tamaẓarāt al-Izduwājiyya al-Lughawiyya fī l-Shabaka al-ʿĀlimiyya,” 30. 21. Aʿshīr, “Al-Infitāḥ al-Lughawī wa-Hujnat al-Lugha,” 59. 22. Breiki, “Al-ʿĀmiyya al-Maḥkiyya Taghzū Mawāqiʿ al-Intirnit.” 23. El Sayed, “Al-Lugha wa-l-Intirnit.” 24. Zein, “Al-Shiʿr bi-l-ʿĀmiyya.” 25. Ali, Taḥaddiyyāt ʿAṣr al-Maʿlūmāt, 52. 26. Maymūn, “Tamaẓarāt al-Izduwājiyya al-Lughawiyya.” 27. Melhem, Naẓariyyat al-Adab al-Raqamiyya, 43. 28. Crystal, Language and the Internet, 130. 29. Jābullah, “Istikhdām al-Īmūjī,” 486. 30. “Emoji” is a Japanese term that means “a symbol, image, or emotive face used while writing digital messages.” The word is a combination of two different words: “e” (“picture” or “image”); and “moji” (“symbol”). The emoji as a conventional term is used to convey a phrase or feeling through expressive symbols consisting of a set of small, mostly yellow faces. These symbols portray a wide spectrum of emotional expressions, and have gradually gone on to include other creatures, such as animals, plants, symbols, activities, etc. Jābullah, “Istikhdām al-Īmūjī,” 486. 31. See the poem at the following link: http:​//​www​.ahewar​.org​/debat​/show​.art​.asp​ ?aid​=55558. 32. In 2015, CNN published a report about emoji usage, mentioning that a car company issued a press release completely in emojis. Moreover, one can now buy a copy of the New Testament written with emojis. 33. Johnson, Microstyle: The Art of Writing Little.

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34. Taha, “The Modern Arabic Very Short Story,” 59–84. 35. Calvino, The Uses of Literature, 55. 36. Breiki, “Fātima, al-Intirnitiyya wa-l-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya.” 37. Ashqar, “Al-Ashqar, Samar, Ghurba, Bawḥ Ghayr Muʿallan.” 38. Sanajila, Riwāyat al-Wāqiʿiyya al-Raqamiyya, 74. 39. Sāʾiḥ, “Al-Sāʾiḥ, Jamāl, Ṣadīqī Mughram bi-Zawjatī.” 40. Hale, Wired Style, 61. 41. AlKhalaf, “Al-Intirnit ka-Muʾaththir Dākhalī,” 15. 42. Younis, “Rhetoric in Visual Arabic Poetry.” 43. Sanajila, Riwāyat al-Wāqiʿiyya al-Raqamiyya, 73. 44. Rahahleh, “Jadal al-Lugha fī l-Naṣṣ al-Ibdāʿiyya al-Raqmiyya.” 45. Biʿalā, “Al-Adab fī Ẓull al-Taknūlūjiyyā al-Jadīda wa-Suʾāl al-Qiyam,” 150. 46. Rahahleh, “Jadal al-Lugha fī l-Naṣṣ al-Ibdāʿiyya al-Raqamiyya.”

Conclusion

Throughout this study, we have tried to shed light on the impact of social media on literature from three different angles: content, form/structure, and language. We have seen how this medium has truly left a significant mark on literary discourse, raising many questions about literary theory on the one hand, and about the future of literary discourse in light of technology on the other. Social media has changed our perspectives, as well as our convictions. As a result, our concept of literature and art had to change as well. The appetite for experimentation drove the creative experience and generated many important questions that put the nature and function of literature up for discussion. How does literature interact with social media, a force which has intruded upon our lives and turned the world on its head? Can the reader continue reading literary works of ordinary length and scope in an age addicted to following everything on a cell phone? Does the ever-present image in one’s life dominate over all of one’s senses? Is social media responsible for changing the readers’ views on the static texts they read? Did social media dethrone Fuṣḥā Arabic from its long-established position within the literary establishment? To what extent does social media touch upon the entirety of human life, thereby shaping one’s artistic and literary tastes? Is humanity now waging a critical struggle with old values after this digital revolution? And if so, how can it translate that artistically? How should we deal with this new literary phenomenon in the field of education? We will attempt to discuss all these questions and more based on the conclusions we reached in this study. In chapter 1, we discussed the subject of social media literature and analyzed several literary texts by authors from all parts of the Arab world. Written between 1995–2015, these works represent the period from when social media began to permeate the Arab world to our present day. Two opposing viewpoints on social media became apparent, one positive and one negative. After analyzing several texts, it became clear that many of the authors of these texts treated social media in a negative fashion, expressing their 139

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concerns and anxiety toward the virtual reality created by social media, as well as the dire psychological and social harm that social media users may endure as a result of this medium. Social media has contributed to the falsification and obfuscation of facts and reality. Individual users can present themselves as any number of personas that are vastly different from their own true identities. For some, social media represents a massive waste of their time, a window for corruption, and a winding road fraught with dangers in which social and moral issues abound. Some weak souls use social media to prey upon their young, impressionable teenage victims, both male and female. Some users’ minds are brainwashed, and are thus swayed away from doing the right thing and toward behaving in manners that lead them to an abyss of intellectual, social, and moral corruption. This also undermines their faith in their principles, as well as destroying their family ties, values, and social norms. On the other hand, we found that some authors treated social media in a completely different way; their works reflected a positive stance toward this medium. In many cases, the writers expressed their true admiration for the virtual worlds that they enthusiastically described. They praised the ability of social media to achieve dreams, wishes, and hopes that could otherwise be impossible to realize in the real world, especially in a conservative Arab society. These authors viewed social media as a long-awaited savior, opening the floodgates for young men and women who suffer from repressive eastern societies to realize themselves in various ways. It cleared a path for them to communicate and familiarize themselves with the wider world, as well as achieving nationalistic victories and triumphs that they had long aspired to, even in light of oppressive, authoritarian political regimes. Social media afforded young girls and women the opportunity to rebel against forms of social discrimination in their male-dominated societies and protest against the lack of rights and appreciation that they deserved, outside the scope of their physical worth. In the end, the overarching message these authors strove to convey through social media literature is that technology is a double-edged sword. Its effectiveness is determined by the intent of its wielder, the purpose for which it is wielded, and the way in which it is used. We certainly do not agree with writers or others who lay all the blame for any harm done to individuals and society as a result of virtual relationships squarely on technology, warning us about the dangers, evils, and consequences of social media. In our opinion, the problem lies not in social media, nor in virtual reality, but rather in ourselves as a society, and consequently in our cultures, collective consciousness, and insufficient education on how to adapt to virtual societies. This responsibility falls entirely on educational institutions, which should work to prepare the next generation to consciously handle the realities of technology and adapt to them in a positive and safe

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way. This will benefit the individual and society, moving them away from the superficiality and negativity that can potentially arise in the virtual world. Sociologists have explained how every means or tool for communication passes through four stages within a society before it becomes settled, accepted, and legitimate therein.1 In the first stage, society takes interest in the tool as a fascinating “toy,” but does not take any specific position toward it. In the second stage, society’s interest in that tool deepens and it is subject to criticism, spurring questions and discussion about its nature and the extent of its impact. In the third stage, the tool transcends previous criticisms and earns society’s trust due to its technical and technological development. It is during this stage that society has a deeper, more profound understanding of the tool. Lastly comes the fourth stage in which the tool’s legitimacy is recognized by a large portion of the populace, as it has entrenched itself within society; it becomes an indispensable part of its general culture. This raises the following questions: How does social media literature reflect these four stages? To what extent can we say that we have actually reached the fourth stage, and what sort of awareness or maturity is required during this stage to handle and adapt to social media? Based on the results of our study, we found that the literary texts were truly able to clearly express each of these four stages. Most of the works written between the late 1990s and the end of the early 2000s exemplified the first two stages outlined above, which are characterized at times by shock and at other times by doubt and angst regarding this new technology. Examples of this include Taghrīd al-Ṭāʾir al-Ālī (1996) by Ahmed Fadl Shablul, Wa-lī fīhā ʿAnākib Ukhrā (2003) by Taha Adnan, Al-Baṭal al-Iftirāḍī/The Virtual Hero (2005) by Aida Nasrallah, Aḥādīth al-Intarnit (2017) by Nada al-Dana, and “Barīd Ilaktrūnī”/E-mail (2008) by Fatima Bouziane. By the start of the 2010s, another trend emerged among some authors; they treated social media with a greater awareness of the technology itself. In these texts, the authors went beyond the phase of criticism, dealing creatively with these media and engaging in deep philosophical discussions about them. For example, both the novel Laylā wa-Layālī l-Fāysbūk/Layla and Her Facebook Nights (2015) by Nizār Dandash and the dialogue Masāḥa Iftirāḍiyya wa-Makān (2014) by Jawda ʿĪd raised the issue of the alienation felt by Arab individuals vis-à-vis virtual reality, as an outsider rather than original inhabitant. The story “Raḥīl Manāḍil Kabīr”/The Passing of a Great Hero (2013) also discussed creative interaction with social media, as well as how to use it to build a persona with ideological dimensions that are influential and active in society. Mustafa Hamid’s poem “Al-Intirnit wa-l-Thawra al-Miṣriyya”/The Internet and Egyptian Revolution likewise explained the huge role that the internet played in support of the Egyptian revolution. As for Qiṭaṭ Instagram/Instagram Kitties (ʿAnazī 2015), the novel dealt with social

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media as a lifestyle and inescapable reality, and then consequently focused on how it could be used to fight all forms of corruption in society. Strangely enough, there was a noticeable slump in social media literature after 2015, as authors’ enthusiasm and excitement toward the technology subsided. The literary scene no longer saw the same overflow of output. Perhaps this was due to the authors’ gazes turning toward other no less important topics. The outbreak of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, for example, captured the minds of the entire world; it was only natural that it would capture the interest of authors as well. The literary scene started to witness a new literary movement, “corona and post-corona literature.” Examples of this form of literature include the novel Niyāndirtāl/Neanderthal (2020) by Sirāj Munīr, Hāribūn min Kūrūnā/Fleeing from Corona (2020) by Mustafa al-Qarna, and The Wahm al-Kūrūnā/Corona Delusion by Ḥasan ʿUbayd ʿĪsā (2020), among many others. Social media literature has not yet, except for a few of the texts, reached the intended phase of maturity, despite all the authors having expressed developing ways to deal with social media and the means of employing it in society. As such, we are still left with a strong sense of wonder and shock by an idea that had not crossed our minds, a solution we had not thought about, an issue we had not heard of, or a topic that had eluded us. According to Aristotle, literature is the only art that expresses a mimesis, or imitation of life that is far beyond the literal, superficial imitation of reality. Rather, it expresses an imitation in which the imagination plays a role and offers a more exalted truth or new reality that is higher than actual reality. Authors adjust the raw material, rearranging its parts, trimming its fat, and keeping what is necessary to achieve what is universal and ideal. In this way, authors do not present reality, but rather “an idea of reality” that occurs in their minds. We have envisioned a literature that catapults us from mere description, indecision, fear, excitement, passivity, or anxiety, toward something much deeper. This literature presents us a different, creative way and innovative vision for interacting with social media. For example, let us return to the story “Raḥīl Manāḍil Kabīr”/The Passing of a Great Hero (2013) by Suheil Kiwan. In this story, the author narrates the events in a way that does not advance matters with regard to the issue at hand. He could have, for example, had the crowds insist on holding a memorial service despite them knowing the truth of the situation, and thus the author would have offered a deeper message about the essence of the virtual personality and the power of its influence. What distinguishes this persona from its real counterpart is its spiritual presence, rather than its material presence. To the crowds, it is an influential personality, even if it does not really exist in the real world. This suggests a psychological factor within an individual’s perception that there are others in

