Every revolution has its own novelists, and every great achievement in human history has people who work hard to document and immortalize it, in order to preserve it for future generations. Literature embraces human concerns regardless of place and language of origin, and expresses our common humanness in creative moulds. It elevates the human experience from the stage of normal incident to the world of imagination, and the distance separating reality from imagination is the gist of a literary work. It is what liberates it from the constraints of time and space and inscribe it in eternity. All the major events in people’s histories, if not the whole of humanity, drew a lot of their vocabulary and seminal expressions from the works of writers and intellectuals. The reverse has also happened, political repression, torture, and all forms injustice inflicted on people, have been a source of inspiration for great literary works and a passage obligé to understand turning points in people’s histories. Since the Arab world is on the fire of revolution, from the coast to the Gulf, the problematic of literature and revolution imposes itself at different and complicated levels.

Alexis de Toqueville, the great French historian and political thinker, said , when addressing the influence of literature on the political discourse of the 19th century, that “ the language used has drawn a great deal from the language used by writers” and was full of “general statements, abstract vocabulary, words of ambition and literary phrases”, and he went on to say that this style benefitted greatly from the widespread enthusiastic discourse back then, before predicting that this literary style “ will reach all social classes and, in a very seldom easiness, will also reach the lower classes in society”. These words insinuate very important ideas. First, the primordial role played by literature in spreading ideas and values of the revolution, and in elevating people’s discourse and expression levels. Second, literature was a catalyst and a path-blazer for revolution, because it was behind the creation of its conceptual referential framework through the diffusion of its language and ideas. It would be very interesting to know the role played by different literary genres in the Arab world in the fermentation, then, in the diffusion at a later stage, of the idea of revolution, especially through the works of Abdulrahman Munif, Sunallah Ibrahim, Haidar Haidar, and also the role of prison writings in unshackling Arab peoples from the slavery of fear. It would equally be interesting to know the degree of subversion caused by these writers to the fetish of dictatorship.

The Marrakesh based Spanish writer, Juan Goytisolo, was the first to ask the question of literature and revolution in the Arab world right after the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. He wittily asked 300 million people a very provocative question. The question has remained outstanding, and only lately, have we been able to discern the predictions carried in its folds, and which the writer, known for his forward-looking abilities, was able to foresee. Goytisolo continued his literary life but his question did not end there, for us, Arabs who are interested in studying the change that is taking place in our region. The question continues provoking and challenging us greatly. Writing the novel of the revolution is not an easy task as some scoop or financial gratification seekers might think. Thus, using the odyssey of Arab people to write “literature” to the order of publishers, to fill the markets, especially in Western countries, where there is a huge need for writings to satisfy the public demand and make money. This type of literature cannot catch the importance of the moment and its specificity. Moreover, a hasty literature cannot reify the symbolism of these revolutions at this historical moment. A moment of resurrection of the Arab soul and intellect mummified for decades by dictatorship.

The type of literature Goytisolo is talking about must be the littérature engagée. The type of literature that can transform the raw matter, provided by the throats of the Arab youth—all genders, sexes and ages encompassed—in the liberation squares in the Arab countries, into the subject matter of a literary work that will enrich the Arab novel palmares by a new genre. Revolution literature that other countries, in Europe and the Americas, have already known before us. How can pulsation of revolution be captured and baked into a literary work that does not drown in description, does not fall in the trap of historicization and avoids reporting?

Goytisolo has defined some characteristics of the writer(s) of the novel of revolution in the Arab world. They should be diligent, have the ability to write and possess a sound vision of the future. With his sagacious intelligence, he foresaw the behavior of some opportunists, and he used the word diligence which refers to allotting time to something, and one only allots time to a cause they believe in. In his magnum opus, Lisan Al Arab, Ibn Madhur defines diligence as “making sure about something. It also means sobriety and deliberation”. Al Azhari said that “diligence means taking one’s time about an issue”. Therefore, the use of the word diligence is not fortuitous because the writer wanted to send a message To Whom It May Concern that they should not waste the opportunity and write a lousy literature about an event that is beyond all horizons of expectation. Whoever takes on the project of writing this novel should allot all the time and effort it takes to ferment before undertaking its writing. Those who do not believe in revolution, and whose hearts did not undulate with its waves, cannot capture its gist and carved it into words that will over time become a celebration of the revolution and rebels. Those who contributed to the defunct regimes and wallowed in their prizes will not be able to write this novel either. It is simply ungraspable for them. They lack the necessary truthfulness with themselves, and writing without truthfulness is impossible.

But let’s talk about all the young Arab females and males whose throats have dried up and whose lips have withered while chanting for the revolution. Is not this their way of writing the novel of the revolution? Moreover, is not it important to widen what we mean by writing in order to contain all the experiences woven in the liberation squares in every village, hamlet, neighborhood and city in the Arab world? Is not narrating, in itself, writing in other ways? Cannot Arab revolutions be considered works of literature that can be written about and taught in literature classes? Are not they a unique unprecedented achievement because they are the first in human history that the actors wrote live on television screens?

We believe that the Arab revolutions, in contrary to all others, despite our agreement with Goytisolo in principle about the importance of the existence of writers who can transmit the experience from reality to fiction, cannot have one writer. They are not class revolutions and none should have the tutelage over the people on how to write about their revolution. The legitimacy of those who participated in the revolution is stronger than those who want to ride on it to be in the spotlight. As the German literary critic, Nicolas Bender, wrote in his beautiful article “A comfortable way to take part in a revolution”, which was a very strong response to a new book that appeared in Europe and was translated into many languages only five months after the beginning of the Arab Spring, that last minute rebels cannot express the aspirations of the people. The latter do not accept half-solutions and diplomatic words. Therefore, it is difficult for writers of this kind to express people’s aspirations due to their disconnection from the actors of the revolution and their lack of revolutionary legitimacy which would have afforded them the opportunity to organically belong to the people and express their deepest desires. The disconnected cannot infiltrate the essence of things because there are a lot of impediments to it.

I think that the most important part in Goytisolo’s talk is the need for a young writer to write the novel of the revolution. Maybe, it is his way of sending a message, to some writers he knows and whom he understands would want to ride the revolution, to let the youth write about their achievement and transform it into the literary genre they want. The revolution is theirs and the literary form it should take should also be theirs. Writing about a revolution and writing a revolution are two very different things that converge in the crucible of un écrivain engagé who can merge the revolution, as a unique human experience and the ability write, and effectuate the necessary migration of the text from reality to fiction.

These revolutions have shown us the deep interest of the Arab youth in writing. They have also shown us that the Arab world has the necessary human yeast for a literary revolution in the near future. A revolution that should definitely start by revolutionizing the publication houses, democratizing access to media and funding, and removing all sorts of impediments that can obstruct the advent of a literary awakening in the Arab world. In order for the revolution to achieve its goals, it is a must that a parallel revolution happens in the field of publishing through the launch of magazines that study revolution centered writings and opening new arenas where, diligent and well written works can be published in the future. And since experience has shown that temporary (fad) writings will disappear as soon as the conditions in which they are written cease to exist, it is very important that literary works reflect the depth of the experience they try to portray in order to survive.

Everything that is written so far, and called falsely the novel of the revolution, cannot be considered as such. They are circumstantial writings. A revolution that took five decades to materialize requires real literary works that can take their time to ripen. An oppressed people’s odyssey cannot be written a novel about in six months.