Cities of Salt [Paperback]

This novel was published in Arabic in 1984 and in English in 1987. It's only the first section of a five-book Arabic-language work that totals some 2,500 pages, covers seven decades and is said to be the longest novel in modern Arabic literature. The second and third sections have been published separately as The Trench and Variations on Night and Day. It appears that the fourth and fifth sections haven't been published yet in English.

This first book covers the period roughly from the 1930s to 1950s. It begins with the pious, poor inhabitants of an oasis in the desert whose peace and social harmony are disrupted by the discovery of oil by American researchers who've been invited into the country. Six hundred pages later, it ends following a mass strike over injustice in the coastal city that's grown up around the pipeline to the interior. In between, it shows the impact of modernization brought about by the development of oil, from the locals' point of view. And the resentment caused by the presence of non-Muslims, the increasing materialism and loss of spiritual and communal values, and a backward, paternalistic local government that ignores the attendant social problems.

The technologically superior Americans, despite their practical competence and good intentions, are depicted in this book ultimately as the real villains, because of their foreignness, utter lack of understanding of the inhabitants' world, and the negative effects of the modernization they've set in motion.

A recurring pattern in the novel is that none of the parties involved comprehend the factors behind events that bind them together, and none make an effort to understand the other. (One individual who's something of an exception disappears into the desert early in the novel.) For the most part, the locals don't grasp the significance of what the Americans are doing. The latter make no effort to comprehend the locals and their motivations or actions, unless they perceive a threat to the benefits of oil. And the local ruler spends much of his time away from both in his newly constructed palace, dazzled with the workings of imports like the telescope, stethoscope, radio, automobile and telephone.

The author, who was also an oil economist and political activist, is considered a pioneer of writing that reflected social, economic and political developments in the modern Arab world. A member/associate of the socialist, pan-Arab nationalist Ba'ath Party off and on until the early 1980s, he wrote partly to counter official history, which he believed up to that point had served mainly the interests of the West and the ruling governments and ignored ordinary people's experience.

He based a number of occurrences in the novel on real events in Saudi Arabia, although the country in his novel goes unnamed. There are differences from actual history, though: the local ruler in the book is depicted as a buffoon rather than a strong, independent leader in his own right. And there's nothing in the book like the fundamentalist movement that gained power with the state and rising oil revenues, as did the Wahhabis.

I think this book's important for showing a widespread point of view in the Arab world concerning relations with the West and the impact of the oil economy on local values. Tragically, this view is characterized mainly by a sense of victimization and religious profanation. In those respects this book, written a quarter-century ago, can be regarded as sounding prophetic themes. Yet the author was committed to socialism, and from this novel alone it doesn't appear that he viewed radicalized religion as the solution.

I wasn't enchanted by the style, which was deliberate in pacing, with lengthy narrations and digressions, said to be influenced by traditional oral storytelling modes, and with an ending full of magic realist visions. Or by the characters, many of whom were stand-ins for various pieties and evils. And I found it difficult to believe the depiction of the paradise on earth that was the oasis before the discovery of oil. In some ways, for example its black-or-white morality and the lack of depth to its character-symbols, this novel reminded me of Soviet proletarian works from the 1930s, with a difference being that its model society seemed placed in the romanticized past rather than the future. How the author reconciled this idealization of the past with his own socialist commitment is maybe something that becomes clear in the later installments of this work.

You're unlikely to pick this book up by accident- it's as important now as it ever was- believe all of the good reviews! I read this as an accompanyment to Power by Daniel Yergin, it provided a rare anthropological view of the emerging Gulf oil states written from the perspective of those enjoining modernity. Excellent.

The subject quote, from page 134, succinctly describes one of Munif's strongest themes. His novel is a thinly disguised account of the coming of the American oil companies to Saudi Arabia, starting in the 1930's, from the point of view of the native inhabitants. Though the books are quite dissimilar, an excellent companion book would be Wallace Stegner's Discovery!: The Search for Arabian Oil" Stegner was one of America's most accomplished writers, and wrote his book at the request of Aramco; in the introduction, it was stated that certain negative and controversial parts were "bowdlerized," omitted. So Stegner presented an overly positive account of the historical meeting of two of the most disparate of peoples, the Americans and the Saudis. Munif presents, in the opinion of this reviewer, an overly negative account. Perhaps a balance can be achieved by reading both - an understanding of these events is vital background for anyone dealing with two subjects that dominant the political agenda of the world today: Oil and Islam.

