Arab Cultural Notebooks
New Arabic Titles

ARTS & LITERATURE

Ghada al-Saman's Early Life Stories

To call her a feminist writer would invite the wrath of many critics who view Ghada al-Saman otherwise. But few would disagree that she has been writing on issues pertaining to Arab women. "Al-Riwayya al-Mustahila, Fisfiyya' Dimashqiyya" [The Impossible Novel, Damascene Mosaics] is published by the author's own publishing house, Manshuraat Ghada al-Saman (Beirut, 1997.)

Damascus is the home of the author, and thus constitutes part of her life story. According to Ghalia Qbanni, who reviewed the "Impossible Novel" for Al Wasat, the London-based Arabic magazine, believes al-Saman is telling her life story, using real places and calling people by real names.

The predicament of Arab women is present in every aspect of the story. One character, said to be al-Saman, is wished by her father to have been born as boy. Since she was not, her mother attempted pregnancy one more time. When she succeeded, she died in the delivery process, along with her two twins. This event unfolded as the husband left for Beirut on a business trip, although aware of his wife's imminent delivery, leaving her to be taken care of by his brother. When she came close to labor, the husband's brother refused to take her to the hospital to avoid a male physician delivering her, resorting instead to a midwife at whose hands she died.

The reviewer implicitly criticizes the author for not settling on an autobiographical approach, as opposed to fiction, because the shortcomings evident in the behavior of some characters stem from adopting fiction. The reviewer wonders why Arab authors avert the autobiographical approach, and consider it less important than the novelist one. Ironically, it is Ghad al-Saman who was a pioneer in publishing what come close to an autobiography when she made public the personal letters written to her by the late Palestinian novelist-politician Ghassan Kanafani. These letters, intimate in nature, have generated great debate, some of whose participants blamed al-Saman for bringing certain sides of the late novelist into the public domain.

War Times Are Far from over

If the Lebanese suffered from the horrors of the Lebanese Civil War, there has not been much assuring since the war ended in the Taif Agreement. "Nahiyyat al-Bara'a" [The Zone of Innocence], by Rashid al-Daif, published by Dar al-Massa (Beirut 1997), explores the conditions of ordinary simple people in post-civil war Lebanon, who remain at the mercy of forces other than those of the legitimate authority.

The novel, according to al-Sharq al-Awsat, is "Kafkian in depth, where the hero is accused of a crime he did not commit." Ghalia Qabanni, who reviewed the novel for Al Wasat magazine, describes the society in which al-Daif characters live as "undemocratic," and the novel approximates an almost Arab or Lebanese version of Kafka's "The Trial." In both al-Daif and Kafka's novels, the reader sees neither judges or investigators visible to the naked eye.

Novel As Method of History Writing

Yusuf al-Qa'id "Itlal al-Nahar" [The Rise of the Day] is a novel in which "Egypt remains, as in the age of writing, a source for whatever al-Qa'id writes. The war told is in Egypt, and the man dead belongs to its villages," wrote Faysal Darraj in his review for the London-based Arabic magazine Al Wasat. "The novel is neurotic, tense, tells what takes place 'here' and 'now'...and in this writing, al-Qa'id records what he sees, listens and contemplates as if the novel is another writing of history," adds Darraj. According to the reviewer, this work (published by Dar Sharqiyyat, Cairo, 1997) is another proof of the dynamism of the novel in Egypt.

Do Algerians Still Write Political Poetry?

Wondering about the meaning of being a poet in today's Algeria, especially at a time when poets became preoccupied with intimate concerns rather than with changing the world, Hamoush Abu Bakr finds an exception in Kamal Mayouf Kheir's "Iza Sa'alat Ani Umi" [If My Mother Asked About Me], published in Paris, 1997. This collection of poems, which Abu Bakr reviewed for Al Wasat, deals with the bloody situation in Algeria, and approached from the bitterness of exile.