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virtual reality who actualize identities online and ensure their virtual viability, even if they never existed. We need a literature that deals with social media creatively. We now live in a world that changes rapidly day after day. Every day, we hear new terms describing this current era and its people: the post-human age, digital revolution, information age, digital human, transhumanism, cyborg, knowledge society, and media society. Let us also not forget all the terms that portend the end of the forms and patterns of civilization of the previous age: “end of the print era,” “end of the printed word,” “end of the intellectual,” and so on. All of these are new topics waiting to be dealt with by literature in an unconventional way, to surpass our understanding and expectations, and to transcend the literal translation of the phenomenon. Given these rapid, radical changes, authors will need to take a serious stance on creativity, keeping pace with and envisioning the future of Arabs and of all humanity. Both locally and globally, we strive for a literature that can express the features of this age, the digital age, as well as the human being and society produced by this era. It would also behoove our writers to think about using social media to hurry toward revitalizing science fiction, a genre that remains stagnant and lacking in Arabic literature, despite all the scientific achievements seen around the world in various areas of life. Arabic literature in general, and social media literature in particular, both move within the orbit of reality. We have yet to find texts that envision a paradigm shift for a distant future, or one which we aspire to realize. We are in desperate need of a literature that can show us where we should be after 100 years, one that can bring us to a better future, or at least give us a rough sketch of the possibilities. In chapter 2, we discussed the new forms of various literary genres that emerged on social media. Our study made it clear that literary genres published on social media have preserved their fundamental traits by which they have been known within the literary criticism establishment, as demonstrated by the fact that we still call them “novels,” “stories,” “poems,” and “autobiography.” However, these genres also gained new inherited traits as a result of the medium that generated them, meaning that the changes that occurred within these genres are most manifestly concerned with the structure and external appearance of the text. To distinguish between traditional literary genres and their new forms on social media, their designations were joined with specific words and appellations. This was usually done either to indicate the new technique employed in the works’ creation, such as the “hypertext story” or “video poem,” or the media by which they emerged, such as the “Facebook novel,” “Tweet story,” “forum novel,” etc. This leads us to conclude that the classification of and distinction between literary genres is now dependent upon standards outside the literary aspects— contrary to what we have been accustomed to up till now—with technology

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and social media being the most important of these defining standards. In the list of digital literary texts archived in Volume 3 of the Electronic Literature Collection website, they are labelled under the names of the technologies and media used to create or publish them.2 Of course, the cycle of experimentation is still wide open in this field. Other literary genres may later appear using techniques we have yet to explore, and perhaps these genres will bear the name of the technologies used to produce them. However, the question remains whether social media has led to the emergence of completely new Arabic literary genres, ones which did not resemble or compare with those that came before. Based on the findings of this study, the answer to that question is a definitive “no.” We observed that Arab writers invested in various technological techniques to present a new or innovative work of a different literary genre. This differs in Western culture production, in which texts emerged that were not novels, stories, poems, or any other kind of identified genre. As a result, Western critics classify them together as digital literature. Examples of these texts include “Text Rain,” an art installation in which random letters fall down a wall in a confusing jumble until the receiver gathers them up by moving their body in front of the screen.3 Literary genres also appeared on social media, such as the so-called “Twitter Bots,” literary tweets that rely upon bot technology and which can be examined on the global Electronic Literature Collection website.4 Among the most prominent phenomena that caught our eye in literary genres published on social media is the authors’ tendency toward short texts. Our interpretation of this phenomenon is tied to three basic grounds. The first is a technical ground related to screen space, as these texts are usually read through cell phones with small screens. The second is related to the laws and provisions set in place by these social media sites. For example, Twitter sets the word count that an author is allowed to use. The third ground is the fast receiver, living in an age in which speed has become the most important element required for adapting to it. It goes without saying that shorter texts did not arise with the emergence of social media, but came long before the digital revolution. However, this literary trend did not represent a general phenomenon, but rather made its way alongside longer genres as abbreviated versions of specific genres, such as the short story or flash fiction. Today, however, the quality of brevity has seeped into every kind of narrative and poetic genre, even the novel, and has become a general phenomenon and prominent characteristic of literature published via social media. As we saw distinctly in chapter 2, there is an overwhelming presence of images in several literary genres published on social media due to the prevalence and ubiquity of images on these sites. Anyone browsing social media

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will find themselves surrounded on all sides by images. On some social media sites, such as Instagram, images are celebrated more than text. Thus, it was not surprising that these images would infiltrate literary texts as they have done with everything else. However, in our discussion on literary texts that employ images, we found that they could be divided into two categories: texts that employ images in an artistic, creative way, in which the image added an aesthetic dimension of artistic value to the text; and those in which the image is crammed into the text without adding anything artistic to it. In regard to the latter category, we have a troubling question: If the image is merely external “decoration” to the text, then why would the author include it in the first place? In other words, what concerns us is that literature is becoming commoditized just like any other product in order to attract the consumer’s eye through visual, image-based advertisement. In this way, literature adorned with images is merely transforming into a consumer good aimed at the passerby reader who is drawn to it and promotes it with a “like” or well-formulated comment, thereby ensuring that it will survive and persist despite its literary frailty. Tech consumer writing, as Amina Bilʿalī described it, is a type of YouTube-ism in which technology has pigeonholed us, forcing us to change how we are and live as mere consumers. It is an ironic simulation of the contemporary consumerist writer who is alienated by technology, wherein aesthetic value has become determined by the laws of market consumption.5 We cannot deny that images are a powerful and attractive factor, otherwise print books would not have used them to draw readers’ attention as well. However, there is a difference between an image printed on the cover of a paperback novel and the image attached to the text as one of its key components. We expect writers to employ images creatively, beyond their marketing potential, and use them as an indispensable means for closing specific gaps within the text, thereby making their existence within literature essential rather than arbitrary. This discussion of the use of images forces us to consider the use of technology in its broader context. We have seen that some literary genres rely upon various technological techniques. In this regard, there are several important questions to ask: What are the artistic dimensions of employing technology in a literary text? What are the techniques that Arabic literature published on social media have relied upon, and how diverse are they? There is no doubt that employing technology in literature has added many aesthetic dimensions to literary texts, but we will not touch upon this due to the many Arabic and foreign studies on this topic. We will, however, discuss the negative aspects of this use of technology, especially when it is introduced into a text that was originally written in print, as is the case with the previously mentioned poem, “The Dice Player” by Mahmoud Darwish. The digitization

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of the poem (transforming it from a print poem into a digital poem) deprived the poem of many of its stylistic features and significant content. The digital format, for instance, does not express all the meanings and content found in the original poem; this format remains deficient in comparison to the original. Moreover, the digitized poem does not contain all the layers of the original. If we wanted to study “The Dice Player,” we could not rely upon the digital format as a full or faithful rendering of Darwish’s poetry near the end of his life. We will always need to refer to the original text. Darwish also never presented the poem in this way, nor intended for it to be so. In fact, if he had wanted it to become a digital poem, he could have done so, since he lived during the age of digital literature. However, he preferred to maintain his own personal style, which raises the question of whether one has the right to infringe upon the originality of the text and its writer. This leads us to consider the issue of digitizing literary texts, especially the classics, and incorporating them into educational curricula on the grounds of teaching methods suitable for the needs of the twenty-first century and of bringing these texts to students who live within the confines of technology.6 In this scenario, is digitization truly beneficial? When we study literature, we consider the historical and social context in which it was created, as well as the development of the writing tools themselves used in recording literature during each historical phase. If we look at classical Arabic poetry, we find that it was usually delivered verbally and transmitted between tribes via narrators. The focus was on the ear, not the eye, which made poets consider using rhetorical devices that sounded pleasant, as well as musical meters and standardized rhyme schemes to make their poetry easier to remember. The poem thus came in a fixed, ʿamudī form. Suppose, for example, that we digitized a poem by Al-Mutanabbi and presented it as an animated poem: would we teach it the same as we do now? Would students be able to understand it in terms of its form and content, in response to the literary and non-literary factors of those times? Could they understand the rhetorical power hidden within it, the effort the poet exerted to generate the artistic imagery by which hearing transforms into vision, stirring the receiver’s imagination during a time without visual media? The answer again is a definitive “no.” There is no doubt that the digital format would impose a different reading and completely different criticism, as we explained, which may lead to chaotic methods for teaching literature. Let us take another example to further clarify this point. After moving from the era of oral tradition to the age of recorded writing, a new phenomenon in poetry emerged, and with it the focus shifted from the ear to the eye. This was the phenomenon of so-called “visual poetry” that entered the Arab literary scene. Moroccan critic Abdul Lateef Al Warari wrote:

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The poetic arts moved to occupy a new space and a new form of semiology. This is due to the awareness of the value of writing, its material, and its conditions, which aligned with the spirit of an age that broadly cared about forms of embellishment, mosaics, and architecture in Islamic art. In this way, many pieces of poetry were turned into portraits to decorate mosques and castles.7

The appearance of this kind of poetry led to new trends in criticism, such as a focus on the text’s compositional aspect, as well as new terms, including “geometric poetry,” “drawn poetry,” “forested poetry,” “portrait poetry,” etc.8 After the printing revolution, interest grew in the study of a text’s “form,” as printing created more possibilities in this field, as well as added colors, images, margins, and punctuation. As a result, new critical terms and concepts developed, such as “text space,” “black and white areas,” and form’s response to content. If we jump forward in time to the eighteenth century, when the Romantic current in literature emerged, we would have to mention the sociopolitical and intellectual developments that dominated Europe at that time, namely the call for freedom. This freedom was reflected in art and literature, and received a warm welcome in Arab society for sociopolitical reasons. This current imposed new literary forms, leading to the downfall of the ʿamudī form of the Arabic poem. Instead, Arab poets tended toward light meters and contemporary words, as well as employing more than one rhyme scheme and introducing new content that expressed the philosophy of Romantic ideology. This resulted in the formation of new critical schools, such as the “Diwan” and “Apollo” schools. It is worth noting that the “Diwan” poets waged war against the neoclassical poets, namely Ahmed Shawqi, denouncing him for imitating the ancients while inserting new content into old poetic styles.9 If those poets believed that it was inappropriate to express new values and topics in old styles, then would it also not make sense that we should reject expressing the old with a new style, or expressing the contemporary in a more modernized way? Literature continues developing, and critical trends, currents, and schools keep up with its developments. Moving from Realism to Symbolism, and from Modernism to Postmodernism, we finally reach our current age, the digital era, which has produced its own digital literature. New literary theories have emerged along with it, such as “hypertext theory” among others, as well as new tools and levels of textual criticism. For example, it is now possible to merge the tools of artistic criticism with those of literary criticism when analyzing interactive poetry, as we did in our joint study with Aida Nasrallah in our book Al-Tafāʿul al-Fannī al-Adabī fī l-Shiʿr al-Raqamī: Qaṣīdat “Shajar al-Būghāz” Namūdhajan/Literary Artistic Interaction in Digital Poetry: “The Harbor Trees” as a Model. During this era, it also became possible to apply

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a technical analysis, as a literary text could be analyzed in terms of the technology, techniques, and computer software used in it. ʿĀdil Nadhīr Bīri al-Ḥasānī did this when analyzing the poem “Tabārīḥ Raqamiyya li-Sīra Baʿḍihā Azraq”/Digital Agonies of a Biography, Some of Which are Blue by Iraqi poet Mushtāq ʿAbbās Maʿan.10 With all this in mind, when we teach literature, we undoubtedly teach it as a developmental process, one which cannot separate the major sociopolitical/cultural transformations that humanity experiences in every historical phase from its impact on the form and content of literary discourse. As a result, we must teach the text in its original format. Any change we make to this text will cause it to lose its originality, clothing it in robes that do not fit it. The changes we make to the text will force us to subject it to an arbitrary and inappropriate criticism. Imagine if we, for example, applied hypertext theory to the muʿallaqāt! Surely this would seem unnatural, and possibly even perverse. Perhaps the “Eva Stories” project represents further evidence to the validity of our claims. According to Mati Kochavi, the Israeli businessman in charge of the project, he describes Eva Stories as follows:11 The “Eva Stories” project aims to create a new and modern way of ensuring that the memory of the Holocaust is taught and preserved for today’s generation, namely in light of antisemitic movements. Thus, the work was produced to be appropriate for being received via smartphone screens, then was filmed entirely as selfies and in the first person to suit the format of Instagram stories.12

