The Tales of the Traveling Seagull 2
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| Author | Haidar Haidar |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | |
| Country | Syria |
| Language | Arabic |
| Genre | Collection of Short Stories |
| Publisher | Ward Book House |
Publication date | 1998 |
| Pages | 146 |
The Tales of the Travelling Seagull (1998) is a collection of short stories written by Syrian author Haidar Haidar.[1]
Considering the details and style used in writing, the book resembles the author's life, as said by Naji Zaher in his article.[2] Zahir also referenced his usage of transparency in language, and how far it took him into the world of poetry.
Characters [3][edit]
- Fayyad
- People around the town
- The family who loved their cherry treeFather: Religious, strong, poor. He planted the cherry tree, his enemies hated him. Children: They loved the cherry tree; they always played around it, prayed for it. Mother: always fought with neighbours to protect the tree
- Zahi, the future husband who didn't want her to work "under any circumstance"
- The people who were said to be "enemies of the talented and the open-minded"
- The myth tellers
- Mazen Jawdat (aka. Sayed Hejab)
Main Ideas & Plots[edit]
The book consists of 9 short stories, different from one another, but they are told through the point-of-view of a man named Fayyad who seemed to know everything about everyone in the town. Also, they tend to deliver a similar message revolving around cultural, societal, political, and religious aspects.[3] Below are the nine short stories with their main ideas and plots:[3]
The Cherry Tree[edit]
"The Cherry Tree" starts by explaining that the cherry tree was of "high significance" for the family who the father planted, especially because he planted it in a dry landscape, and in the land of Kadan, where they live. It was said by others that "no cherry tree thrives", but he never listened and insisted to plant.
The tree also symbolises "happiness, hope and strongness" for the family, in addition to the father's dedication to make something grow out of a dry ground. It also symbolizes a threat to the family's enemies, who appeared later because it was going to "abolish their traditions" and hence they would pray for its death, and the father's "only will" for his wife would be to protect it.
The children played happily in the rain, and were "intensely excited" to eat from these cherries. Eventually, though, the cherry tree starts to die out, making the "happiness die out as well" as one of the children would say. The story ended with an owl passing by in winter, and reiterated: "In the land of Al Kadan, no cherry tree thrives", emphasising on the same sentence said at the beginning of the story.
The Opalescent River[edit]
"The Opalescent River" tells the story of Fayyad, who lives in a tent formed out of natural materials near the lake, in a small environment. He only sleeps when needed, and he always walks about the lakes and hallways.
Many people criticize him, as he used to live, according to a myth often told, in a forest with a group of deer after his mother had left him, and they were the ones who found him. He said he had "a satisfying life out there", until a group of hunters found him and brought him to a doctor, who then did surgery to his leg that prevented Fayyad from walking far destinations, desert as such.
The myth of Fayyad living in the forest was narrated by a group of people who spend every night telling other different myths. They knew Fayyad, and he is "much better than what they expected; as he tended to know everything, far and beyond".
Fayad would express about "how much he misses the deer and his life at the forests. The city is filled with weird myths, such as about a child, or a lady throwing herself from a building, and it "depresses him", making him like a "lost child".
The story ends with a poem that said: "I am the bitterness of humankind. Ones who remain on top of the river of times. My whining consists of stories about children who died, and my rains consist of
The Sun Rises from the West[edit]
The third story in the book, "The Sun Rises from the West" talks about the narrator who spent his time exploring the worlds of art, literature, and music, trying to figure out who he wanted to be in the "small and isolated" world he lived in, the one he considered "wasn't for him". At first, a voice asked him: "How about you become a singer?". Approaching this path, he felt that he was getting along with playing the instruments and singing, until at night, he was singing loudly in public. But a group of children then saw him, and after everything was done, they "abolished his efforts" with their judgements, teasing him about his chin hair.
He totally abandoned music by then. The next day, the voice asked again: "How about you become an artist?" While painting, he felt art "rushing through his veins" as he splashed the paint randomly trying to finalise a portrait. After that, depression crawled upon him, "telling him that he cannot do this". Done with the entire idea of becoming an artist, while it was the middle of the night, he went to sleep.