>Essays and Bibliography on Lebanese Feminist Literature

This new book of essays and bibliographical documentation enriches, and perhaps fills a vacuum, in the study of Arab feminism--"Al-Adab al-Nisa'i al-Lubnani al-Mua 'sir" [Lebanese Contemporary Feminist Literature], published by Ma 'had al-Dirasaat al-Nisa'iyya fi al-Alam al-Arabi, al-Jami 'a al-Lubnaniyya, Beirut 1997. The book consists of two parts: the first includes three studies by Samira Aghasi, Rashid al-Daif, and Sabah al-Kharat Zwein, according to a review in An Nahar newspaper. Aghasi's contribution, "The Representation of Reality in the Lebanese Short Story" treats the short story since the 1960's until the present; Al Daif's "About The Novel Written by Lebanese Women, 1960-1995," considers the woman's novel as part of the Arab novel, maintaining that no distinction exists to justify a feminist vs. "male" literature. Al-Kharat-Zwein's, "Modern Poetry in Feminist Literature" examines feminist literature through the works of poets Nadia Tweini and Venos Khoury-Gata. The second part includes a bibliography of Lebanese poets, story writers and novelists along with the titles of their works. Realism, according to the An Nahar review, dominates the novel and the story.

Baland a-Haydari's Latest Poetry

"Durub fi al-Manfa" [Roads in Exile] is the latest collection of poems by the noted late Iraqi noted poet Baland al-Haydari (For a lengthy feature about the poet, see Al Jadid Vol. 3, no. 17 ). The collection, published Dar Suad al-Sabah, Kuwait, 1996, includes poems written prior to his death, many of which talk about exile and homeland.

Mohammad Barada and the Search for New Theory of Literary Criticism

A critic who started under the influence of "socialist realism" is said to have matured to benefit from other approaches, where he became willing to acknowledge the multiple social, psychological and philosophical meanings of the text, writes Talhat Jabril. The critic Jabril refers to is the Moroccan, Mohammed Barada, whose " 'As'ilaat al-Riwaya, 'Asi'laat al-Naqd" [Questions of the Novel, Questions of Criticism], was published by Manshuraat al-Rabitta (Casablanca 1997). Barada disagrees with the critics who argue that the history of criticism, from linguistics up to structuralism, is an amalgam of interpretations, each negating the other, and that no methodology has proven the perfection of its tools and its epistemological basis.

When the Single-Party" Crimes Cause Grave Digger to Commit Suicide

Language, symbolic one, can be used effectively in fighting oppression and control. This language, used in telling a number of stories, is utilized in Oussama Isber's "Al Sira al-Dinariyya" [The Story of the Diamonds], published by Dar al-Mada (Damascus 1997). In one of these stories, "The Cemetery of the Silver Crescent," the country lives a nightmare called the "single-party," which is the "party of the silver crescent," which owns "the cemetery of the silver crescent." writes Taysir Khalaf, who reviewed Isber's book for Al Wasat magazine.

The grave-digger, who works in that cemetery, commits suicide as a result of the horrors he witnesses on the job. "Prior to his suicide, he leaves a will whose narrator decided not to hear, talk or see." The "Diamond Story" centers on the idea that the individual is reduced to a number, a novel more sarcastic than the "Story of the Windows" or the "Cemetery of the Silver Crescent," parts of which can be found in Isber's "The Story of the Diamonds."

Heading Toward a Prisons Literature?

Stories about life in prison have become a field, an almost specialized one, in Arabic literature, something like the literature of letters, travel or autobiography. Who knows; we may near the day, if the politics of the Arab world continue treading the current undemocratic and cruel path, when we will have a discipline called the "literature of political imprisonment." The novel by the Iraqi poet and novelist Yusuf al-Sa'igh, entitled "Sirdab Raqm 2" [Crypt Number 2], published by al-Hay'a al-al-Ama li-Qusur al-Thaqafa, Egypt, is a case in point. This novel tells the story of prisoners of conscience in Iraq, who were lumped together in a crypt or underground basement, and tortured physically and psychologically, a condition that led some either to death or madness, while those left alive or sane ended up either friends or enemies, writes another Iraqi writer, Fatme al-Muhsin, who reviewed the novel for Al Wasat magazine.

