A bestseller throughout the Arab world, a tribute to sex, eroticism, language and liberty, The Proof of the Honey is a superb celebration of female pleasure. A Syrian scholar working in Paris is invited to contribute to a conference on the subject of classic erotic literature in Arabic. The invitation provides occasion for her to evoke memories from her own life, to exult in her personal liberty, … personal liberty, her lovers, her desires, and to revisit moments of shared intimacy with other women as they discuss life, love, and sexual desire.
Far more than an erotic novel, The Proof of the Honey is a surprising and illuminating voyage into the history of Arabic literature. Borrowing inspiration from The Thousand and One Nights, erudite asides are woven into the fabric of the protagonist’s story and the stories of her lovers. Affirming that “Arabic is the language of sex,” and making desire the source of her own personal liberty, Al Neimi has written a stirring novel about the place afforded sex in modern Arabic society and its relationship to the long, rich tradition of Arabic erotica.
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The Proof of the Honey by Salwa Al Neimi pub Europa 2009
Translated by Carol Perkins
The book was first published in Lebanon in 2008. As the author admits she expected, it was banned in her native Syria as well as in many other Arabic speaking countries. The reason? It dealt with the subject of sex – taboo! In addition, it was a woman, an Arab woman, daring to do so. This English edition was published in USA. As with any translated book the reader is reliant on the accuracy of the translation. One cannot help wondering in this case that translation of the Arabic may have lost original nuances. However, this is the book in review so one must look at it as it stands. This edition was withdrawn by Apple from its itunes bookstore because of the ‘inappropriate’ cover. If this cover is inappropriate then so are many major works of art now on display in public galleries.
The cover clearly states this is a work of fiction. Maybe it is, but on reading it I was drawn into believing the ‘I’ in the narrative is the author herself. If not wholly so then at least in part, for she had certainly put much of her academic knowledge in, and personal love of, early Arab literature dealing with the subject of her own book – sex. Nor does this erudition stop there for she also references comments, advice, descriptions of authors of erotica from other cultures, going so far as to suggest the reading of all such texts would be of great benefit to the Arab world in general.
This short book is divided into ‘Gates’ rather than chapters, each gate dealing with a different aspect of how sex permeates all aspects of our lives. The use of ‘gates’ is very apt as what follows is an opening into a sphere with which many readers will not necessarily be familiar, either on content or openness. The book speaks freely of a journey of finding ‘self’ through the narrator’s personal journey of sexual encounters. Roles of men and women, seeming double standards, hypocrisy – all are addressed.
The author’s ‘Enlightener’, referred to as ‘The Thinker’, I have, in my own mind, equated with ‘Soul mate’ – the person who facilitates our ability to advance our search and achieve our goals. Al Neimi speaks of coincidences in this area although I would use Jung’s term of synchronicity. Everything we are already exists. It just needs revelation.
One of the criticisms initially levelled at the book is that the style varies from academic to less formal. Personally I did not find this in any way impeded my understanding or enjoyment. I particularly enjoyed the comments on, and the discussion of, the use of anatomically correct terminology when talking of sex, sexual action or those parts of the body immediately associated with such. In English we have such words, often unacceptable