This project garnered a massive backlash from conservative Jews in Israel on the grounds that the Holocaust is one of the greatest taboos in Jewish culture, as well as for the younger generation, even if it is difficult for them to fully comprehend the pain and persecution the Jewish youth went through at that time. The Holocaust represents one of the sacred pillars of the Jewish people, even for those born many years after it. These conservatives claimed that social media cheapens the collective significance of the Holocaust for the sake of the individual, as the individual character (Eva) becomes the main focus. In their view, this medium helps reinforce the “culture of nothingness,” because it is based on flimsy, superficial texts, naïve, vulgar images, and satirical video clips, all for the sake of reaping more “likes” as the most important standard and goal. Projects like “Eva Stories,” which reflects the Holocaust by means of trivial and trite video clips, turns this most detailed and singular event in Jewish history, often seen in black and white, into something superficial that happens on social media alongside video clips of soccer matches and Kim Kardashian.13

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We must completely rethink the issue of digitizing texts, as digitization is not always positive, just because it is meant to make literature approachable to the modern generation. There are certain events, experiences, and texts that may lose their flavor, essence, inherent qualities, and value if digitized. Thus, we must think carefully when a text could be digitized if for any reason it could infringe upon its historical, sociological, and literary essence or value. Digitization cannot replace the original text, especially when wishing to teach it as a literary subject in educational curricula. Literary texts cannot be taught without referring to the original texts and connecting them to their historical context, sociocultural references, and critical methods that accompany their development. We oppose the call to digitize literary texts to bring them closer to the younger generation. However, this does not mean that we oppose teaching and including digital literature within educational curricula. On the contrary, this is a necessity imposed upon us by the current historical phase in all its developments. However, we should use texts that were generated digitally (“born digital”) when teaching digital literature in order to give each text its due and not infringe upon its originality. In doing so, we will also provide students with the opportunity to understand the historical development of literature and the media used in writing and recording it across different historical phases. As for the question of the technologies relied upon in Arabic literature published via social media and the extent of its diversity, based on our examination of the literary genres that benefitted from social media technology, we found that they essentially relied upon the following technologies: video, multimedia, hypertext, Flash animation, and audio. If we compare Arabic literary texts, in terms of diversity in their use of technology, we find a massive digital gap among them. Simply examining the collection of literary texts from Volume 3 of the aforementioned Electronic Literature Collection website will reveal that creative Arabic experiments are still in their nascent stages of development. Likewise, there are several techniques and technologies that have not yet found a place in Arabic literature. It is worth nothing that American critic Katherine Hayles has divided Western literary works into two time periods according to the technologies used: The classical period, which includes works that appeared in the 1980s and early 1990s and which used limited technologies, such as graphics, animation, colors, sounds, links, and the Macintosh Hypercard. An example text from this period is Michael Joyce’s afternoon: a story and other works from the so-called “Storyspace School.”

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The contemporary period, which includes works that appeared after 1995 and relies upon complex technologies resulting from the development of computer software and the internet, such as AutoCAD, augmented reality, virtual reality, etc.14

Hayles expects that we will soon witness more complex works, moving from three-dimensional works presented through the screen to those displayed in the real world at special exhibits. Today, some of these sorts of works exist, but they cost an exorbitant price to experience, thereby making them few and far between. Such works include “The Rubayaat,” a work presented by Jeneen Naji, Professor of Media at Maynooth University in Ireland.15 Arabic literature has not gone to the same lengths as its Western counterparts in terms of employing and exploiting the possibilities afforded by technology. There are several technologies that have not yet appeared in Arabic literature, nor in literature published via social media, nor even literature published on writers’ personal sites. In our opinion, there are two main reasons why these technologies are lacking in Arabic literature. The first is the lack of familiarity with or exposure to these sorts of technologies among some Arab authors. The second, and more important, is the lack of cooperation between various fields in academic institutions, namely between the fields of literature and computer sciences. This conversation on employing technology in literary texts now prompts us to discuss the issue of values. We have seen that using various technologies in literary texts published via social media leads to the production of new methods of literary writing. This ultimately results in new texts that can be said to have no memory, since they are still in the process of formation and experimentation, still trying to assert their identity according to the dictates of the technology and the power of the medium regulating it. In other words, literature has become a technological entity subject to constraints of digitization, which makes it constantly surrender to identifiable parameters and expectations of readers, writers, and critics. This new situation of literature raises many uncomfortable questions about everything relating to values of literary creativity. New literary genres on social media require a different set of values for interacting with them that are imposed by the technologies/techniques used in the genres themselves, as well as the medium through which they are published. The use of technological techniques in literary writing has undoubtedly led to essential changes in our literary parameters and values and those related to the ways in which we produce and receive texts. These technologies have also imposed new and different standards for textual criticism, highlighting a text’s aesthetics, as well as changed the nature of literature, moving it away from its humanistic value toward its material value. As mentioned previously,

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all these topics have been tackled in many other studies. We will thus focus our discussion on the role that the medium of social media plays in changing literary parameters and values, something which has not received sufficient attention or study in Arabic criticism. Any discussion about the “medium” requires us to mention the Canadian author Marshall McLuhan, whose theory of mass media generated a considerable amount of debate, especially after he made his famous proclamation that “The medium is the message.” By this, he stressed that any new medium creates a new conception for understanding human relations. This changes our modes of thinking, behaving, and our values. In this way, the medium is the message in its own right. Critic Adam Hammond offered a full explanation of McLuhan’s theory in his book Literature in the Digital Age (2016).16 He affirmed the latter’s thoughts regarding the medium’s impact on society, not just through the content it provides, but also by its own characteristics. This includes the society’s values, rules, and ethics that have changed as a result of the development of technological media, an indication of the powerful sociological effect of the medium. According to Hammond, McLuhan identified the impact of the printed book on the formation of the West’s consciousness. For example, the fixed linear form of printed books resulted in the formation of a linear consciousness in the human being. As a book is read by a single person at the same time, this also strengthened the concept of individuality. McLuhan sees that massive developments in technological media require different skills and a different consciousness. Since reading via the internet is characterized by ramification and versatility, it requires the skill of divergent, non-linear thinking, which then leads to moving from the individual experience to the collective experience, and from an individual consciousness to a collective consciousness.17 Similar to what was stated above, reading literary texts via social media actually reinforces McLuhan’s claims. The receivers of these texts find themselves compelled to adapt with the orthography imposed by the medium. This includes all the possibilities for interacting with the text on the one hand, and interaction with other readers on the other. As a result, these media work to shape a new culture, as well as new values in dealing with a literary text. Perhaps the most important values imposed by social media through the emergence of the literary discourse through them is the democratization of literature. Social media has led to the spread and ingraining of the concept of literary democracy in an unprecedented way by providing everyone with equal opportunities to read, write, and post literary texts. Authors have always thought long and hard about reaching the largest possible segment of readers from all social classes and providing them with texts for free. In fact, this was the reason for establishing several major projects, such as Google Books

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and Project Gutenberg. They were based on the idea that there is no value for knowledge in general, and literature in particular, if it remains cornered within the pages of a book, unable to reach all readers without discrimination. With the appearance of various social media sites, the dream of a democratized literature was realized, as these media became an open space that allows everyone to access and engage with the literary experiences of reading, writing, and practicing criticism. Social media has aided massively in the spread of democratic values with regard to literature: the freedom of and right to expression; the right to respond; the right to provide everyone with equal opportunities to showcase talents; and the right for everyone to read and peruse texts regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds, which has always formed a barrier to accessing books. In other words, the matter of literary democracy is one of the most important things that can be attributed to the advantages of social media. However, what happens when this democracy is practiced without accountability? Despite the many positives that came as a result of democratized literature, its price may have also been too high. For example, all social media sites offer a form of democracy to the receiver no matter what, allowing anyone to comment on the content that one posts. In this case, the receiver finds himself compelled to take an immediate position on everything they read and share it with other readers. Even though it may not be based on the agreed-upon standards of literary criticism, this position still exists, and its existence prompts other readers to respond to it. This results in a series of actions and reactions that impact and influence one another. Similarly, the “retweet” function feature of Twitter allows literary tweets to be posted and exchanged in record time, regardless of their literary merit. All of this ultimately leads to the consolidation of a popular literary taste that is not based in critical references. Over time, this taste may start spreading, thereby ultimately leading to the formation of a new literary consciousness and values, which may be summed up as the rise of populism and the retreat of elitism. For example, the Facebook novel led to essential changes in the natural relationship between readers and writers. It forced writers down from their ivory towers and brought them close to their readers, as well as affording new opportunities to swap roles. It made everyone equally able to offer their viewpoints and shape the text, regardless of their cultural backgrounds or level of education. All this means that we are in the midst of major cultural and axiological shifts in our conception of literature and the underlying relationships between its main poles: the text, writer, and reader. In his book Thaqāfat Twītir/Twitter Culture (2016), Abdullah Al-Ghathami states that social media, and Twitter in particular, greatly influence the shaping of a society’s culture. He termed this influence as the “allegory of the screen.”18 In his view, there are three types of “allegories” that influenced the

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formation of Arab culture: the allegory of poetry, the allegory of paper, and the allegory of the screen. The last is the most dangerous of the three, because the screen has infiltrated the world as an individualistic temptation. Anyone can be an actor or influencer on their screens. Within the screen, weakness turns into power, without any kind of supervision, whether from security, political, cultural, or social authorities. Even the language police are gone; a human being can use any word in any linguistic level or tone they wish via their keyboard. Misspellings, grammar mistakes, and various dialects will find room to stretch and flex without anything to stand in their way, not even ideas or content. The result of all this is the diffusion of populist values and culture at the expense of elitism. Returning now to some of the literary genres we touched upon in chapter 3, such as Instagram novels, YouTube fan fiction, and some forum/blog novels, we saw how social media granted access for anyone to express themselves in writing if they so wished. This opportunity was given without conditions and without regard to one’s age, experience, and level of education or culture. How could this not affect the general culture and system of values that emerge from it? On one side of the spectrum, there are those who believe that it is too early to talk about the shakeup of literary values in our Arab culture, despite the transformations we have witnessed in light of the dominance of technology. These shifts may be relatively affected in stages, but they will not change the fate of the parameters, nor turn the culture on its head. This is proven by the fact that many of the greatest Arab and foreign authors have not been changed by technology, as they continue writing and publishing print texts to this day, sticking to the customs and values they are used to.19 We do not agree with this view. The fact that some authors, even famous ones, have maintained their writing and printing habits, and still cling to their conventional literary values, does not mean that the changes that have occurred are mere flukes. Thinking this way is nostalgic delusion, refusing to accept or acknowledge the existence of the changes. Social media has established a distinct discourse, the “discourse of the screen” in exchange for verbal or written discourse. This new discourse, in turn, led to changes in literary values, customs, and culture. Social media supplied authors with brand-new tools and technologies for producing texts, resulting in new characteristics and features for literary genres. It opened different paths to readers for interacting with genres. It broke down the dichotomy between writer and reader, between sender and receiver. Through social media, the individual has become the one who gathers and unifies these dualities together. While social media opened the floodgates to democratized literature, it also paved the way for the emergence of a populist literary

