Tarek Al-tayeb: What's been translated is considered a typical image of Arabic literature

Al-Doha Magazine, Issue 115, May 2017.

The Austrian writer, of Sudanese origins, Tarek Al-tayeb, is one of the writers whose compositions dominate bookstores' views, for it is welcomed hugely by readers, and critics -as well; who write critical reviews about them. Al-tayeb works, currently, as a lecturer in University of Vienna and University of Graz, and has several published works in Arabic, one of them is "Palms' House" novel, and several other works translated into German, French, English, and others. In 2008, he earned the Austrian republic medal, as an appreciation of his works in literature and literary communication, interior-wise and universally, and he has been assigned, in the same year, as an ambassador of Austria, for the cultural conversation year.
Al-Doha met with Tarek Al-tayeb, and had the below conversation:

Conversation by: Awatef Alshenawy.

"I write for I believe I have another vision of things"

D- Initially, it might be a provocative question slightly: Why does Tarek Al-tayeb write, why doesn't he settle down to live his life like most people do?, and what message you want to voice through your literature and compositions?
- I write for I believe I have another vision of things, people see in a certain manner, and seeing them, through my writings, may push the reader, to a new thinking, or - at least - to a rethinking of some matters.
There isn't a foregoing "message", I'd like to out-speak through my literature, for not every reader is impressed similarly towards what I write. The impression I conceive from myself is an individualistic - sole - impression, and - surely - the response of each person towards what I write differs. That's good, and is a motive for a useful fruitful literary conversation, for I am not a non-existential writer, but I write because I desire a change that leads - actually - to a change. I try to communicate my vision, of details, to individuals not communities, my writings are not mass-seeking, and don't desire to.

D- After 33 years in Austria, how do you evaluate the Arabic presence in the cultural genre, in Europe?, and has the Arabic poetical compositions and novels reached the Western world, appropriately?
- I can talk, closely, about the the Arabic literature in the European atmosphere in (Austria, then Germany and Switzerland), because Europe - for me - is a big continent, and its literatures are way too massive for my ability to assimilate in my answer.
There isn't any translated literature of Arabic authors, that can comprehend the Arabic part of literature, completely. What have been translated are considered merely paradigms, including a huge desire to interpret a typical image of the Arabic literature, most of which are influenced by touches of the exotical characteristic of "A Thousand Nights and a Night", and not its deeper philosophical narrative inside. The image of "al-hareem" still excites the European, and the image of the geographical touristic atmospheres not the intellectual, and the image of the desert, tent, camel, sword, and tabernacle. This nostalgic romantic image dominates the translations, generally, in all languages. And the American version tends to adopt the image of the evil terroristic Arabic, and implants it cunningly and successfully  (Hollywood-wise), if we consider a scenario is a sort of literary artistic writing!. There is a tiny amount of the more important translations, from my viewpoint, which acquire the acceptance of a slight conscious elite, of European readers.

D- Some consider you an heir to the great deceased Al-tayeb Saleh, do you agree? And can you talk us - briefly - through your relation with him?
- It's a great pleasure hearing that, and I may be one of many in the huge chorus of the literary symphony. I remember an article, wrote by a colleague writer in Sudan, then published, entitled (The Three Al-tayebs: Al-tayeb Saleh, Al-tayeb Abdullah, and Tarek Al-tayeb), and it pleased me a lot, for it discussed and added to me, but didn't make me assail any one.
The literary relation to Al-tayeb Saleh, occured through his precious introduction to my first narrative collection "The Camel Doesn't Cease Beyond a Red Light", published in (Dar Alhadara), in Cairo, 1993. He stated a good viewpoint of me, for which I am forever grateful. I wrote, years later, a very long article about him, not as a repayment, but he truly earned it, which was published in a special book about Al-tayeb Saleh, released in Beirut more than ten years ago, entitled "Al-tayeb Saleh The Narrator", in which I focused on many selections of his narrative innovation, specifically, and I chose a distant angle - relatively - from his unique novelistic creation. This is a part of the literary relation which connected me to the identically-named "Al-tayeb".

"The woman, in my writings, is multifaceted, ..."

D- Your compositions' titles, shows a deep influence of the Arabic environment symbols, such as (The Palms House - Cities Without Palms - The Camel Doesn't Cease Beyond a Red Light), so do you feel nostalgic and yearning to the Arabic land?
- Sure, I feel a yearing I call "The Inspirational Yearning" centered/grounded in the land of the Nile, the land of Egypt and Sudan, specifically, which discusses - necessarily - our Arabic heritage that I assimilated, culturally, from all that's Arabic, any where in the world. The environmental characters I perceive as natural, and invades the written texture spontaneously, the place's symbols have artistic orientations, and literary ones, far more than just being a palm, or a camel, or a tent, and way more broad to be implied in a symbol, then egressing, instead it is an attempt to transfer the spacial/local and historical dimension to the territory of literature, in an exterior non-descriptive manner, including - first and last - language, with its deep inner.

D- "Behind every great man .. there is a great woman", is it true considering yourself?, and what status a woman takes in "Tarek Altayeb's" writings?
- Yes, this is true for me. Woman is an inspiration, my inspiration in a great manner, an inspiration to change, as well. In my latest novel "The Trip 797 Heading to Vienna", Adam says, after meeting and having relations with many women, he wasn't looking for the good woman, solely, through a band of women, but he was seeking himself in them; meaning - briefly -: Woman is an inspiration and an exploration. The woman, in my writings, is multifaceted, through which the loveable woman (adorer - in Arabic - takes an ethically turn opposing my intention, though right) manifests, this loveable woman was resembled by the married "Hayat" in the novel "Cities Without Palms" (published 1992), in Germany. Then "Sandra" in the novel "The Palms House" who died after the love story completed, or did not complete. In my latest novel "The Trip 797 Heading to Vienna", there is the suffering "Layla" in her being and life; who rebels and loves, and is loved, yet the novel creates in its duration, for some, an ethical judgment, far from the literary artistic tackling. These are just direct models of some women, and in my short stories several fragments of the woman are scattered here and there, and almost there is not a story that is unfilled with a major existence, or faraway sensation of her.

D- Lastly .. do have upcoming literary projects, we willl hear about soon?
- I write all the time, even with no pen or keyboard; I write, mentally, without ceasing, like most writers, I don't indeed individualise myself. I have compositions slowly in the making, with time, patience is better, ripeness is more important than fast releasing, and the forecoming days shall withhold new titles.

Al-Doha Magazine, Issue 115, May 2017