Abd al-Malik Nuri

1921 - 1992?

Iraqi author.

Abd al-Malik Nuri, one of the most gifted writers of fiction in modern Iraq, was born in Baghdad. He studied law, graduating in 1944. Concurrently he showed an interest in contemporary fiction, especially that of James Joyce. His first collection of short stories, Rusul al-Insaniyya (Baghdad, 1946; Messengers of humanity) contains stories in a naturalist vein, expressing sympathy with the underdogs of Baghdad society. His second volume, Nashid al-Ard (1954; The song of the earth) inaugurated a new phase in the language and techniques of modern fiction in Iraq. Stream-of-consciousness is judiciously employed, and the exterior movement that characterizes earlier stories is replaced by an internal flow of thoughts and emotions.

In 1972, Nuri published a short allegorical play, Khashab wa Mukhmal (Wood and velvet); his third and last collection of short stories to date, Dhuyul al-Kharif (Autumn's tails), appeared in 1980.

Like many other Iraqi intellectuals, Nuri was attracted to leftist ideas, especially in the 1940s. In subsequent years his political commitment seems to have declined markedly. Like several other Iraqi novelists of his generation (e.g., his close friend Fuʾad Takarli), Nuri wrote the dialogue of his stories in the vernacular of Baghdad rather than in fusha, the literary language of Arabic writing. This gave his stories a distinctive local color but made it difficult for readers outside Iraq to understand his works fully. In his drama, however, he used fusha.

Bibliography

Badawi, M. M., ed. Modern Arabic Literature. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

— SASSON SOMEKH