154

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culture that makes no distinction between substance and filler, or between reading, writing, and criticism. In conclusion, with regard to the impact of social media sites on the language of texts, we found that the linguistic scene of the literary discourse on social media boasts several advantages. These include the diffusion of spoken dialects, the use of English, the use of emojis, the broadening of the semantic field, and the use of technology as a language. We saw that some critics view these advantages in a negative light, while others considered them as a natural part of a language’s evolutionary process. Thus, we find that this linguistic scene vacillates between two intellectual currents. The first strives to counter these advantages, which it sees as degrading to the literary text and driving it toward paucity and decadence. The second strives to establish a new literary discourse bearing new genes gained as a result of its growth and formation in the womb of technology and the global village. A war rages between these two currents, and there is no telling which will prevail, so long as they both work separately and vainly try to attract proponents of the other side. We can no longer ignore the changes that have occurred within literature in light of social media, as well as all that followed in terms of changes in society, culture, and values, both positive and negative. We expect that this critical movement will lead to many studies, research, and theorizing. However, our real shortcoming as Arab societies lies in the application: containing the phenomenon and adapting with it in a positive manner. To achieve this, academic institutions must work to include various digital humanities fields, namely literature, within their curricula. There are many courses that we could suggest, such as “Arabic Language and the Internet,” “Philosophy of Digital Literature,” “Social Media Literature,” “Digital Libraries,” “Writing with Multimedia,” “Divergent Texts and Ways of Thinking,” “Virtual Reality Literature,” “e-Publishing and Literature,” “The Anthropology of Literature: From Verbal to Digital,” and many, many others. All these courses could help improve digital literacy skills, which has become a buzzword among educators and teaching faculties in recent years. As Douglas Kellner states, in a society in which media plays an essential role in the lives of individuals, ignoring its alphabet (in this case, media literacy) would seem highly irresponsible.20 Unleashing the practices of internet reading and writing without an academic framework to guide and shape it will result in a state of chaos from which there may be no return. Any delay in teaching the digital humanities in universities would have disastrous consequences. We hereby call upon critics and researchers concerned with the topic to work toward changing the curricula in their departments and proposing new practical and theoretical courses. In this way, we can ensure that a new generation is able to understand

Conclusion

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the ethics of social media and is prepared to adapt with it responsibly and to avoid its superficiality and reactivity. NOTES 1. Gumpert and Cathcart, Inter/media. 2. http:​//​collection​.eliterature​.org​/3​/keyword​.html. 3. https:​//​www​.youtube​.com​/watch​?v​=f​_u3sSffS78. 4. http:​//​collection​.eliterature​.org​/3​/keyword​.html. 5. Bilʿalā, “Al-Adab fī Ẓull al-Taknūlūjiyyā,” 137. 6. Ruwayʿī, Al-Intirnit bi-Waṣfihā Naṣṣ. 7. Warari, “Al-Shiʿr al-Baṣrī.” 8. Nasrallah and Younis, Al-Tafāʿul al-Fannī al-Adabī fī l-Shiʿr al-Raqamī, 13–14. 9. ʿAnābis, “Muqaddamat al-Qaṣīda al-Shawqiyya,” 202. 10. Nadhīr Bīrī al-Ḥasānī, Dāʾiriyyat al-Naṣṣ, 77–108. 11. Eva Heyman was born on February 3, 1931, in Romania. She wrote a diary that was later published by Yad Vashem in 1948 and translated into Arabic. She started writing in her diary on her thirteenth birthday, one month before the Germans entered Romania. Heyman wrote in her diary a final time on May 30, 1944, three days before she was deported to Poland where she was killed. 12. “Eva Stories” is a digital project launched in 2019 to preserve the memory of the Holocaust. In it, the character of Eva Heyman is reincarnated and records her diary via Instagram stories. The project consists of a series of short video clips, all of which were filmed in English: https:​//​www​.inn​.co​.il​/News​/News​.aspx​/400345. 13. https:​//​www​.themarker​.com​/blogs​/liraz​-margalit​/BLOG​-1​.7191767. 14. Hayles, “Electronic Literature: What is it?” 15. https:​//​www​.youtube​.com​/watch​?v​=9dvjTK​-PgXI​&t​=5s. 16. Hammond, Literature in the Digital Age: An Introduction. 17. Hammond, Literature in the Digital Age: An Introduction. 18. Al-Ghathami, Thaqāfat Tuwayter, 64–69. 19. Bilʿalā, “Al-Adab fī Ẓull at-Tiknūlūjiyyā,” 131–137. 20. Kellner, “New Technologies/New Literacies.”

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Index

A lower case “n” denotes an endnote; page references for tables are italicized. Abbasid era, 77, 79 abbreviation, 131–34 ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Rīm, 18 Abdel Aal, Ghada, 50–51, 124 Abkī bi-Damʿ al-Rūḥ Lā al-Muql/I Shed a Tear from an Eyeless Soul (novel) (Nesreen), 57 Abū Khaḍra, Fahd, 86 Abū Taḥrīr al-Fāysbūkī (story) (Kiwan), 33–35 Abyat/Verses (website), 124 Academy of the Arabic Language (Cairo), 120 Aciman, Alexander, 59 Al-Adab al-Raqamī (Kiram), 6 “Al-Adab fī Wasāʾil al-Tawāṣul al-Ḥadītha wa-Tabʿāt Tajāhilhu fī l-Taʿlīm al-ʿĀlī” (article) (al-Tamīmī), 7 Al-Adab fī Ẓill al-Taknūlūjiyyāt al-Jadīda wa-Suʾal al-Qiyyam (study) (Bilālī), 7 Ad-Dūshīsh/Double Sixes (Twitter novel) (al-Dughaym), 53 Adnan, Taha, 17, 41, 43, 111, 117, 141.

See also “Al-Shāsha ʿAlaykum”; “Waḥīdan Aḥfir fī Jalīd Ḥayy”/ Alone I Dig in Living Ice Adonis, 4, 75 aesthetic reception theorists, 69 aesthetics: artistic/literary, 9, 45, 112, 150; of digital media, 53, 134, 150; technological, 8, 134; Western, 31 afternoon: a story (Joyce), 67, 149 Aḥādīth al-Intarnit (poetry collection) (al-Dana), 20, 41, 141 Aḥmad, Amal, 56 Al-Ahram (newspaper), 61 Aḥtalanī Ḥubbuka/Your Love Has Conquered Me (Instagram novel) (Jumāna), 57 Akrūḥ, ʿAbd al-Karīm, 87 ʿAlā Buʿd Milimitir Wāḥid/One Millimeter Away (developing novel) (Istītū), 53–55 Alaidy, Ahmed, 128 Alam al-Imārāt/Suffering of the Emirates (website), 124

167

168

Index

“ʿAlā Mashārif al-Taʾwīl”/On the Threshold of Interpretation (poem) (ʿAbūd al-Jabārī), 116–17 ʿAlā Qad Liḥāfika/What You’ve Got (novel) (Sūlū, Jīfārā, and Biyānist), 58 Alathba, Seeta Ali Nagadan, 6 Alfāẓ al-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya bayna l-Tawassuʿ wa-l-Inḥirāf al-Dalālī fī Faʿl al-Tadāwul ʿalā Shabakat al-Maʿlūmāt al-ʿĀlamiyya/Semantic Broadening and Deviation of Arabic Words in Exchanges over the World Wide Web (Ṭayyib), 116 Alf Layk wa-Layk (Younis), 8 Ali, Nabil, 17, 110–11, 125 alienation, 29, 32; of Arabs in virtual reality, 41, 141; virtual world and, 15, 17, 30–31. See also globalization; social isolation; virtual relationships Alif li-Ḥurriyat al-Kashf fī l-Kitāba wa-l-Insān (website), 114 ʿĀlimbi-lāKharāʾiṭ/A World Without Maps (novel) (Jabra and Munif), 58 Alkhalaf, Khalaf Ali, 134 Alyaqout, Hayat, 36 Al-Amākin fī ʿUyūn Jumāna (novel) (al-ʿArifi), 21 Amāma l-ʿarsh/Before the Throne (play novel) (Mahfouz), 47 ʿAmārī, Muḥammad, 87 Amer, Turki, 81 American Beauty (film), 71 al-ʿAmrī, Muqbil, 30 ʿamūdī (verse), 73, 146, 147 analysis, technical, 148 “Ana Saʿīd annahum Yasraqunnī”/I’m Happy They’re Plagiarizing Me (story) (Kiwan), 16 al-ʿAnazī, Bāsima, 37–39, 41, 141 animation. See A/V effects; interactive fiction; poems, animated anonymity, 18–21.

See also falsifications; women authors using fake names An Takūn ʿAbbās al-ʿAbd/Being Abbas El Abd (novel) (Alaidy), 128 An Yartadī Qamīṣan bi-Murabbaʿāt Kabīra (story) (Moustadraf), 26–27 Apollo School, 74, 80, 147 “apprehensive elite,” 4 Arab Gulf, 48, 49, 124 Arabic Digital Library, 84 Arabic language: development of, 125–26, 135, 154; and internet literary texts, 7, 8, 18, 111, 113–14; script, 120, 121; spoken, 48, 73, 109, 123–27, 154; YouTube translations into, 56. See also Arabic literature; Arabizi; dialects; semantic broadening; tech; individual titles Arabic Language Academy (Nazareth), 119 Arabic literature: brevity in, 62, 79–80, 131–34; digital, studies on, 6; history and development of, 73, 74, 146, 147; impact of social media on, 2–3, 8–10, 48, 139–44; and new technologies, 2, 6, 150; and publishing on social media, 2, 6, 7, 9–10, 46, 63; on social media, 14–15, 42–43; transformations in literary autobiography, 96–105; transformations in poetry, 73–96; transformations in short stories, 60–73; transformations in the novel, 8, 46–60; and visual images, 80–81. See also internet language; social media platforms and titles;

Index

speed; individual authors and genres Arabic novels: and alienation, 30; on blogs, 51–53; and brevity, 133–34; changes due to digitalization, 6–7, 46, 134, 143; and consequences of anonymity, 21; and dialects, 124; and digital publishing, 6–7; “forum,” 48–50; and globalization, 32–33; hypertext, 48–50; and internet language, 111, 121; and online relationships, 21–22, 25, 29, 35, 41; and self-actualization, 18; and social media, transformations in, 46–60, 111, 133–34; on social media, 4, 6–7, 8, 9, 76; and sociopolitical factors, 46–47; and technological possibilities, 128–29, 144; and teens’ misuse of social media, 37; transformations in, 46–60; and transition to print, 56, 60; using social media for societal change, 37–39, 41. See also Arabizi; individual genres, media, and titles Arabizi, 120, 121, 122. See also English language; Girls of Riyadh Arab societies: changes in, 2, 32–33, 37–38, 39, 47; and digitalization, 31; and social media, 9, 15, 21–22, 39, 151, 152–54 Arab Spring: “flashes,” 89;

169

and social media as political tool, 2, 4, 77–78, 89. See also flash fiction Arab Union for Internet Writers, 133 Arab Union of Electronic Media (AUEM), 35 Arellano, Robert, 67 al-ʿArifi, Nada, 21 Aristotle, 142 Arp, Jean, 84 Aṣdāʾ Magazine, 88 Asharq Al-Awsat (newspaper), 76 al-Aʿshīr, ʿAbdullah Ayt, 123 Ashkhāṣ Lābudda An Tatakhallaṣ Minhum/People You Can’t Get Rid Of (novel) (al-Hajri), 99 al-Ashqar, Samar, 133 Asīrat Qalbik al-Aswad/Captive of Your Black Heart (Instagram novel), 57 ʿAssāl, Mālika, 63 “Aʿtāb min Sawālib Al-Aslāk”/ Cusp of Negative Wires (poem) (Shablul), 113 Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal, 120 The Atlantic (magazine), 50 al-taʿāwun (collaboration), 86 “audio space,” 95. See also music audio-visual elements. See A/V effects “autobiographical novel,” 47 “autobiographical pact,” 98 autobiographies, 8, 96–105. See also blogs, personal A/V (audio-visual) effects, 52, 55, 66–67. See also hypertext; multimedia Awghān, ʿUmar, 111–12 ʿAwlama (short story) (Kiwan), 32 “Al-ʿAwlama wa-l-Lugha al-ʿArabiyya”/ Globalization and the Arabic Language (Zāzawī), 119–20 Ayyūb, Rashīd, 75 ʿĀyza Atgawwiz/I Want to Get Married (blog novel) (Abdel Aal), 50–51 al-Azraq, Munʿim, 83, 84, 87