Literary Memory of the Lebanese Civil War

Some Lebanese have chosen not to talk about the civil war, whether through social, economic or political analysis. They are uncomfortable even with a cultural treatment of the war through the novel, theater or music, as if denying war will make it vanish from memory. "Lubnaniyoun fi al-Mansa" [Lebanese in the Oblivion] by Adel Sawma, published by Dar al-Farabi, 1997, seems to insist on not forgetting.

The book is a collection of stories about characters in Lebanon during the civil war period, 1975-1990. The author's characters, according to Collette Marshalian, who reviewed the book for An Nahar newspaper, include those who lived the war and paid the price with their lives, time and dreams. These are the "forgotten." Titles of some of some stories include "The Sniper," "The Little Unforgotten," "The Death of a Spy," "The Man of the Dark Glasses," and "Phoenicia Street." These stories contribute to the "formation of literary memory of the Lebanese war, the dynamic memory that distinguishes itself from traditional and boring history," concludes Marshalian.

Said Qutub as Poetry Critic

Critic of poetry is hardly a byline bestowed on Sayid Qutub, a preminent theoretician of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt. Published by Dar Al-Jamal (Cologne, Germany) in 1996, "Muhimat al-Shai 'r fi al-Hayat" [The Mission of Poet in Life] is based on a lecture Sayid Qutub gave in 1923.

At 26 years of age, Qutub got into a field he does not know much about, according to Abed al-Fatah Khalil, who reviewed the book for Al Wasat magazine. Qutub's analysis of poetry relied heavily on young and beginning poets, rather than on the well-established and the famous, according to Qutub's teacher, Mohammed Mahdi Alam. But what stands out about Qutub is his attacks on a revered Arab poet, Ahmad Shawqi, where the author "criticizes and even ridicules the images" used by the legendary poet, according to the reviewer.

GENERAL

Egyptian Personality Probed

A contribution to a better study of the Egyptian personality is a new book by Alya'a Rafe ': "Al Shakhsiyyat al-Masriyya" [The Egyptian Personality] published by Dar Sadiq, Cairo, 1997, is an anthropological study of the Egyptian school in art and life, presenting the social, educational and cultural dimensions of this personality.

Eclipse of al-Sadawi, the Rise of al-Marnissi in Championing Arab Feminism

Arab feminism might have a new champion in the name of Fatima al-Marnissi, writes Fatima al-Muhsin in Al Wasat magazine. Al-Mushsin, a noted Iraqi critic, makes this argument in the context of reviewing al-Marnissi's book, "Ahlam al-Nissa', Tufulat fi al-Harim" [The Dreams of Women, Childhood in the Harem], translated by Sabah al-Jahim, published by Dar Atieh lil-Nashr, Dbyieh (Lebanon), 1998. Al-Muhsin concludes that the eclipse of Nawal al-Sadawi--the famed Egyptian psychologist, author, novelist, activist, and feminist-- is caused by her mixture of reality and fiction in order to entertain Western readers, who for some time relied on her work as major sources about Arab women. Al Marnissi, al-Muhsin continues, has been gradually emerging on the international stage as an advocate of Arab feminism, also combining reality and fiction.

Often writing in French and English, with Arabic translations to follow, al-Marnissi brings the literary to the sociological structure in approaching historical incidents, especially in the society of the Moroccan Harem. Born in 1940, al-Marnissi discusses her own life from childhood to her teen years, according to al-Muhsin. But the reviewer concludes with a critical observation, which appears to be aimed at al-Marnissi as well as others: "To what extent does the tale of Shahrazad, which is repeated in Arab feminist writings, present the reality of Arab woman?"

