United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain hosted a panel discussion titled ‘The Novel Between the Basics of Industry and the Elements of Creativity’.

The United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) in Al Ain hosted a panel discussion on day two of Al Ain Book Festival 2022 titled ‘The Novel Between the Basics of Industry and the Elements of Creativity’

The Festival is organised by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), part of the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), from 14 to 20 November in Al Ain city under the slogan ‘All Eyes on Al Ain’.

Emirati novelist and media figure Jamal Matar moderated the session at the University’s Crescent Building, which was attended by several academics, cultural affairs enthusiasts, and university students. In addition to discussing the concept of the novel, its history, and its development through the ages, the panellists discussed storytelling methods and models for successful traditional and creative novels in Arabic and Western literature.

“A novel is the product of the present and the future, and people search for their stories in novels,” said moderator Jamal Matar, asking his panellists: “Can a novel be considered purely creative?”

In response to the question, Dr Abdul-Daim Al-Salami, professor of modern literature at Mohamed bin Zayed University for Human Sciences, said: “The novel always comes after the novel as an attempt to explain it or chronicle it. Arab authors, however, tend to write their novels according to a method, conception, or intellectual current, meaning that the stage of an Arab novel is not set before the idea, but rather follows it.”

“To be creative, one must depart from the familiar, although there are exceptions, such as imitating previous great works, which can be considered creative in the sense that their organisation and arrangement create an alternate reality,” he added. “Naguib Mahfouz explained that the city of Cairo in his writings is larger than its actual size, which illustrates how creativity enhances reality.”

Al-Salami pointed out that novel-writing lessons and workshops can teach students how to outline characters and plot, and how to narrate place and time, but it cannot teach the “spirit of the novel”.
“Fiction writing is an act of creativity that draws from reality but adds to it, and the new reality is a reflection of the way the author deals with life’s realities,” he asserted.

For his part, Dr. Nizar Qabilat, Director of the College of Graduate Studies and Scientific Research at Mohamed bin Zayed University for Human Sciences, thanked DCT Abu Dhabi, the ALC, and UAE University for their efforts in organising intellectual seminars.

“As a result of the lack of embellishment and idealistic impressions in many poems, novels became a popular form of escape for people,” he said, noting that success in literature and art is determined subjectively, when readers feel they live , intersect, and interact with the characters.

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