170

Index

Badr, Juliet, 114 Ball, Hugo, 84 Baqa al-Gharbiyye, 118 Barakat, Salim, 46 al-Barghouti, Tamim, 79 Barīd ʿĀjil/Urgent Mail (novel) (Ṣuwayliḥ), 111 “Barīd Ilaktrūnī” (story) (Bouziane), 26, 41, 141 Bāshā, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, 120 Bashō, Matsuo, 80 Basic English for All (Ogden), 120 Al-Baṭal al-Iftirāḍī/The Virtual Hero (story) (Nasrallah), 24–25, 41, 141 al-Bātilī, Prof. Khālid, 72 al-Bayati, Abd al-Wahhab, 75 Bayḍat al-Naʿāma/The Ostrich Egg (autobiographical novel) (Musʿad), 47 Beirut, 94 Bennis, Mohammed, 4 Berlin, 94 Berrada, Mohammed, 46 Bilāl, Aḥmad Karīm, 7, 77–78, 80 Bilālī, Amīna, 7, 145 bin Ṣūf, Majdī, 109, 120 bin Ṭayyib, Qāsim, 116, 117–18 Biyānist, 58–59 Biʿalā, Amina, 135 Black Butterfly (poetry collection) (Drake), 76 blogs: autobiographical, 99–102, 105; digital interactive fiction (IF) on, 51–53; and fiction, 50–55; information on, 65–66, 99–102; personal, 7, 102, 124; public, 65; turned into books, 50, 51; and visual effects, 66. See also interactive fiction (IF); short stories Body Language (Bennis), 4 Borges, Jorge Luis, 68, 107n51

Borgman, Albert, 29 “born digital,” 149 Bouzfour, Ahmed, 68 Bouziane, Fatima, 20, 26, 41, 141 Al Breiki, Fatima, 6, 58, 84, 124, 132 Breton, André, 85 brevity: characteristic of social media literature, 144; in digital novels, 133, 134; and space limitations, 104; and speed, 97–98. See also screens; short texts Bubble (al-Ṣughayr), 62 Al-Buḥturī, 80 al-Buwayḥiyāwī, Ismāʿīl, 67, 69 The Cacodylic Eye (L’oeil Cacodylate) (Picabia), 84 Cairo, 94, 120 calligraphy, 94. See also Arabic language: script Calvino, Italo, 132 Carnegie Mellon University, 127 Carr, Nicholas, 50 censorship, 3, 22, 50. See also freedom on social media; Tatour, Dareen “chain poem,” 85–86 Char, René, 85 Chasers of the Light (poetry collection) (Gregson), 76 chatrooms. See romantic relationships, electronic; Shāt/Chat (Idrīs); social media: and marital infidelity; social media: and young people Chomsky, Noam, 4 Classical Revival, school curricula, 74 code of text, 83, 134 collaborative writing, 58–59, 85–89 Collège de France, 120 College of Humanities. See King Khalid University colloquial Arabic. See dialects colonialism, cultural, 2, 74.

Index

See also globalization; hegemony comments, readers,’ 49, 55, 110. See also followers communications: interactive, 48, 130; tools, societal acceptance of, 40–41, 141 “communicative digital narratives” (al-sardiyyātal-raqamiyyaaltawāṣuliyya), 53 computer: benefits for presenting fiction, 58; interacting with, 16, 24–25, 29, 36, 113; screens, 22–23, 132. See also internet language; keyboards; windows consciousness, linear, 151. See also McLuhan, Marshall content creator, fiction. See Aḥmad, Amal creative writing: and techno-literary rhetoric, 111– 15, 135, 145; using internet language, 110, 125; and visual effects, 66; and women, 40, 50, 76, 140 criticisms: of social media, 4, 40–41, 141, 148, 154; sociological, 9, 11n7, 13–14, 15; Western, of social media, 7, 82, 144 critics: Arab, 84, 89–90, 123, 124, 126, 147; of social media literature, 3, 6–8, 49–50, 147. See also Lukács, Georg; Thomas, Bronwen Crystal, David, 109, 110, 127, 130 Cubism, 82 cybersex, 23–26 Dadaism, 82, 83–84.

171

See also individual artists and writers al-Dahi, Mohamed, 7 al-Dana, Nada, 20, 41, 141 Dandash, Nizār, 30–31, 41, 141 Darwish, Mahmoud, 90, 94–96, 145–46 Dāwūd, ʿAbdallāh, 21, 37 Delmonico, David, 23–24, 26 “developing novels,” 53–55, 58. See also Facebook novels Dhākirat al-Jasad/Memory in the Flesh (poetic novel) (Mosteghanemi), 46–47 dialects: Arabic, 46, 67, 109; Arabic, on social media, 48, 153; in chatrooms, 124, 128; and errors, 130–31; in novels, 48, 49–51, 58; spoken, 48, 102, 123–27, 154 “The Dice Player” (poem) (Darwish), 94–96, 145–46 dictionaries. See lexicons; individual titles digital diaries. See Facebook diaries digital gap, 30–31, 149 digital literature language. See language; programming digital publishing: advantages of, 2, 5, 7, 22, 45, 67; drawbacks of, 16, 62–63; impact on form and content, 6, 10, 53, 77. See also “Al-Mirsā”/The Anchor (collective poem); publishing “digital rhetoric,” 134 digital techniques and technologies: impact on language and content, 7, 112, 118, 129, 143, 144; literature relying on, 6, 51–52, 59, 149. See also specific media and titles; tech “Digitization of the Autobiography” (study) (al-Dahi), 7

172

Index

digitalizaton of literary texts, 146, 149 “discourse of the screen,” 153 diversity: of digital diary mediums, 104; linguistic, on web, 125–26 Diwan Association, 74, 147 Drake, Robert M., 76 Duchamp, Marcel, 84 al-Dughaym, Nāẓim, 53 “Al-Dunū min al-Ḥajar al-Dāʾirī”/ Proximity to the Round Stone (visual digital poem) (al-Azraq), 83

spread of, 109, 119–20, 122, 154. See also Arabizi; globalization epigram, 79–80 errors, 3, 102, 129–31, 130, 153 Eva Stories (project), 148, 155n12 Exeter, University of (United Kingdom), 2 experimentation: in Arabic literature, 46–47, 50, 53, 85–89; moving from print to digital, 6–7; in social media, 139, 144, 150

editing, lack of, 131. See also errors; speed education: and dialects, 127; digital, 7, 129, 154–55; for virtual societies, 40, 140–41 Egypt, 15, 61, 89, 94, 120; society of, 50–51. See also 25 January Revolution Eid, Oraib, 64 Electronic Literature Collection (website), 144, 149 el-Hajj, Ounsi, 75 elites, 4–5 El Kamhawi, Ezzat, 51 El-Khoury, Bechara, 74 El Moussa, Nouhad, 119 El Sayeed, Nazem, 124 Éluard, Paul, 85–86 “E-Mail Girlfriend” (story) (Idrīs), 23 emails, 22–23, 109, 121. See also Bennis, Mohammed; internet language; readers: and relationships with writers; terminologies, computer; “transcontinental messages” emojis, 122, 127, 136n30, 154 emoticons, 127 English language: in Arabic writing, 109, 119, 120–22; in poetry, 121–22;

Facebook: comments, 3, 54, 63–64, 93; diaries, 102–5; encouragement to write, 131; fans, 3, 34; followers, 3, 37, 63, 82; friends, 34, 54; “International Short Stories of WhatsApp” page on, 61; Messenger, 30–31; novels, 53–55, 143, 152; page and terrorist, 52; pages, short stories on, 63–65; poems on, 7, 79, 81, 82, 84; stories about, 33–34; video poems on, 90–94, 96. See also developing novels; interactive fiction (IF); short stories; Tatour, Dareen “Al-Faḍāʾ al-Ayqūnī wa-l-Qāriʾ al-Tafāʿulī” (article) (Maʿmarī), 7 Fahlman, Scott, 127 Fahmawi, Subhi, 32, 63, 64 falsifications, 39. See also anonymity; women: authors using fake names fanbases. See fans fan fiction, 55–56, 58 fans, 49, 73, 93, 124. See also fan fiction; individual social media

Index

Farḥī, Fāṭīma, 6–7 Farī, Muḥammad, 87 Fatā sayyiʿa/Bad Girl (novel) (al-Ghalāwīn), 29 Fatāt al-Yūtyūb (novel) (Dāwūd), 37 fiction. See novels; short stories; poetry flash animation, 6, 55, 149 flash fiction, 20, 23; and Arab Spring, 89; pre-internet and social media, 131, 144; on social media, 8, 61, 63, 64, 68, 72. See also individual titles flash poetry, 79–80, 133. See also brevity followers: of blogs, 65–66; of Instagram fiction, 38, 58; social media, 4, 5, 34, 37, 49, 76. See also comments, readers’; Facebook Ford, Charles Henri, 85–86 Ford, Henry, 120 forums: novels, 48, 49–50, 83, 143; poetry, 86, 125 Franco-Arabic. See Arabizi Al-Frasha (forum), 49 freedom on social media: of digital publishing, 2–3, 5, 67, 133; of expression, 18, 117, 152; in self-presentation, 19, 21; of virtual world, 24; for women, 22, 40, 50–51, 71, 140; See also Facebook novels; Tatour, Dareen; virtual relationships Fuṣḥā (Modern Standard Arabic), 47, 109, 123, 125–27, 139 Futurism, 82 genres, literary: defining, 96, 135;

173

factors for changing, 131–32, 143; and social media, studies on, 6–7. See also individual genres Gesamttexte, 66 al-Ghalāwīn, Shahd, 29 Al-Ghathami, Abdullah, 4, 152 “Ghawāyat Shāt” (story) (Najm), 26 al-Ghitani, Gamal, 46 Ghumūḍ Hadhā l-Rajul Yajdhabunī/ This Man’s Mystery Attracts Me (Instagram novel), 57 “Ghurba”/Estrangement (poem) (al-Ashqar), 133 Ghuruf wa-Mirāyā/Rooms and Mirrors (short story collection) (Khammār), 67–68 Gibran, Gibran Khalil, 74 Girls of Riyadh (novel) (al-Sanea), 22–23, 121 globalization: criticism of, 2, 3, 31–33, 125; and effect on Arabic language, 109, 119–22, 123; and transformations in Arab society, 32–33. See also alienation; individualism Google: Books, 151; Images, 65, 80; Maps, 101 Graam (forum), 49 Gregson, Tyler Knott, 76 Gulf states. See Arab Gulf Al-Ḥabīb al-Iftirāḍī (poetry collection) (al-Samman), 23 Ḥafnāt Jamr/Handfuls of Embers (short story collection) (al-Buwayḥiyāwī), 67, 68–69 haiku, 80 al-Hajri, Tahani, 99–102 Ḥāla Iftirāḍiyya wa-Zuqāq (story) (ʿĪd), 28–29 Hale, Constance, 115, 133–34 Hamdūn, Thurāyā, 87