The style of Cities of Salt recalls the "magic realism" of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. "Jinns," the spirits dominate the actions of numerous characters. The novel commences in Wadi Al-Uyom (Arabic for lake), which is described in almost Rousseauan terms, as an idyllic place where man was in harmony with his environment. One of the major characters, Miteb Al-Hathal, a leading figure in the wadi, happiest when tending his garden, prophesizes disaster for the wadi, and its way of life. He struggles to instill resistance to what he sees is the American destruction of the wadi, and the inhabitant's way of life, who are forcibly relocated. Either he or his "spirit" makes appearances throughout the novel. Umm Khosh, a widow, is obsessed, and eventually descends into madness as she awaits the return of her son, who left with a caravan many years previous.

A Saudi friend once described Munif's trilogy as a "Marxist interpretation of history," and is now passé. There is a definite element of Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth (Penguin Modern Classics) in this book, as the natives have to go to the company, "hat in hand," seeking employment, and they are located in "bidonvilles," barracks without air-conditioning, but with rats, while the Americans have air-conditioned housing, swimming pools, and their women resemble "milk and figs." There is the co-opting of individual Saudis, starting with Ibn Rashid, a government official, who clearly has orders from the "Sultan" to facilitate the American's mission, and minimize the objections of the natives. The portrayal of the Emir of "Harran" (i.e., Dhahran) as an ineffective leader, easily distracted by the latest technological bauble (car, radio, stethoscope, telescope) would be sufficient to have the book banned in the Kingdom. There are the "hustlers," those who sense a boom, and struggle to get in on the ground floor. Ibn Rashid, who was there at the beginning, is eventually displaced by Dabbasi. Hassan Rezaie is the supplier of the technological baubles, and is well rewarded for his efforts. There are the truck drivers, Akoub and Raji, who arrive shortly after the displacement of the camel caravan and the pavement of the main road along the oil pipeline. In turn they are displaced, by "capital," at first the fancier trucks of Hassan Rezaie, and then in turn by the buses of another hustler, Mohieddin Al-Naqib. Medical hustlers come too, personified by Dr. Subhi Al Mahnilji, who has a couple of lucky cases at the beginning which establish his reputation. He thus has the ability to displace the medical practice of Mufaddi Al Jeddan, who treats his "patients" by burning them with irons, and bleeding them. The character of Ibn Naffeh personifies the character type that sees the Americans as responsible for all the evil in the world, and if anyone dies, no matter what the circumstances or particulars, it is the "Americans who killed him / her."

Overall, the Americans are remote figures, assigned nicknames based on physical characteristics. Generally there are good-natured, obsessed with work, which leads to various cultural blunders. Munif describes a far too intrusive effort by the Personnel department to learn the intimate details of the lives of the Saudi employees. The "corporate" outlook of management, even though it was modified substantially to the circumstances of the Kingdom was still portrayed as far too inhumane. Part of the Saudi resistance to this corporate mentality involved playing tricks on the Americans, like putting snakes in their tool boxes.

I could only give the book a 4-star rating. I felt that Munif's depiction of Wadi Al-Uyom prior to the arrival of the Americans as far too idyllic. In reality, in Hobb's terms, their life was "nasty, brutal and short." A couple reviewers wrote of the peaceful Bedouin existence, but again, in reality, their life was dominated by raiding other tribes, scarcity and drought. (see Thesiger's Arabian Sands (Penguin Classics) as well as other books). Sure, the Americans can be culturally insensitive, but the effort of the Aramco Personnel office, inappropriately intrusive no doubt, but it still lead to the training of Saudi nationals, in the United States, that eventually lead to the take over of the company, which they now run competently. And surely the displacement of a Mufaddi Al Jeddan, a medical quack, is a large step forward, yet it was again portrayed as a callous American act. Finally, and most importantly, there is the matter of the book's length. Some reviewers "danced around" this issue, saying it was a matter of style, an indirect approach to Arab story telling, etc. Still, I felt that it was at least 200 pages too long; certainly from a Western perspective, the points could have been made much more directly, and even some of the characters did not need appear at all, or their "cameo roles," such as Akoub's and Raji's, could have been dealt with in ten pages.

Despite the above caveats, the book is unique - the perspective of at least one Saudi on the arrival of the Americans for oil, and should be an essential read for anyone wanting a better understanding of why the world is the way it is. It is also an excellent novel depicting the impact of "modernization" on any traditional society.

(Note: Review first published at Amazon, USA, on August 11, 2008)