مؤلف “عيلة 6 نجوم” الروائي ممدوح حمادة: لو كانت لدينا حرية إعلام لأدهشت الدراما مشاهديها

With literary insight, an unparalleled sense of humor, and a political awareness that began to form from the early stages of life, the Syrian professor of journalism, writer, and novelist Dr. Mamdouh Hamadeh (b. 1959, occupied Golan Heights) was able to bring joy mixed with wisdom to the homes of millions of Arabs over decades through his comedic dramas. Of a political and social critical nature.

From “A Family of Six Stars”, passing through “A Hero of This Time”, “A Lost Estate” and “Waqq Waq”, up to his latest work, “The Orchard of the East”, Hamada’s dramatic project was characterized by the harsh criticism of manifestations of poverty, tyranny and corruption and their causes in the societies and places he wanted. Most of the time they are imaginary, but at the same time they are full of projections from our Arab reality, which is full of these manifestations.

And because he always preferred “literature” as a means of expression, Hamada’s stories and novels were a reflection of his life at home and abroad. It begins with shadows of that life and experience and rises to imaginary characters and events to end in a literary lesson that is not devoid of irony that characterizes the writer’s style most of the time.

In addition to his three novels “The Last Station” (1999), “Guarantees of the Future” (2019) and “Julnar”, Hamada’s literary project was distinguished by a series of collections of stories titled “The Notebooks of Mamdouh Hamada”, the most prominent of which were “The Book of War” and “The Notebook of War”. The Emperors” and “The Book of Alienation”, through which he presented a collection of human, social and political stories in various styles and templates such as symbolism, satire and tragedy.

And about drama and literature and his novel, Jelnar, Al-Jazeera Net had this dialogue with Mamdouh Hamadeh:

• Your story “Julnar” was recently published by Dar Mosaique for Studies and Publishing in a new format (a short novel). Can you tell us about the idea of ​​this old/new novel, and the reason for re-publishing it under the genre of the short novel?

The reason for republishing this long story, as some call it, or the short novel, as others call it, is the passage of nearly a quarter of a century since it was published for the first time and it ran out of libraries, and therefore Dar Mosaique decided to republish it in a second edition. As for its idea, it is summarized in Man has always sought to return to his past in order to retrieve his lost opportunities.

• Youssef – the protagonist of Julnar’s novel – embarks on a maze-like tracking journey in pursuit of a girl he loved 47 years ago, after he accidentally glimpsed her from behind the café’s glass while she was crossing the street, so the events close to an unexpected end. Is it a novel about the curse of love or fate?

Yusef here is looking for his youth, represented by Jilnar, which he lost as a young man, in order to try to recover it as an old man. In short, Yusuf wants to regain this youth, and the way back there through Jilnar is impossible. Yusef about Julnar is really a kind of frivolity that will not lead to a result.

As for the semi-maze that Joseph entered, its purpose was to prevent him from returning, as it is the only reality in what is happening. But we can stop at another point in Joseph’s life, which is that although he was unable to recover his youth through Julnar, he was able to recover the feelings of adoration that he experienced in the days of his youth, but not as it was then, as its character was hope and optimism, because it now resembles a masochistic behavior that is palatable. There is Joseph in his torments, despite the many and overwhelming indications of the lack of hope.

• Your literary project was distinguished by the series of notebooks that you issued successively (the notebook of war, the notebook of emperors, the notebook of alienation), and the reader of these texts notices their clear connection with some stages of your life. What are the boundaries between reality and imagination in these texts? And why did you choose a comprehensive title for it, “The Notebooks of Mamdouh Hamada”?

The project of the series “The Notebooks of Mamdouh Hamada” is a shift in the course of another project called “A Thousand Strangers and Returns”. It contained an idea that was perhaps not realistic, which is the issuance of a book containing a thousand stories and stories. When discussing the subject with Mamdouh Adwan Publishing House, we saw that this project would be It is difficult to achieve, so we chose to call it “notebooks”, and the reason for this name is that most of these stories were written previously, and they were written on notebooks kept in my drawers and some of them are still preparing to be published under new titles.

These notebooks, of course, are not written in the order in which they are published. In the notebooks locked in the drawers, there are different stories. What brings them together in the notebook is the date of writing only. As for the notebooks that are issued, the subject collects them. In the notebook of the emperors, we find fully imagined stories whose heroes are all of the emperors who symbolize Authority, and most of his stories were written in the eighties, when it was difficult to publish such critical stories through projections.

Naturally, many of them were refused to be published, and only some of them were published in an unknown magazine that was published in Beirut, called “Ishraqat Astarot”. As for “Datter Al-Harb”, all the stories had a subject on war, and so in each book there is a specific topic, and the number of Books issued so far 7 books: Emperors, War, Village, Alienation, Delirium, Compulsory, Love. And under preparation drama notebook and prison notebook and others.

In writing these stories, I benefited from my personal experience by borrowing some details, but the stories in general are fictional stories. The reader may sometimes think that they are stories that happened to me because of my reliance on the realism and intimacy of the narration, but in reality they are imagined stories, and if there is something in them that happened to me, then it is nothing more than a seed.

• When do you choose literature for expression? And when do you choose dramatic writing?

I always choose literature.. And if we talk about visual expression, I choose cinema. In these two types, I am free. In literature, I present a summary of my thoughts without subjecting this summary to anyone’s interference. I do not care about censorship, production companies, or even publishing houses, because in our time there are There are many platforms that a person can use to publish without relying on anyone, especially electronic ones.

Of course, I do not have a long history in cinema, but I studied film directing in order to be able to present short films that are not subject to anyone’s censorship, and because I can present my visual vision through them. As for writing for TV dramas, I practice it because it is a source of income for me that helps me and those with me survive.