174

Index

Hamid, Mustafa, 39 Hammond, Adam, 151 “The Harbor Trees” (interactive poem), 148 Hāribūn min Kūrūnā/Fleeing from Corona (novel) (al-Qarna), 42, 142 hashtag, 77, 104, 122 Hayles, Katherine, 149 al-Ḥaysūnī, ʿĀrif, 35 Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 46 hegemony, 14, 33, 119, 120, 122, 125 Heyman, Eva, 12, 155n11 Ḥidhāʾ al-Ḥubb/Shoes of Love (YouTube video story) (Khammār), 70 “Hijāʾ al-Intarnit” (poem) (al-ʿAmrī), 30 Al-Hilal (magazine), 61 Hindi, Muhammad, 8, 39 al-Ḥiyārī, Muʿādh Jamīl, 53, 59 Hiyya wa-l-Ḥamām/She and the Dove (YouTube video story) (Khammār), 70, 71 Holocaust, 148, 155n12 Holy Qurʾ an, 36, 122, 126 Al-Ḥubb fī Zaman al-Lāḥubb/Love in the Time of No Love (blog story), 66 “Ḥubb fī Zaman al-Yahoo” (poem) (al-Ṭayrī), 24 Ḥubb fī Zaman al-ʿawlama (Fahmawi), 32 human/machine relations, 46, 110, 113, 151, 153. See also McLuhan, Marshall Ḥumūd, Zaydān, 85 Ḥurriyya Dūt Kūm/Freedom.com (Naṣr), 39 “hybrid language,” 109–10, 123. See also dialects; Fuṣḥā hypertext: fiction, 135; and interactive stories, 67; and literary works, 6; in novels, 48–50, 51; and novel structure, 52–53; in poetry, 83–85;

story, 143; theory, 147–48 ʿĪd, Jawdat, 28–29, 31, 41, 141 identity. See anonymity; virtual relationships; women: authors using fake names Idrīs, ʿAbd al-Nūr, 23, 114, 128 Idris, Yusuf, 47, 63 IFDB. See Interactive Fiction Database (IFDB) al-ifnād, 86 IF novels. See interactive fiction (IF) al-ijāza, 86 “I Love You” (poem) (Adnan), 121–22 images: and Arabic, 109, 135; creative use of, 54–55, 56, 64, 71, 145; and ego, 97, 99; and poetry, 112, 114–15; in social media, ever-present, 139, 144–45; and sound, 85; versus text, 65, 145, 147; used as decoration, 57, 145. See also Arab Spring; A/V effects; “digital rhetoric”; Tatour, Dareen; poetry “Imraʾa min Sīlīkūn”/Silicon Woman (poem) (Idrīs), 114–15 individualism, 29, 151 information age and language, 110–11 Instagram: followers, 37–38, 57–58; images, 145; novels, 57–58, 153; poetry, 76, 79; stories, 148, 155n12. See also Qiṭaṭ Instagram/ Instagram Kitties Instagram Kitties. See Qiṭaṭ Instagram/ Instagram Kitties Interactive Fiction Database (IFDB), 51–52, 58

Index

interactive fiction (IF), 51–53, 59, 67–69 interactive poetry, 84, 147 interconnectivity in literature, 68–69 International Journal of Middle East Studies, transliteration method of, 9 internet: early, 4, 18, 126; freedom to publish and express, 133; lexicon, 110–15; linguistic features of, 48, 109; and reading, 151, 154; terminology, 110, 111. See also social media internet language: basic goal of, 132; in creative writing, 110, 125; and errors, 130; localized, 114; poetic, 111–15; programming, 134–35. See also dialects; errors; globalization; lexicons; semantic broadening; tech; Arabic language intertextuality, 8 Al-Intirnit wa-Shiʿriyyat al-Tanāṣ fī l-Riwāya al-ʿArabiyya al-Muʿāṣira (Hindi), 8 “Al-Intirnit wa-l-Thawra al-Miṣriyya”/ The Internet and the Egyptian Revolution (poem) (Hamid), 39, 41, 141 Isbrīsū/Espresso (Twitter novel) (al-Naʿīmī), 59–60 “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (article) (Carr), 50 Islam, 126. See also Holy Qurʿan IslamOnline.net, 125 Ismāʿlī, Al-Hādī, 7 Israel, 91, 118, 148. See also 1967 Arab-Israeli War; Palestinian-Israeli conflict

175

Istītū, ʿAbdulwāḥid, 53–55 “ʿItāb min Sawālib al-Aslāk” (poem) (Shablul), 16 al-Jabārī, ʿAbūd, 116–17 Al-Jabha (website), 91 Jabra, Jabra Ibrahim, 58 al-Jabūrī, Raḥīm Razzāq, 63 Jadal al-Lugha fī l-Naṣṣ al-Ibdāʿiyya al-Raqamiyya: Qirāʾa fī l-Mashhad al-ʿArabī/Language Controversy in Creative Digital Texts: A Reading of the Arab Scene (Rahahleh), 135 Janco, Marcel, 83 Jīfārā, 58–59 Al-Jinan (magazine), 61 Jīrān/Neighbors (website), 133 Johnson, Christopher, 131 Jordan, 15 Joroh al-Waqt (forum), 49 journals. See diaries Joyce, Michael, 67, 149 Jumāna (novel.n99), 57 al-Jundī, Hāla, 63 Kalīla wa-Dimna, 69 Kamak, Parehan, 120 Kaur, Rupi, 76 Kellner, Douglas, 154 keyboards, 124, 127–29, 131, 132, 153 Khammār, Labība, 6, 67–69, 70–71 al-Kharrat, Edwar, 46 Khaṭawāt al-Shayṭān/The Devil’s Footsteps (YouTube novel) (Aḥmad), 56 Khayba (story) (al-Dana), 20 Khuṭūṭ Tamās (Raḥḥāl), 21 Kibar, Melih, 66 Kifee (forum), 49 King Khalid University (Saudi Arabia), 7 Kiram, Zuhur, 6 Kirby, Alan, 2 Kiwan, Suheil, 16, 18–20, 32, 41, 42, 142–43

176

Index

Kochavi, Mati, 148 Kuttāb al-Qiṣṣa al-Qaṣīra/Short Story Authors (Facebook), 63 Kuwait, 15 Labsir, Dr. Latifa, 97–98 Laghwānī, Al-ʿArabī, 87 language: of the Arabic novel, 46–47; changes from technology and social media, 109, 114–15, 134–35; scientific, and poetry, 112, 113, 135; in smartphone stories, 62, 70–71; and tech, 134–35. See also “digital rhetoric”; internet language; semantic broadening Language and the Internet (Crystal), 109 “language death/gap/graveyard,” 125 Lasky, Gaby, 91 Lā Taʿish Ḥayāt Shakhṣ Ākhar/ Don’t Live Another Person’s Life (al-Hajri), 99 Lā Urīd li-hādhihi l-Qaṣīda an Tantahī/I Don’t Want This Poem to End (poetry collection) (Darwish), 94 Laylā wa-Layālī l-Fāysbūk/Layla and Her Facebook Nights (novel) (Dandash), 30–31, 41, 141 Leav, Lang, 76 Lebanon, 15, 94 Leenhardt, Jacques, 11n7 Lejeune, Philippe, 96–97, 98, 104 Lenze, Nele, 66 Le Pacte autobiographique/The Autobiographical Pact (Lejeune), 96–97 Le Trio Joubran, 95 Levant, 61. See also Lebanon; Palestine; Syria lexicons:

contemporary, 118–19; internet, use of, 110–15. See also individual titles Libya, 89 Liilas (forum), 49 likes and comments, 3–4. See also readers links. See hypertext literacy, digital, 129, 154 literary blogs. See blogs literature: comparative, 9; democratization of, 151–52; folk, 46, 86, 126–27; resistance, 8, 13, 90, 94. See also Arabic language, history and development of Literature and Art Interactive (website), 52 Literature and Social Media (Bronwen), 7 Literature in the Digital Age (Hammond), 151 Love and Misadventure (poetry collection) (Leav), 76 “Al-Lugha wa-l-Intirnit aw al-Khaṭaʾ Ḥads bi-l-Mustaqbal”/Language and the Internet, or the Mistake of Predicting the Future (article) (El Sayed), 124 Al-Lugha wa-l-Khiṭāb/Language and Discourse (ʿUmar Awghān), 111–12 Lukács, Georg, 13–14 Lu ʿbat al-Qadar/Game of Fate (novel) (Nesreen), 57 Madkhal ilā l-Adab al-Tafāʿulī (study) (Al Breiki), 6 al-Maḥdālī, Jamāl, 87 Mahfouz, Naguib, 46 Mahjar poets, 74. See also Romanticism Maḥmūd, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm, 117 al-Mājid, Aḥmad, 7

Index

“Makān Jamīl li-l-Talaṣṣuṣ”/A Beautiful Place for Peeping (story) (Najm), 16 al-Mākirī, Muḥammad, 95 al-Malaika, Nazik, 75 al-Malgami, 73 Mamluk era, 74, 82, 84 Manasirah, Izz al-Din, 80 maqāmāt, 45, 60 “Marthiyya ilā Māmādū Diyālū”/ Elegy to Mamadou Diallo (poem) (Adnan), 121 Masāḥa Iftirāḍiyya wa-Makān (dialogue) (ʿĪd), 31, 41, 141 Al-Mashriq, 61 Al-Masīkh al-Ilaktrūnī (Alyaqout), 36 Masnaʿ al-Shiʿr/Poetry Factory, 88 Massignon, Louis, 120 mawāliyya, 126. See also Arabic language, development of Mawasi, Farouk, 63 Mawsūʿat al-Shiʿr al-ʿArabī/Arabic Poetry Encyclopedia Facebook page, 76 Maymūn, Mujāhid, 126 Maynooth University (Ireland), 150 Maʿan, Mushtāq ʿAbbās, 84, 85, 148 Al-Maʿjam al-ʿArabī al-ʿIbrī al-Iliktrūnī/Digital Arabic-Hebrew Dictionary (Milson), 119 Maʿmarī, Sumayya, 7 Al-Maʿrifa (magazine), 72 McLuhan, Marshall, 97, 151 media, traditional, 2 Melhem, Ibrahim, 6, 7, 64, 70–71, 82, 126 Messadi, Mahmoud, 46 Messenger, 30 Microstyle: The Art of Writing Little (Johnson), 131 Al-Mihmāz/The Spur (Facebook), 63 Milk and Honey (poetry collection) (Kaur), 76 Milson, Menahem, 119

177

Min al-Naṣṣ ilā l-Naṣṣ al-Mutarābiṭ (study) (Yaktine), 6 Min Quṣuṣ al-Zayn/Among Beautiful Stories (blog), 65 “Min ʿAliyā’ al-Intirnit”/From the Heights of the Internet (poem) (Shablul), 113 Mirāyā Saʿīd Raḍwānī/Saʿīd Raḍwānī’s Mirrors (short story collection) (Khammār), 67, 68 “Al-Mirsā”/The Anchor (collective poem), 86–87 mistakes. See errors Mixpod, 66 mobile applications. See Instagram; short stories modernism, 1, 4–5, 81, 147 Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), 47, 48, 58, 109. See also Fuṣḥā Morocco, 15, 53, 63, 87 Mosteghanemi, Ahlam, 7, 47 mouse, evolution of meaning of, 117, 118 Moustadraf, Malika, 26–27 MSA. See Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) Mubarak, President Hosni, 39 Mudawwinat Wāḥat al-Qiṣṣa l-Qaṣīra/ Short Story Oasis Blog, 65 “Muḥādathat ʿalā l-Masanjar”/A Convo on Messenger (poem) (Badr), 114 Al-Muḥārib/The Fighter (Facebook novel) (Istītū), 55 al-Muḥsinī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, 62, 89–90 Mukhtārāt min Adab al-Qiṣṣa l-Qaṣīra Jiddan/Selections of Flash Fiction Literature (Facebook), 63 multimedia, 6, 51, 67, 83, 84, 149, 134–35. See also A/V effects al-mumātana, 86 Munif, Abdul Rahman, 58 Munīr, Sirāj, 42, 142

178

Index

Muntadā Ibdāʿ ī l-Qiṣṣa l-Qaṣīra/ The Short Story Creativity Forum (Facebook), 63 Muntadā l-Qiṣṣa al-ʿArabiyya/Arabic Story Forum (website), 114 Muntaṣaf al-Layl/Midnight (novel) (Aḥmad), 56 Al-Muqataf (magazine), 61 al-murāfada (supporting or assistance), 86 musājalāt (competitions), 86, 87–88 music: in hypertext poetry, 83–85; in interactive fiction, 52, 54; in short stories on blogs, 66; in YouTube video stories, 56, 70. See also “The Dice Player” (poem) (Darwish); “Qāwim Yā Shaʿbī Qāwimuhum”/Resist, My People, Resist Them (video poem) (Tatour) Musʿad, Ra’ouf, 47 Al-Mutanabbi, 146 Al-Mutasharrid/The Vagrant (Facebook novel) (Istītū), 55 Mutran, Khalil, 74 Muʾmin al-Wizān/Faithful Analogy (personal blog), 65 muʿallaqāt, 45, 134, 148 Muʿīn, Mushtāq ʿAbbās, 135 “Nabīdh al-Layl al-Abyaḍ”/Wine for White Nights (visual digital poem) (al-Azraq), 83 Nadhīr, Āuri, 148 Nādī al-Mubdiʿīn/Creatives Club (forum), 125 Nagi, Ibrahim, 74 Naḥwa Inʿitāqī (novel) (ʿAbd al-Raḥmān), 18 Naji, Jeneen, 150 Najm, Al-Sayyid, 16, 26, 103 Naṣr, Ashraf, 39 Nasrallah, Aida, 6, 24–25, 26, 41, 82, 141, 147