The next day, the voice appeared again. "How about you become a writer?". "Writer?" the narrator would ask. He would often think about the difficulty of becoming a writer as it the path is "filled with worrying about self-confidence, hate that can be received, and the hard process of it".
After all these trials and contemplations, the story ends with him realising that he was dealing with cases that tended to be defeated all this time. He opened the water, and left it to leak and flow out, saying: "Now something else can be created".
Breach and Migration[edit]
A Portrait of Absence[edit]
The narrator was enjoying his time on the beach under the sun, scrutinising the sky and waters and "warmth". On the side was a girl and her father, who constantly backlashing her, talking to her about her future marriage and how "useless" she is compared to the future husband. Depressed about the things happening around her and about life overall, the girl reads a letter from her lover, where in the letter he tells her about "how much he loves her so much more than everything else, and he would do anything for her".
A Portrait of Presence[edit]
Moving back to the narrator, he was spending time with his friend, Zahi. Zahi was to be the future husband of the girl, and he said he did not want her to work "under any circumstance for her own sake" considering how her father "made her work non-stop, even under harsh conditions".
A Safe Country[edit]
The narrator was describing Damascus from his fictional point of view, revolving around its structure and riverbanks, to its environment and people.
A Capra Gets Caught While Young[edit]
The narrator is contemplating the crowded city with its party vibes, and how different it is from the Eastern (used as to refer to parts of the Arab culture) cultures.
He wanted to leave the city with his memories behind, as he misses the nights "filled with poetry, friends, and love". His inner self revolves around the feelings of love and hate towards these experiences in the city. His friends tell him to stay, but he says cannot. He expresses how the city is "small and scary, due to its monitoring".
The Witness and Sad Friday[edit]
The narrator is at the cemetery. His fathe states religious messages such as faith and trust, and says that the dead are safer than the living.
Later on, he remembers about how his teacher lectured about "obeying the superiors, and the corruption of the citizens, and the message of the superior". Then his friend would reiterate: "the corruption of the citizens comes from the corruption of the superior" claiming that their teacher is "a liar".
Near a coffee shop, the narrator is thinking about "how he loves the language" and its wide set of words, phrases, and fiction that tend to revolve around people who "love sunshine and sea, chatting, prayers, and war".
Outside the coffee shop, everyone is running for their lives, including the narrator, due to the war and bombings. However, no one running knows where to go; they are all panicking.
The war has had already been continuing for days, causing significant damage to the city and the people in it. At the end of the story, the narrator is looking at his father and teacher at the cemetary. He is traumatised from the blood scenes, thinking about "how no word in the infinite language can describe what has passed by during these sad days".
Sunshine[edit]
The story describes the damages of war that occurred in different cities, including Damascus, Cairo, and Baghdad, then it moved onto Palestine, in addition to telling a story of a quite, sad man named Mazen Jawdat (aka. "Sayed Hijab") born to Palestinian parents, and lived in many cities including Beirut and Amman, yet he still remained a "stranger" in these cities.
Nightmare Amidst a Broiler[edit]
The story begins with Saher Naji waking up from a nightmare, and feeling relieved that everything in the city around him is "okay". Then the narrative continues by describing war in the city, including many details about the military.
Quotes [3][edit]
"When a seagull gets lost from the sea and lands across an anonymous sky, it grieves, yearning for its homeland. A seagull's nostalgia is part of the many sad stories narrated with its own language of space, human, and earth itself".
"Do not come near the forest; hunters are everywhere. Do not trust the wind, as it is an arrow. Look at Fayyad, dying from sadness. He has always been like that, and he will remain like that forever".
"Float within the euphoria, you human breath. And get wet from the pacific and calm peace. And you, the thick body, let the warm sand enter your cold pavilion. My heart is tranquilised like a wet bird under the sun, and my wild soul cures all cities".
References[edit]
- ↑ "حكايات النورس المهاجر by هيدر هيدر". Goodreads. 2022.
- ↑ Zahir, Naji. حيدر حيدر – قراءة لكاتب عربي. Al-Quds Al-Arabi. 2009 https://www.alquds.co.uk/%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8a%D8%B1-%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8a%D8%B1-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A1%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%A8-%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A/ Accessed: 2022
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Haidar, Haidar (1998). The Tales of the Travelling Seagull (in Arabic). Damascus: Ward Book House.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link) Search this book on
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