• In “The Orchard of the East” (2022), I went through the first experience of writing a joint Arab drama, which revolves around a group of characters from different Arab nationalities staying in one hotel. How would you describe this experience? What are the differences between writing about Syrian society and writing about Arab societies?

“The Orchard of the East” was a tragic experience that was not destined to come to light in the way it was destined for. What we saw on the screen was like saving a situation, as we filmed a drama that was written, directed and acted quickly, in order to fill the hours of Ramadan broadcasts included in the program cycle.

There was a great desire to present a successful work as we wished, but it was impossible to do so in an environment that provided you with all the reasons for failure. “The Orchard of the East” was not of the kind of work that is called “pan-Arab” – Any transnational Arab unit – its events take place in a hotel and it is possible that there will be guests of all Arab and non-Arab nationalities, and it was mainly symbolizing the country whose rule passed from hand to hand, and it talks about historical stages that envision post-independence until the present time, but because of the disturbances that included Almost every detail of the work, from composing the script to management and passing through directing, clothing and decoration, all of this made the work look like “Ban Arab” when it is not.

As for the difference between writing for the Syrian society and writing for the Arab societies, it is related to the details: What are we writing for? And what do we want? If the diversity is natural and justified, then I do not find a problem, but if it is fabricated and fabricated in order to gather a number of drama stars, then it will often produce a ridiculous act.

• Your style of dramatic writing is characterized by the semantic intensification of characters and events (Khirba, Al-Waq-Waq, Bustan Al-Sharq) so that they refer to several meanings according to the level of reception. Why do you adopt this method? And what value does it add to the dramatic work?

It is true that a large part of my motives for dramatic writing is that it is a profession that provides me with income, but I do not do so without a goal. Rather, I strive with everything I have, so that what I write is an intellectual project that provides the viewer with knowledge and intellectual space in addition to the entertainment process. Therefore, any work that I present, I carry it with indications, signs, and projections, and I seek through it to incite the viewer to investigate and read between the lines, and I carry it with messages of different levels so that it resonates with everyone who watches it.

• Grand narratives (liberal and Marxist), ways of thinking and living (conservative and liberal), and modes of governance (democratic and authoritarian) often clash and compete through the words and actions of the characters/actors in an attempt to present a model that the islanders can theoretically and practically apply to live in peace. , but none of them succeeded in achieving this. Is the fault in those references or in the inhabitants of the island or the place from which they came?

The characters of the work or the inhabitants of the island are a group of individuals escaping across the sea from various pressures, and they no longer have the ability to coexist with them (tyranny, corruption, poverty, injustice, etc.), and they reflect different segments representing most groups of society, and they arrived on an island that has all the elements of life Practically from animals that produce milk and eggs for them, fruit trees, and other things that they need.

They could have built a society that was devoid of the diseases of the societies they fled from, but they remained captive to their ideas, beliefs, and ideologies. Instead of producing a society that compensates its members for what they have suffered, we see each individual seeking to implement what he believes in; The communist wants a commune, although there is one experience of the community or the commune system represented in the Paris Commune, which did not last more than 3 months in late March until late May 1871, before it fell as a social system and as an experiment that was not repeated after that, and the Islamist wants to build a caliphate, And the military man wants to impose a dictatorial regime, and the liberal wants an open society, etc.. And all this without trying to search for a new solution, which eventually led to what was expected, when the soldier got the weapon, he did as the military does in our country, as he wanted to subjugate society to its nonsense , which made the people repeat their experience of fleeing across the sea.

Thus, the defect here is twofold, as it is present in the references from which they are inspired first, and it is present in them secondly, because they are the product of those references in the first place, and here it is possible to mention what came in the noble verse: “God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” This applies to references and individuals.

• Your name has been closely associated with comedy and its genres since your first television work, “6-star family”. Why did you choose comedy? Is it personal taste or an artistic approach to the situation of societies and their individuals?

I write without choosing the genre, because of the small number of comic writers, I do not find time to write another genre, as everyone asks me to write comedies. However, in the series “Ahl al-Gharam, Part Three,” I wrote a quintet, “Ya Jarat al-Wadi,” which is not a comedy. In short, the process is mechanical, nothing more.

• Syrian dramas achieved high viewership rates during this Ramadan season compared to the last ten years. Can we talk about the awakening of the Syrian drama? What is the future of this drama in the light of the revival of this industry on the Arab and international levels?

The Syrian drama has not died, but has been affected by the conditions of the country, just like the rest of the sectors. We have first-class actors, skilled directors, and technicians with a long history. All the elements of the infrastructure are available with high quality, and when some conditions are met, it will return to its former state. If we had freedom of the media, and then multiple television stations, we would have presented something that amazes the viewer. In Egypt, Lebanon and the Gulf, where there are many stations, we see abundant production… which is unfortunately lacking.

• Books and research dealing with Arab drama and dramas are rarely published academically for the purpose of criticism and artistic advancement, and you are among those who write criticism – and perhaps criticism in many cases – of some of the prevailing works or genres. Do we need a monetary institution or specialized platforms to address this barrage of annual business?

The lack of these works and their rarity stems from the lack of critics and institutions that sponsor the subject of criticism, and criticism is a field that needs to be studied and has its rules and principles. But newspapers – unfortunately – are published, and the reader reads these articles and in many cases adopts what is contained in them because of the prior confidence in the means of publication.

It is unfortunate that this type of criticism is the most, and the number of real critics who have studied this field and grasp its strings are very few, and therefore attention to this subject is very important, and the establishment of institutions that care about it is a good thing, and perhaps the criticism department in theatrical institutes is an excellent step, but from It is important to develop it to include other arts in addition to theatre.