Nazareth, 119 Naẓariyyat al-Adab al-Raqamī (Rahahleh), 6 Naẓariyyat al-Adab al-Raqamiyya fī Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī/ Theory of Digital Literature on Social Media Sites (Melhem), 7, 70–71 al-Naʿīmī, Abdullāh, 59–60 Nesreen (novel.nesreen), 57 Netherlands, 87 New York 80 (play novel) (Idris), 47 New York Public Library digital novel project, 57 Nietzsche, Friedrich, 1 Nikāḥ Iftirāḍī (novel) (al-Ḥaysūnī), 35 1967 Arab-Israeli War, 47 Nisyān Dūt Kūm/Amnesia.com (novel) (Mosteghanemi), 6–7 Niyāndirtāl/Neanderthal (novel) (Munīr), 42, 142 novels, 56, 133–34. See also brevity; play novel; poetic novel Ogden, Charles Kay, 120 One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, 69 orthography, 128. See also errors Ottoman era, 74 Ouettar, Tahar, 47 Palestine, 15, 18, 31, 91, 94, 95 Palestinian-Israeli conflict, 90–94 Pan-Arabism, 47, 74 The Passing of a Great Hero. See Raḥīl Manāḍil Kabīr “People Are Followers” (poem) (Sanajleh), 81–82 phweeting (fake tweeting). See Twitter novel Picabia, Francis, 84 Piscator, Erwin, 84 plagiarism, 16

Index

play novel, 47 poems: animated, 94–96; collective, 85–89; flash, 79–80, 133; and social media for societal change, 39, 41; video, 89–94, 135, 143; WhatsApp stories in form of, 62 poetic holidays, 77 poetic novel, 46–47 poetry: in Arabic dialects, 124, 125; Arabic free verse movement in, 75; classical Arabic, 146; flash, 79–80, 133; hypertext, 83–75; image, 80–82; incomplete (“poetry of the moment”), 78; love and internet language, 114–15; portrait, 82, 84; prose, 23, 75, 78; on social media, 5, 8, 76–96, 124; and technological language, 111–15; transformations in Arabic, 73–96; on Tumblr, 76; visual, 146–47; visual digital, 82–83. See also “chain poem”; Facebook; Instagram Poland, 155n11 political expression; on social media, 2–3, 5, 14, 16, 18, 50. See also blogs: autobiographies; blogs: fiction populist literary culture, 153–54. See also social media: and democratization post-modern era, 32

179

See also alienation; globalization; individualism postmodernism, 1, 2, 4, 126, 147 post-postmodernism, 2 Power Point, 55 pre-Islamic age, 45, 79, 122 Presber, Rudolf, 84 print media: era of, 77, 132, 143, 151; and social media, 102, 133; traditional, 10, 65, 88, 102, 103, 105, 153; and WhatsApp short stories, 62. See also publishing, digital; publishing, risks of electronic; individual titles print publishing, 9, 16 privacy, 97, 103, 104. See also Facebook diaries; self-actualization programming: information about blog, 65–66; language, 134–35; terminology, 110 Project Gutenberg, 152 property, intellectual, 16, 65 publishing: advantages of digital, 15–16, 22, 58, 59, 67, 77; in the Arab world, 5, 61; conditions of digital, 10, 124– 25, 133; digital, impact on form and content, 6, 10, 53, 77; impact of digital on Arabic novels, 6; rapid and free digital, 2, 7; risks of electronic, 15–21, 53; from social media to print, 9, 51; traditional print, 45, 61, 67, 151 punctuation, 127–31, 147 Qaḍāyāal-Shiʿral-ʿArabīl-Muʿāṣir/ Issues of Contemporary Arabic Poetry (al-Malaika), 75

180

Index

Qāl Abū Hurayra/Abu Hurayra Said (novel) (Messadi), 46 “Qālat Liyya l-Qaṣīda Dawʾuhā l-ʿUmūdī”/The Poem Told Me of Its Vertical Light (visual digital poem) (al-Azraq), 83 Qāmūs al-Majmaʿ fī Alfāẓ al-ʿArabiyya al-Muʿāṣira wa-l-Turāthiyya al-Shāʾiʿa/Comprehensive Dictionary of Modern Arabic Words and Common Heritage, 118–19 al-Qarna, Mustafa, 42, 142 Al-Qasemi Arabic Language Academy (Baqa al-Gharbiyye), 118, 119 Qaṣīdatnbal-Bayt al-Wāḥid (Tillisi), 79 al-Qasim, Samih, 91 Qawāfil (journal), 7 “Qāwim Yā Shaʿbī Qāwimuhum”/ Resist, My People, Resist Them (video poem) (Tatour), 90–94 Qīqāī, Aḥmad, 87 Qiṣaṣ Nīt (flash fiction collection) (Bouziane), 20 Al-Qiṣṣa al-Qaṣīra Jiddan: ʿAwda li-l-Ḥayyāt fī Zaman Twītir/Flash Fiction: Coming Back to Life in the Age of Twitter, 72 Qiṭaṭ Instagram/Instagram Kitties (novel) (al-ʿAnazī), 37–39, 41, 141 quantity, of internet texts, 78, 90, 132 Quraya, Ḥamza, 52 Qurʿan. See Holy Qurʿan Rabat. See Morocco al-Rabīʿī, ʿAbd al-Zahra, 84 Rahahleh, Ahmad Z., 6, 53, 59, 135 Raḥḥāl, Ghaṣṣūn, 21 “Raḥīl Manāḍil Kabīr”/The Passing of a Great Hero (short story) (Kiwan), 18–20, 41, 141, 142–43 Rajul wa-khamas Nisāʾ (novel) (Dāwūd), 21 Ralentir Travaux: Slow Under Construction (Breton, Éluard, and Char), 85

Ramallah, 95 Rama wa-l-tanīn/Rama and the Dragon (poetic novel) (al-Kharrat), 46 Al-Raqamiyya wa-Taḥawwulāt al-Kitāba (Melhem), 6 Rāshid, Ḥusayn, 35 readers: functions of, 69; interaction, 7, 49–50, 51, 54; and relationship with writers, 48, 104–5, 116, 152 readership: low, for digital novels, 56; social media expands, 3, 7, 57 reading digital text, exhaustion from, 131–32 realism, 74–75, 147 Reineh, 90 relationships, digital sexual, 23–24. See also cybersex; virtual relationships remix, 71 Rensin, Emmett, 59 revolution: communications, 1, 2, 123; digital, 42, 139; information, 1, 2, 8, 72, 117; linguistic, 109, 123; print, 8, 109, 142, 147; social media, 2, 5; technological, 1, 2, 7, 14, 46, 47, 118 rhetoric: Arabic traditional, 62, 75, 135, 146; digital, 134; new techno-literary styles, 111–15 riwaia.jore, 57 Riwāyat al-Wāqiʿiyya al-Raqamiyya (Sanajila), 134 Riwāyat Ayla/Ayla’s Story (Instagram novel), 57 Al-Riyadh (newspaper), 72 Romania, 155n11 Romanticism, 74, 147

Index

romantic relationships, electronic, 21–23, 26–27. See also social media and marital infidelity; social media romances Roshdy, Nissmah, 94–96 rotoscoping. See animation The Rubayaat (3D artwork) (Naji), 150 Ryan, Marie-Laure, 17 Ṣadīqī Mughram bi-Zawjatī/My Friend is Enamored with My Wife (novel) (al-Sāʾiḥ), 133 al-Sakākī, ʿAbd al-Qādir, 87 Sakran, Dima Mustafa, 63 Ṣāliḥ, Wahība, 6 al-Samman, Ghada, 23 Sanajila, Muhammad, 6, 25–26, 52, 132, 133, 135 Sanajleh, Maen, 81–82 al-Sanea, Rajaa, 22–23 Al-Sardiyya al-Raqamiyya (Ṣāliḥ), 6 al-sardiyyātal-raqamiyyaal-tawāṣuliyya. See communicative digital narratives; developing novel Sārī, Ḥilmī, 19–20 Saudi Arabia, 7, 15, 121 al-Sayyab, Badr Shakir, 75 “Sayyidat al-Māʾ”/Lady of the Water (visual digital poem) (al-Azraq), 83 al-Sāʾiḥ, Jamāl, 133 Schanda, Susanne, 51 Scheherazade, 115 science fiction, 42–43, 143 screens: allegory of, 152–53; “discourse of the,” 153; “frigid digital,” 113; reading on, 131–32; smartphones, writing on, 61, 62, 104, 144; and virtual world, 24–25. See also alienation; computers; Al-Ghathami, Abdullah; social isolation; Sanajila,

181

Muhammad; self-actualization; Thaqāfat Twītir/Twitter Culture; virtual relationships; individual authors and social media self-actualization, 17–18, 20, 21 self-expression, 18, 50–51, 93, 97–99. See also autobiographies; Facebook diaries; blogs, personal; freedom on social media semantic broadening, 115–19, 154 Seoul, 100, 101 Shablul, Ahmed Fadl, 16, 41, 113, 141 Shafīʿ, Usāma, 79 “Shaghab” (short story) (al-Dana), 20 “Shajar al-Būghāz”/Bougainvillea Trees (Facebook poem) (al-Azraq), 84 Al-Shakal wa-l-Khiṭāb/Form and Discourse (al-Mākirī), 95 Shakl al-Kitāba fī ʿAṣr al-ʿAwlama (al-Mājid), 7 Al-Shamʿa wa-l-Dahālīz/The Candle and the Corridors (autobiographical novel) (Ouettar), 47 “Al-Shāsha ʿAlaykum” (poem) (Adnan), 17–18, 43, 111, 117, 121 “Shāt”/Chat (poem) (Idrīs), 128 Shāt/Chat (story) (Sanajila), 25–26, 52, 132 Shawqi, Ahmed, 147 al-Shaykh, Khālid, 21 Shinkar, Asmaa, 45 Al-Shiʿr al-ʿArabī l-Faṣīḥ/Eloquent Arabic Poetry page, 76. See also Instagram Shiʿriyyat al-Naṣṣ al-Tafāʿulī (Khammār), 6 Al-Shiʿr wa-l-Adab al-ʿArabī/Arabic Poetry and Literature, 76. See also Twitter “Al-Shiʿr Yantaʿish bi-Faḍl Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī”/Poetry is Revived Thanks to Social Media Sites (article), 76

