The Flood (Al-Fayḍān)
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The Flood () is the 1975 short story collection by the Syrian writer Ḥaidar Ḥaidar. The collection includes 11 short stories, all revolving around the suppression and oppression faced by Arab countries post liberation revolutions. Similar to his other works, Ḥaidar Ḥaidar employs
stream-of-consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver in 1840 in ''First Li ...
in his collection, where he focuses on the psychology of the Arab world and the inner machinations of nationalistic pioneers.


Stories in the collection

11 short stories make up the collection: * Al-Namlu Wal Qat () * Al-Rihan () * Al-Zawaghan (The Illusion) * Ughniya Ḥazina Li Rajulin Kana Ḥayyan () * Man Allathi Yathkuru Al-Ghaba? () * Ṣamtu An-Nar () * Al-Ightiyal () * Al-Fayḍān () * Al-Juuʿ Wal Luṣuṣ Wal Qatala () * Al-Barabira () * Wishaḥun Wardiyun Li Rajulin Waḥid ()


Author's statements

Ḥaidar Ḥaidar attributes his use of stream-of-consciousness to his childhood, for he stated that the recollections of childhood put him in a state closer to dreams than reality. He also critiqued traditional Arabic narratives, saying that they simplify reality by narrating it as it is without looking at the inner machinations of the characters. Despite being Syrian, Ḥaidar Ḥaidar looks at all Arab countries as a single united cause. His narratives are often cynical; however, he does not look at the tragedy of Arab countries as inevitable and unchangeable; contrarily, he frames reality as changeable and reformable, and necessarily so. His short story collection, ‘The Flood’, embodies those features.


Complete works of Ḥaidar Ḥaidar

*
A Feast for the Seaweeds ''A Feast for the Seaweeds'' ( ar, وليمة ل أعشاب البحر, , translit=Walimah li A'ashab al-Bahr) is a 1983 novel by the Syrian novelist Ḥaidar Ḥaidar. The novel centers on an Iraqi communist revolutionary as he runs away to Al ...
() (Novel) * The Desolate Time () (Novel) * The Mirrors of Fire () (Novel) * Elgies of Days: Three Stories on Death () (Novel) * Immigration of Swallows () (Novel) * Al-Fahd () (Novel) * Al-Fayḍān () (Short Stories) * Ighwā’ () (Short Stories) * Al-Wuʿul (The Deer) (Short Stories) * Al-Wamḍ () (Short Stories) * Al-Tamawujāt () (Two Stories) * Awraqul Manfa: Shahadatun Ḥawla Zamanuna ()


References

{{Reflist Syrian short stories Syrian short story collections Syrian literature