Fatima al-Marnissi Challenges the Assumptions Underlying Hijab Discourse

The oneness and the courage with which Fatme al-Marnissi expresses her ideas will enrich the literature on women in the Arab world, although her writings appear first in French and English and then brought to the Arabic language. Al-Marnissi is the author of several books, including among others, "The Political Harem--the Prophet and Women," "The Forgotten Sultanas," "The Fear of Democracy," and most recently, "Ma Wara& al-Hijab--Dynamikia al-Mudhakar wa al-Mu&anass fi al-Mujtama# al-Islami al-Hadith" [What Lies Behind the Veil--The Dynamics of the Male-Female in Contemporary Islamic Society], translated by Ahmad Saleh, published by Dar Houran, Damascus, 1997. Al-Marnissi acknowledges that those who are calling for the return to al-Hijab believe that the woman are taking it off , writes Yusuf Ibrahim al-Jahmani, who reviewed "What Lies Behind the Veil" for the Lebanese An Nahar newspaper. Al-Marnissi "asks in the name of the Muslim women: should we return to the hijab?" Al-Marnissi defines Islam, in addition to other things, "as an all-encompassing materialist vision of the world, whose place is not heaven as much earth and its control." In Al-Marnissi's view, Islam uses "place" as a tool to control sex and govern its direction. The streets, according to fundamentalists, are places of sin and temptation, because they are public and used by both sexes, thus meeting the definition of fitna, which translates into conflict or trouble. "In this context, the Islamic system appears for al-Marnissi unhostile to woman as much as to the unity of the two different sexes."

In her introduction of sexual activity, al-Marnissi adopts the view that the Muslim female is active and not reactive, as Freud claims. She quotes Kasem Amin, an Egyptian intellectual, known for his feminist views, as having said that "women are more able to control their sexual desires than men, therefore separating the two sexes, and aim at protecting men and not women."

In a word, allowing women to appear unveiled exposes men's fear of losing their rationality, becoming "victims of trouble whenever they face an unveiled woman." Al-Marnissi observes that it is ironic that Islamic and European theories concur on one thing: that it is women who destroy the social system. Wasn't Freud who argued that "civilization is a war against social activity." And that civilization is the sexual energy "stripped of its sexual purposes and directed toward other goals, unsexual in nature and of social value."

The Islamic perspective, on the other hand, views civilization as the result of denied sexual energy. In light of the fact that the social structure as a whole is viewed as an attack on woman's sexual energy and a defense against her, al-Marnissi points at this substantive contradiction: "If varied sexual relationships and looseness/promiscuity are the symptoms of barbarism, what was civilized after the onset of Islam was the woman's sexual activity, while man's sexual activity remains unconfined (due to marrying more than one wife);" also, "Promiscuity remains a symptom (due to divorce.)" The fear then stems from giving woman the right to determine her own destiny, a factor that could lead to conflict and trouble.

Importantly, al-Marnissi focuses on facts, often brought into the debate on women issues, that the rights afforded to men (exclusively), such as marrying more than one woman, and the divorce, all are something new in the Arabian Peninsula, going back to the onset of the seventh century. Historical evidence shows there were different systems of marriage allowing women had the right to choose their husbands and divorce them. In the pre-Islamic period, there were marriages in which the child did not belong to his biological father.

POLITICS & ECONOMICS

Islam and Algerian Politics

Islam in Algerian life, contends author George al-Rassi, is a major element and even the greatest pillar. As a unifying ideology, Islam meant all things, from the Algerian nationalism personality, independence, etc. Poet and critic Abbas Beydoun, who reviewed "Al-Islam al-Siyassi" [Algerian Islam],published by Dar al-Jadid (Beiru 1997 ) for Al Wasat magazine, raises a question that was not apparently addressed by the Author: How did Islam transform from being a unifying into a divisive force? The reviewer's overall evaluation of the book is quite positive, highlighting the book's discussion of the rise of fundamentalist forces.

>Arab Politics and Culture Subject of Harsh Critique

Described as daring and open, "Al-&Umma al-Mashloula--Tashrih al-Inhitat al-Arabi" [A Paralyzed Nation: Dissecting Arab Decadence] offers a harsh critique of all aspects of Arab societies. Published by Dar Riyadh al-Rayes, Beirut, 1997, author Muhyee al-Din Subhi, a Syrian critic, touches upon topics considered taboo and crosses many redlines, writes Yassin Rifaieh, who reviewed the book for Al-Safir newspaper.