182

Index

short poems, 78–79. See also Twitter, poetry on short stories: and A/V effects, 66, 67, 69; on blogs, 65–67; defined, 60; in Facebook, 63–65; and globalization, 32; and images, 64–65, 66, 71; and important magazines, 61; interactive, on blogs, 67–69, 135; and language, 60, 62, 70–71; in mobile applications, 61–63; pre-internet and social media, 131; transformations in, 60–73; on Twitter, 72–73. See also individual authors and titles short texts, factors encouraging, 61, 131–32, 133, 144. See also brevity single-verse poetry. See haiku; short poems smartphones: and language, 122, 124, 127–28; and lost texts, 62; and small screens, 58, 61, 62, 104, 144. See also language; screens Snir, Reuven, 73 SoapZone (website), 52 social isolation, 27–30 social media: and anonymity, 18–21; and authors’ views on, 39–40, 41, 45, 139–40; convenience of, 3, 7, 14, 50; and democratization, 3, 7, 133, 151, 152, 153; disseminating literary texts, 2–3, 15–16, 50, 77–78; downside of, 3, 30, 39–40, 105, 152; and elite reluctance, 4–5;

and expanded readership, 3, 5, 7, 57; and falsifications, 39, 48, 140; followers, 4, 5, 34, 37, 38, 49, 76; history of, in Arab world, 2, 9, 15, 39; and hybrid language, 110; information provided, 5–6; and interactive communication, 19–20, 130; and interactivity, 4–5, 7, 41, 64, 100, 105; lifestyle, 14, 41, 141; and limited space, 132; and literary democracy, 151–52; and literary language, 8, 9; and literary revolution, 5; and marital infidelity, 24, 26–27; need for creative literature on, 15, 42–43; and new Arabic literary genres, 144; and plagiarism, 16; as protagonist, 8, 13; and psychological harm, 39, 40, 140; romances, 14, 21–23, 37; services, 14, 58; and societal change, 14, 37–43, 89–90; space for oppositional discourse, 2, 5, 7, 14, 140; and young people, 36–37, 140. See also Arabic literature social media impacts: on literary content, 5, 8, 13–43, 139; and literary discourse, 8, 46, 63, 109–35, 139, 151; on literary form/structure, 6, 7, 8, 10, 45–105, 139. See also internet language; social media: and democratization social media literature:

Index

and brevity, 62, 78–80, 104, 133, 134, 144; consumption of, 3, 132; convenience, 3; defined, 8, 9; forms of, 10, 45, 62, 90; and human social media relationships, 14; and interacting with social media, 42, 142; of Palestinian resistance, 90–94; post-2015 slump in, 41, 142; “resistance,” 8, 13; and semantic broadening, 117– 18, 154; and stages of acceptance, 41, 141; structure of, 8, 9, 47, 96, 97, 135; technologies and Arab authors, 141, 144, 145, 149; and terminology, 110–11; uses of, 2, 14, 37; and women, 40, 50, 76, 140; and writing speed, 105, 129; and young people, 36–37, 40, 57, 124, 140. See also dialects; digital publishing; internet language; Tatour, Dareen; individual literary genres and social media social media technologies: and Arabic language, 18, 109, 118, 125–26; and Arabic literature, 131, 153; and communications, 59, 98, 123, 141; digital image, 80; as a double-edged sword, 40, 140; employed in literary texts, 22, 85, 94–96, 145; grid, used in blog stories, 68–69; language of, 112, 115, 134, 154; and literary discourse, 139, 144, 148, 153;

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modern, and text, 22, 96, 105, 129; and natural language, 135; reactions to new, 1, 2, 14, 41–42, 139, 142, 151; used by Arabic and Western literary works, 149–50. See also dialects; hypertext; multimedia; poetry, image; semantic broadening; individual social media platforms sociology, communications, 40–41, 141 “Sociology of Literature” (article) (Leenhardt), 11n7 Sonara (newspaper), 91 South Korea, 100–1 spaces, in social media literature, 53, 58, 64, 95, 147 “spatial occupation,” 95. See also The Dice Player; Roshdy; Al-Shakal wa-lKhiṭāb/Form and Discourse “speech acts,” 47 speed: the age of, 36, 48, 61, 75, 80, 97, 98; of internet conveyance, 116; of publishing, 7, 48, 67, 80, 116, 131; and shorter texts, 80, 132, 144; of writing, 78, 105, 129. See also brevity; errors stories. See short stories Storyspace School, 149 “subservience” in Arab culture, 82. See also colonialism; globalization Sudjic, Olivia, 57 al-Ṣughayr, Aḥmad, 61–62 Sūlū, 58–59 Sunshine 69 (interactive story) (Arellano), 67 surfer (website), 17, 56, 123. See also internet language

184

Index

Ṣuwayliḥ, Khalīl, 111 “Suwayʿa”/A Little While (flash fiction story) (Khammār), 68 Switzerland, 83 Symbolism, 147 Sympathy (Instagram novel) (Sudjic), 57 Syria, 15, 89 “Tabārīḥ Raqamiyya li-Sīra Baʿḍhā Azraq”/Digital Agonies of a Biography Some of Which are Blue (hypertext poem) (Maʿan), 84, 148 Al-Tafāʿul al-Fannī al-Adabī fī l-Shiʿr al-Raqamī: Qaṣīdat “Shajar al-Būghāz” Namūdhajan/Literary Artistic Interaction in Digital Poetry (Nasrallah and Younis), 6, 82, 147 Taghrīd al-Ṭāʾir al-Ālī (poetry collection) (Shablul), 16, 41, 113, 141 Taha, Ibrahim, 131–32 Taḥaddiyyāt ʿAṣr al-Maʿlūmāt/ Challenges of the Information Age (Ali), 17, 125 Al-Taḥawwulāt al-Jamāliyya wa-lThaqāfiyya fī l-Kitāba al-Raqamiyya (al-Wakīl), 6 Ṭāhir, Ibrāhīm, 64 Al-Tajrīb wa-Tajāwuz al-Wasīṭ al-Waraqī fī l-Kitāba al-Rawāʾiyya (Farḥī), 6 Ṭalaʿat, Shīrīn, 64 Tamazzuqāt ʿIshq Raqamī/Lacerations of a Digital Lover (poetry collection) (Idrīs), 114 Tamer, Zakaria, 63 al-Tamīmī, Amal, 7, 45 al-tamlīṭ, 86 Taq Kasra, 80 “Tashakkulāt al-Naṣṣ al-Adabī fī Mawāqiʿ al-Tawāṣul al-Ijtimāʿī” (article) (Bilal), 7 Tatour, Dareen, 90–93 tawqīʿāt, 79 Tawʾam Rūḥī/Soulmate (Aḥmad), 56

al-Ṭayrī, ʿIzzat, 24, 26 Taʾthīr al-Intirnīt ʿalā Ashkāl al-Ibdāʿ wa-l-Talaqqī fī l-Adab al-ʿArabī al-Ḥadīth (Younis), 6, 82 Taʾthīrāt al-Taknūlūjiyā fī l-Riwāya min al-Waraqiyya ilā l-Ḥāsūbiyya (Alathba), 6 teaching: digital humanities, 7, 96, 129, 146, 154; text in original format, 148, 149. See also education tech, 134–35, 145. See also digital techniques and technologies technological revolution. See revolution, technological technophobia, 2 teenagers and social media, 36–37 Teglasy, Gergely, 53 Tellawi, Tammam, 78 terminologies, computer, 110, 113, 116, 132. See also internet language; semantic broadening terrorism: and digital literature, 52, 93–94; inspired by social media, 39, 89–91, 92 “Text Rain” (installation), 144 Thaqāfat al-Intirnit (Sārī), 19–20 Thaqāfat Twītir/Twitter Culture (Al-Ghathami), 152 theory, literary, 6, 139, 147, 148 Thomas, Bronwen, 7 Tillisi, Khalifa Mohammed, 79 titles, 77 transcendence, 1, 4 “transcontinental messages,” 113 transforming from print to interactive works, 45–46, 53, 57 transition from print to digital spaces, 15–16 Tumblr. See poetry Tunisia, 89, 94

Index

tweet fic (Twitter fiction). See Twitter novel Tweet story, 143. See also Twitterature (book) (Aciman and Rensin) 25 January Revolution, 39 twiction (Twitter fiction). See Twitter novels twiller (Twitter thriller). See Twitter novels Twitter, 2, 4, 10, 37–38, 46, 100; Al-Shiʿr wa-l-Adab al-ʿArabī/ Arabic Poetry and Literature page, 76; bots, 144; and flash fiction revival, 72; novels (twovels), 59–60; poetry on, 76, 79, 80, 89; retweet function, 152; short stories on, 72–73; word count, 72, 80, 144. See also brevity; Chomsky, Noam Twitterature (book) (Aciman and Rensin), 59 Twitter fiction. See Twitterature typography, 127–28, 127–29 Tzara, Tristan, 83 ʿUbayd,ʿĪsā Ḥasan, 42 Übermensch, 1. See also Nietzsche, Friedrich; transcendance “unapprehensive elite,” 4. See also Al-Ghatami, Abdullah; Ziedan, Youssef United States, 120. See also colonialism, cultural; English language; globalization values: Arab literary, 147, 150–51, 153; and Facebook technology, 7; social, 47, 93, 127, 152; social media and, 139, 140, 154;

185

and virtual reality, 35 Viber, 61 video clips, 52, 55, 71, 91, 92–93, 104, 148. See also video poems; YouTube; individual works video stories, 68, 69–70 virtual reality: power of, 35; two faces of, 17–18, 33 virtual relationships, 19, 20, 23, 34, 140–41; ease in forming, 14, 29; victims of, 20, 24–25. See also cybersex; individual titles virtual worlds: in novels, 19–20, 29, 33–35; seeking refuge in, 17–18 Waheed, Nayyirah, 76 “Waḥīdan Aḥfir fī Jalīd Ḥayy”/Alone I Dig in Living Ice (poem) (Adnan), 112–13 Wahm al-Kūrūnā/The Corona Delusion (novel) (ʿUbayd ʿĪsā), 42, 142 al-Wakīl, Saʿīd, 6 Wa-lī fīhā ʿAnākib Ukhrā (poetry collection) (Adnan), 11, 17, 41, 112, 121, 141 Wallraff, Barbara, 120 “wanna-be-a-bride.blogspot.com” (Abdel Aal), 50–51 Al Warari, Abdul Lateef, 146–47 Ward, Ezra Daily, 76 WhatsApp, 10, 46; writing short stories on, 61–62 windows (social media), 34, 48, 84, 111, 112; meanings of, 116–17, 118 Wired Style (Hale), 115, 133–34 women: authors using fake names, 18, 49, 50, 57, 99; and forum novels, 49, 57;

186

Index

and freedom in social media, 40, 140; Instagram fiction writers, 57–58; and virtual relationships, 24, 25. See also anonymity; blogs; freedom on social media; self-actualization; social media: and marital infidelity; virtual relationships; world wide web. See internet writing: devices, 16, 58, 62, 129, 131, 132; traditional, 128. See also keyboards “written speech,” 130. See also Crystal, David Yaktine, Said, 6 Yawm Iltiqaynā wa-Yawm Iftifaraqnā (al-Shaykh), 21 Yaʿqūb, Muḥammad, 79 Yemen, 15, 89 Younis, Eman, 6, 8, 82, 89

YouTube, 2, 10, 37, 46; fan fiction on, 55–56, 153; video poems, 89–94; video stories, 69–71. See also Tatour, Dareen zajals, 86 Zakkī, Walīd, 29 Ẓalāl al-Wāḥid/Shadow of the One (IF novel) (Sanajilah), 52 Al-Zamanal-Ākhar/The Other Era (poetic novel) (Barakat), 46 Zaynī Barakāt (novel) (al-Ghitani), 46 Zāzawī, Muwaffaq, 119–20 Zebra Poetry Film Festival (2013), 94 Zein, Ahmad, 72, 125 Ziad, Tawfiq, 90 Ziedan, Youssef, 4 Al-Zinzāna Raqm 6/Cell No. 6 (IF novel) (Grira), 52 Zurich. See Switzerland Zwirbler (developing novel) (Teglasy), 53

About the Author

Eman Younis received her PhD in digital literature from Tel Aviv University in 2011. Her dissertation, “Internet Impact on Patterns of Literary Creation and its Acceptance in Contemporary Arabic Literature,” is considered a pioneering study in the field of Modern Arabic Literature and was awarded the Prize of the Internet Association in Israel. Her research and teaching interests include digital literature, digital literacy, modern Arabic literature, and teaching Arabic for heritage learners. To date, she has published three books, as well as many review articles in these areas. Younis started her academic career at Beit Berl Academic College, first as an instructor in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature, then assuming the position of department head. She also directs the master of education program for Teaching and Learning Languages, as well as the Arab Society Research Center in Israel at the same college. Younis worked for a long period at The Center for Educational Technology and headed many committees for writing exams and digital teaching units for the Arab sector. She also took part in writing books and curricula for Arabic language teaching.

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