A Handful of Dates

by Tayeb Salih, Denys Johnson-Davies (Translator)

A short story from The Wedding of Zein & Other Stories

Genres: Short Stories, Sudan

5 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1964

About the author

The Sudanese writer al-Tayyib Salih (Arabic: الطيب صالح)has been described as the "genius of the modern Arabic novel." He has lived abroad for most of his life, yet his fiction is firmly rooted in the village in which he spent his early years. His most well-known work is the modern classic Mawsim al-hijra ila’l-shamal (1967; Season of Migration to the North), which received great critical attention and brought new vitality to the Arab novel.

Salih has not been a prolific writer; his early work, including Season of Migration to the North, remains the best of his oeuvre. He has received critical acclaim in both the west and the east. In Sudan he is without rival, and his writing has played a considerable part in drawing attention to Sudanese literature. Arabic literature has been dominated by social criticism, social realism, and committed literature depicting the bitter realities of life; Salih managed to break with this trend and return to the roots of his culture, capturing the mystery, magic, humor, sorrows, and celebrations of rural life and popular religion.

الطيب صالح أديب عربي من السودان ولد عام (1348هـ - 1929م ) في إقليم مروي شمالي السودان بقرية كَرْمَكوْل بالقرب من قرية دبة الفقراء وهي إحدى قرى قبيلة الركابية التي ينتسب إليها. عاش مطلع حياته وطفولته في ذلك الإقليم, وفي شبابه انتقل إلى الخرطوم لإكمال دراسته فحصل من جامعتها على درجة البكالوريوس في العلوم. سافر إلى إنجلترا حيث واصل دراسته, وغيّر تخصصه إلى دراسة الشؤون الدولية.
تنقل الطيب صالح بين عدة مواقع مهنية فعدا عن خبرة قصيرة في إدارة مدرسة، عمل الطيب صالح لسنوات طويلة من حياته في القسم العربي لهيئة الإذاعة البريطانية, وترقى بها حتى وصل إلى منصب مدير قسم الدراما, وبعد استقالته من البي بي سي عاد إلى السودان وعمل لفترة في الإذاعة السودانية, ثم هاجر إلى دولة قطر وعمل في وزارة إعلامها وكيلاً ومشرفاً على أجهزتها. عمل بعد ذلك مديراً إقليمياً بمنظمة اليونيسكو في باريس, وعمل ممثلاً لهذه المنظمة في الخليج العربي. ويمكن القول أن حالة الترحال والتنقل بين الشرق والغرب والشمال والجنوب أكسبته خبرة واسعة بأحوال الحياة والعالم وأهم من ذلك أحوال أمته وقضاياها وهو ما وظفه في كتاباته وأعماله الروائية وخاصة روايته العالمية "موسم الهجرة إلى الشمال".
كتب العديد من الروايات التي ترجمت إلى أكثر من ثلاثين لغة وهي « موسم الهجرة إلى الشمال» و«عرس الزين» و«مريود» و«ضو البيت» و«دومة ود حامد» و«منسى».. تعتبر روايته "موسم الهجرة إلى الشمال" واحدة من أفضل مائة رواية في العالم .. وقد حصلت على العديد من الجوائز .. وقد نشرت لأول مرة في اواخر الستينات من القرن ال-20 في بيروت وتم تتويجه ك"عبقري الادب العربي". في عام 2001 تم الاعتراف بكتابه على يد الاكاديميا العربية في دمشق على انه "الرواية العربية الأفضل في القرن ال-20.) أصدر الطيب صالح ثلاث روايات وعدة مجموعات قصصية قصير

Reviews

[❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁]

This will stick with me for a while. It’s a realistic tale of heartbreak and disappointment. It’s almost as if the light dimmed away from whom was once considered his hero and his world. It’s similar to losing interest in ideas, people, or places once admired to an extent - until an undesirable manifestation of their true essence disappoints.

[Mohammed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tayeb Salih's "A Handful of Dates" is a moving tale about the end of childhood as seen by a little kid. The story sharply shows a change of feelings in the boy towards his grandfather who he believed was almost like an angel at first, until he realized that he was only pretending and had stolen their neighbour’s fruit crop instead of being honest with his son. Comprised of both emotion and notions, the account talks of how hurt the boy was when he got to know the truth." You will want to read this touching and intriguing story if you like analyzing human character and showcasing pure emotions.

[Muhammad Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short but meaningful story.

[Guilhem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incisive short story underlining the cruelty of the lgreedy andowners through the shift of point of view of a young boy

[egosumgay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for class and it was quite nice!!

[Sanaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t fully grasp what was going in this one.
The little boy, surrounded by the oblivion of childhood adores his grandfather. One day he asks about the land and his grandfather tells him how he “purchased” it from the neighbouring date seller every time he got married. The date seller appears in torn ragged clothes, owing debts, and his entire date harvest is distributed into repaying those debts. The child then runs off crying and vomits out the dates he tasted.

What I don’t understand is, why he seems to think his grandfather is malicious by the end of the story, I’m not sure if I’m missing some context. If the date man sold his land, he owes a debt to the boys grandfather then it sounds normal of him to collect. If date seller couldn’t afford three marriages then he shouldn’t have gotten married. Sure, the grandfather sounds greedy when he admits he aspires to have the entirety of land before his death, but no malicious activity is indicated at on his part.

All in all, I think, the story was about a child becoming away of the realities of life and the precise moment it happened for this child, but overall I feel like I’m missing some vital info.

[Carolina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Handful of Dates and a Heart Full of Compassion

Innocence is held wisely as a child. He admires his grandfather, with his beard white as cotton, giving him an image of purity and holiness. But the boy witnesses his neighbor losing his land, and his grandfather taking advantage of it.

At that point, he wants to throw the injustice away.
Is it worth climbing up in life at the cost of others? Can we sleep at night—or even share a date—while injustice thrives?

It’s worth reading and reflecting about it.

[BaSila Husnain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crisp. Petite. Perfect

[Sara Wagdy · Rating 3 out of 5]

حاولت يا صالح أن أدرسها لطالبتي بكل قلبي، محاولة مرارا أن أوصل لها حلاوة السودان وغرابة الناس.
حبك للنخلة والنهر والأرض.. كرهك للجشع وأقنعة البشر..

[Nihad azz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love it, it shows maturity in a way that is so real because we don't mature with age but with experience and chok

[Michelle Skowronek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good - It's short, and shows the moment a young boy realizes that the grandfather he looks most up to, is a thief.

[Ayman Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first glance, You will consider it as a ridiculous, meaningless story. You'll wonder : What's the point?
But in fact it's meaningful and contains valuable meanings between its simple lines, it describes how the government exploit citizens, taking their possessions (dates pounds) while hiding its true occurrence.. and how they use their power to persuade society into believing and doing things that only benefit them, the psychological changement of the young boy embodies how we all were disappointed when knowing this fact, and the unsatisfying situation of Masood showed how the Arabic citizen is being exploited by governments.

[Mallak Benabid · Rating 1 out of 5]

Idk what to rate this ?