The book, according to the reviewer, has become "a collection of security apparatuses concerned foremost with the safety of the regime even if this was at the expense of the rights and freedom of the individual." The author is said to have attributed half the "Arab shame" to the United States and Israel, while the rest is laid at the door of the Arabs, to what they have done to themselves, the book is said to argue, equals in its cruelty and oppression what "imperialism," the "West" and even "Zionism" have done in the second half of the 20th century.

The author, whose accomplishments are more recognizable in the world of letters than in political analysis, laments Arab culture by saying that "we have intellectuals, not culture--namely experts who repeat knowledge they acquired in the West."

Has Turkish Image of the Arab Changed?

The popularized assumption that the Turks hold negative stereotypes of the Arabs seems unwarranted if the reader were to believe the findings published in a new book, "Surat al-Arab lida al-Atraak" [The Image of the Arab Among the Turks], by Ibrahim al-Daquqi, published by the Center for Arab Unity Studies, Beirut, 1996. The author, according to a review by Habib Maalouf, published in An Nahar newspaper, conducts a content analysis, where he studies Arab-Turkish relations for a short period, Nov. 2, 1993-Feb. 20, 1994, based on a collection of 10 newspapers. His conclusion, according to the reviewer, is that the image is not negative and even marked with positive aspects. The review, however, criticizes the findings on the grounds that Turkey, a country of 60 million people, has no more than 350,000 readers, a number that is hardly representative. A better approach would have "focused on the popular traditional folklore of the Turks," an area which should have consumed the utmost attention in the study.

Relationship Between Iran and Muslim Brotherhood Is Closer Than Thought

Western literature often rushes into conclusions as to the nature of the relationship between Iran and Islamic Sunni groups, including long established movements like the Muslim Brothehood. Putting this relationship in a historical context is Abbas Khamma Yar's "Iran wa al-Ikhwan al-Mulimun--Dirasaat fi #Awamel al-Itifaq wa al-Iftiraq" [Iran and the Muslim Brethern--A Study in the Elements of Agreement and Disagreement], published by Markaz al-Dirasaat al-Istratijiyyah wa al-Buhuth wa al-Tawthiq, Beirut, 1998. Both Iran and Egypt are two important countries, strategically and demographically. Mahmud Haydar, who reviewed "Iran and the Muslim Brethern" for An Nahar newspaper, claims that the relationship between Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood goes back to the mid-1940's despite the sectarian and jurisprudence differences. Among those responsible for initiating this relationship is Sheikh al-Qumi and Sheikh al-Kashani, in addition to the leader of "Feda'iyyan Islam" movement from the Iranian side; while from the Egyptian side there was Sheikh al-Azhar Mahmud Shatout and the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Hassan al-Bana. Haydar refers to the existence of differences but, in his opinion, these are not substantive.

These differences include the reformist nature of the Brotherhood as opposed to the radical one of the Shiites. While the Sunnis call for obedience and loyalty to the ruler even when he is unjust, the Shiites oppose the state according to their concept of the Imamate. Haydar refers to aspects of the two movements which stress points of agreements, such as the Brotherhood refusal to get involved in sectarian differences with other groups and, while the Iranian Shiite movements also called for unity, citing issues like Jerusalem and struggle against imperialism in all its forms.

REPRINTS

The Historical Novel Makes a Comeback

The Egyptian publishing house Dar al-Hilal is reprinting some of its early novels, particularly the historical novel. "Ibnat al-Mamluk" [The Daughter of the Mamluke] has been republished, 71 years after the first edition came out. The events of the novel revolve around two parts, political and personal. Politically, the events take place between 1804 and 1807 at a period when Mohammed Ali, founder of modern Egypt, consolidated his rule in Egypt after he finished the rivalry of the Mamlukes, a rivalry that ended in a famous massacre. Personally, the novel focuses on hareb [escapee] from the Arabian Peninsula after his tribe was defeated by the Wahabbis, and who fell in love with one of the daughters of the Mamluke notables or beys.

