The Autobiography in Al Hakeem's Literature Analytical Descriptive Study

This study, entitled Autobiography in Al Hakeem's Literature consists of a preface, an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion. In the introduction, the researcher demonstrates Al Hakeem's role in the modern Arab literature; his contributions to theatre, drama, novels and autobiography; and his literary status. In addition, the researcher demonstrates his reasons for selecting this topic for research, discusses the research methodology and its contents, the difficulties that he has faced, and the most important previous studies in this field. The preface of the study, Overlapping of Literary Genres, the researcher discusses the origins and interlocking of the literary genres. He presents their definitions and viewpoints of other researchers in an attempt to determine their delicate boundaries in order to reach controls that may make the issue of genres easier, especially because the topic of this study is related to this issue. In Chapter One, entitled "Texts Contents", the researcher discusses the texts contents that he has determined for this study. In Return of the Spirit, the writer talked about a rural family who came to settle in Cairo at the quarter of Al Sayeda Zeinab. Connecting the family with the events of the 1919 Revolt, he made them a symbol of the Egyptians as a whole. In his book; Memoirs of A Deputy in the Countryside, he unveiled judiciary corruption and bad situation of the rural community. In his book, A Bird from the Orient, he demonstrates a side of his life related to his study in France and unveiled his position regarding the western and oriental civilizations. His book Al Hakeem's Donkey represents a mirror that reflects his viewpoints about a group of issues such as literature, art, and the countryside. In his book, The Flower of the Age, he included a number of his letters to his French friend, Andre, in which he talked about a stage of his life which is the stage of the cultural and literary building. He narrated the story of his life from the moment of his birth till his return from France without achieving his aims in his book The Prison of the Age. In Chapter Two, entitled "Elements of Autobiography Narration", te researcher attempts to deduce the elements of building the texts of autobiography or other related genres. In the first section, he discusses the charter or the contract which is considered one of the main controls in writing biography. He states how the writer prepared the charter in the texts of his two books, The Flower of the Age and The Prison of the Age, by his commitment to narrating and describing the events. On the other hand, the writer veiled the autobiography contract in his books Return of the Spirit, Memoirs of A Deputy in the Countryside, A Bird from the Orient, and Al Hakeem's Donkey. In the second section of Chapter Two, the researcher discusses the author, the narrator and the character. He states that conformity of these elements leads to autobiography while approximation changes the texts to other overlapping genres such as novel, autobiography novel, or autobiography narrative. There is conformity in the texts of The Flower of the Age and The Prison of the Age while there is approximation in the texts of Memoirs of A Deputy in the Countryside, A Bird from the Orient, and Al Hakeem's Donkey. In the third section of Chapter Two, the researcher discusses the motives that lead to writing autobiography. The most important motives are related to the writer, circumstances of his early life, conditions of the age especially political fluctuations and social changes. The researcher points out that such motives might be absent in texts such as Return of the Spirit while they are evident in others such as The Prison of the Age. In the fourth section of Chapter Two, the researcher discusses the issue of conflict and soliloquy. He states its role in building the autobiography and its types some of which are internal that the writer may face during the consecutive stages of his life, while others may be external produced by the conditions and changes of the age. To clarify this point, the researcher demonstrates Al Hakeem's internal conflict during the stages of his childhood, the years of his study, the conflict resulting from his emotional experiences The external conflict is related to his parents, community and the British colonization. In the fifth section of Chapter Two, the researcher discusses the issue of truth and imagination. He states that truth can be seen in the texts of autobiography. However, we can see that the related texts are infested with imagination that is mingled with facts that are related to the writer's life. In the text of The Prison of the Age, the writer attempted to be accurate in narrating events that are related to his life while imagination appears in the texts of Return of the Spirit, Memoirs of A Deputy in the Countryside, A Bird from the Orient, and Al Hakeem's Donkey. In the fifth section of Chapter Two, the researcher demonstrates honesty and frankness. Stating the importance of this element in autobiography, the researcher unveiled the limitations that may hinder reaching absolute honesty. Its presence is relative; its limitations may force the writer to disguise and evasion. Chapter Three, entitled "Artistic Phenomena", discusses various artistic aspects included in the texts of Al Hakeem. In the first section, the researcher discusses the titles and their connotations. In this respect, he clarifies the importance of the title, ways of its selection, its relations wit the text, its functions, and ways of unveiling its connotations. In the second section of Chapter Three, the researcher discusses the language, dialogues, and narrations. In this respect, he shows the importance of language, its levels including formal and colloquial, the role of each level, the viewpoints of critics regarding employing the colloquial language especially in the text of Return of the Spirit. Following this, the researcher discusses the dialogue, showing its role in building the text, its functions, potentials of employing it as a method by which the writer can demonstrate his viewpoints. He demonstrates the dialogue in Al Hakeem's texts, its role in building the text, unveiling characters, its contributions to avoid monotony of narrative text. Then he discusses narration, showing its importance and some of its elements such as digression, retrieval and description. He also deduced its forms such as letters, proverbs, sayings, folkloric songs and poetry, emphasizing their roles in building the text. In the third section of Chapter Three, the researcher discusses the employment of myths. In this respect, he demonstrates the researchers' concepts of the myth, tracing its origin, numerating its forms, and showing its functions. He tries to deduce its elements from Al Hakeem's texts, attempting to uncover the writer's intentions of employing it as it is the case in the myths of Osiris and Isis in his book, Return of the Spirit. In the third section of Chapter Three, entitled the Symbol, the researcher discusses the reasons that make the writer resort to this artistic method. He talks about the limitations of its employment, and deduced some of the symbols that Al Hakeem employed in his works such as the family in Return of the Spirit that symbolizes the people, and Saneya who represents development and progress. In the Conclusion of the study, the researcher supplies the most important findings that he reaches in the study. Here, he supplies genre verdicts on Al Hakeem's texts ranging from autobiography and autobiography narrative. He also points to the narrative forms that the writer employed, and reminds us of the language used by Al Hakeem. He shows that Al Hakeem's works exceeded his personal life to discuss the events of his age and the nature of his community.