By Iman Al-Houti KUWAIT, April 6 (KUNA) -- An academic study showed that the Kuwaiti culture has long been open and interactive with English and French literatures.
The study conducted by Kuwait University (KU)'s Arabic literature and criticism instructor Dr. Naseema Al-Ghaith, on understanding the aesthetics of stories and novels, sheds light on profiles and works of several eminent Kuwaiti translators.
It said that the outstanding translators include Yaqoub Al-Hamad, Fathil Khalaf, poet Suleiman Al-Khulaifi, and Mahmoud Tawfeeq Ahmad who translated a number of short French plays by Moliere.
The study, published in a new book issued by KUNA on cultural state of affairs in Kuwait, pointed out that literature in Kuwait changed faster than the literature of other Arab countries due to the Iraqi invasion of the state in 1990.
The occupation made the Kuwaiti people re-consider their concepts about the world and increase their interaction with other countries and people, it explained.
It said in the early stage of literature in Kuwait, novels had romantic titles and evolved around dreams of happiness and perfection.
Later, deeper concepts came to be seen in the novels of Suleiman Al-Khulaifi, Suleiman Al-Shatti, Hasan Yaqoub Al-Ali, Laila Al-Othman, Fatma Al-Ali, and Ismael Fahad Ismael, it added.
The study showed that the art of the novel was affected significantly by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Novels' titles reflected resistance, fear, refusal, and suffering like "The Candles of Basements" of Thuraya Al-Baqsimi, "Coal Nights Story" of Hamad Al-Hamad, and "The Black Barriers" of Al-Othman.
Al-Ghaith also praised faculty members of KU's English Department for translating Kuwaiti stories from Arabic to English.(end) ah.ris KUNA 061027 Apr 08NNNN