cde88aaa1e688210VgnVCM100000e56411acRCRDapproved/thenational/Articles/Migration/2009-Q1Yusuf Zeydan: Beelzebubbde88aaa1e688210VgnVCM100000e56411ac____The Egyptian novelist Yusuf Zeydan's controversial second novel, Beelzebub (Azazeel), is set in fifth-century Upper Egypt, Alexandria and Syria during a turning point in the history of Christianity.<p><b>The Egyptian novelist Yusuf Zeydan's controversial second novel, Beelzebub (Azazeel), is set in fifth-century Upper Egypt, Alexandria and Syria during a turning point in the history of Christianity. </b></p> <p>The novel wasn't written for the average reader in the first place.</p> <p>I wanted the reader to participate in the novel, to get involved, to be as confused as I got; then to set out through the novel on the middle path between reality and imagination, pouring on to the text a lot of his own reality, and his own imagination, until finally invisibly connecting with the hero, seeing his reflection in him. I did not want to present an entertaining story or tale, I wanted to present him with a provocative text that would interact with the readers on a deep level. And that is how I ended up using this technique that has been described as a "bracketed imagination".</p> <p>This is the result of a preoccupation with the nature of text, whether historical or contemporary. I did the same in my critical work, which was published in the early 1990s, then collected into my book Iltiqa'a il Bahrain (The Meeting of the Seas) in the mid-1990s. So the experience you spoke of is neither minimal nor recent.</p> <p>It is not a struggle; it is a delving into the personalities and recording the novelistic image of the characters. It completely permeates me, and I become like one of these characters, or the other. After that, I let the characters speak for themselves, in their own special language, with their own visions.</p> <p>Of course, I was surprised by the unsubstantiated attack, but I did not allow myself to be led into a confrontation. And I don't agree with your wording (that I was led to a confrontation with the church). On the contrary, I was as flexible as I could be, and I did not respond to the assumptions that these official church "decrees" were based upon, since I am waiting for those who are angry at my novel to read it with open minds, or for them to turn the other cheek, if they are not capable of understanding it in any deep way.</p> <p>Critical readings of my novel were delayed, which led some people to read the novel as a book outside the realm of literary creation. For that reason, the Booker nomination, then the first shortlist of 16, then the second shortlist of six was a justification of the novel's literary nature, and a sophisticated acknowledgement of its literariness. What is strange is that my theoretical opinions have been candidly and openly stated in my other books. So why don't my most hostile critics just attack the material in these books, and leave literature be, and novels to those who prioritise reading?</p> <p>I have no response to this, because its proponents have read neither this novel nor that, or are ignorant of the essential difference between an adventure novel based on historical fabrication like The Da Vinci Code, and a philosophical novel written with blood, sweat and tears like Azazeel.</p> YYART2009031600000020090316000000100ARhttp://adedit.ad.atl.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090316/ART/76871131976871131920090316100000000f999c475ce3b8210VgnVCM100000e56411ac____bde88aaa1e688210VgnVCM100000e56411ac____593b50b80a0b8210VgnVCM100000e56411acRCRDImageArticle Asset captionArticle Asset optionac36a2c4ce3b8210VgnVCM200000e66411ac____bde88aaa1e688210VgnVCM100000e56411ac____59d51409d6fa8210VgnVCM200000e66411acRCRD