THEORY & PHILOSOPHY

The Legacy of Hasan al-Bana as Seen by His Brother

The Muslim Brotherhood movement, particularly its Egyptian branch, has fascinated many students of Arab and Muslim societies. Written by the brother of Hassan al-Bana, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement in Egypt, "After the Muslim Brotherhood" (Dar Al Fikr Al, Cairo 1997) offers an account of the movement in the 1930's as well as a critique of its position on a wide range of issues such as art, literature and woman. He concludes that the movement has come to an end, and thus there must be a new basis for developing Islamic ideology.

Ibn Khaldun Accused of Plagiarism

How original are Ibn Khaldun's ideas? The great North African philosopher who is considered an intellectual inspiration for modern sociology is being accused of lifting the ideas of Ikwan al-Safa, a tenth century enlightenment intellectual movement active in the Basra (Iraq) area.

The ideas of Ikwan al-Safa, writes Fatme al-Muhsin, who reviewed the book that accuses Ibn Khaldun of plagiarism, was incorporated in a scientific encyclopedia that included the social, intellectual and philosophical contributions of the members of this movement. Mahmud Ismail, the author of "Nihayat 'Ustura" [The End of a Myth], published by Dar Amer Lil Tibaa, Cairo, 1997, claims, according to al-Muhsin who reviewed his book for Al Wasat magazine, that Ibn Khaldun's writings, especially those in "Al Muqaddamma," are influenced either by incorporating whole texts or through modifying some of their contents. But al-Mushin appears to diminish the importance of the controversy by focusing on the central question, that is the importance of knowledge as opposed to the entity contributing the knowledge.

Issues in Contemporary Thought Studied Through New Definition of Philosophy

Mohammed Abed al-Jabberi presents a philosophical book in which he adopts Jill Doulouze's definition of philosophy, which claims that philosophy is a "creative art and reformulation of concepts," writes Habib Maalouf, who reviewed the new book for the Lebanese daily Al Safir. In "Qadayya fi al-Fikr al-Mua#sir [Issues in Contemporary Thought], al-Jabberi, according to Maalouf, identifies philosophy's task nowadays as "to instill life in pre-existing concepts." The book, published by the Center for Arab Unity Studies, Beirut, 1997, examines concepts like "the city," "forgiveness," "justice," and "morals." Al- Jabberi offers a critique of two popularized themes, the "clash of civilizations," advocated by the American political scientist Samuel Huntington, and "globalization," which gained more popularity after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

The Two Phases of Islam in Michel Aflaq's Baathist Thought

Islam in the writings of one of the founders of the Baath Party has been treated in many books and articles on Arab nationalism. The continuing interest in this issue stems from Michel Aflaq's Christian background. Mohammed Amara may not have Aflaq's Christianity at the heart of his book in the same way Western scholars are attracted to, but rather his supposed secularism. Amara's "Al-Tayar al-Qawmi al-Islami" [Islamic Nationalist Faction], published by Dar al-Shuruq, Cairo, 1997, offers new insights into Aflaq unaccounted for in earlier works in both Arabic and English. Atef Mzher, who reviewed Amara's book for Al Hayat, argues that Aflaq has discovered Islam in the early phase of his intellectual and activist life. Aflaq, he continues, links Islam as religion and Islam as experience after he ceased the exclusive focus on Islam as experience at earlier times. What distinguishes the book is the periodization that takes into account what are called the Syrian and Iraqi periods--meaning the 1960's period when he was in Syria working with leftist and some Marxist factions of the Baath Party, and later in Iraq after he was forced out of his country and subsequently took Iraq as his home.

It was in Iraq, the reviewers says, that Aflaq developed his ideas on the role of Islam in the formation of Arab nationalism. These ideas are said to have coincided with the rise of Islamic forces and ideas, and with the crisis in Marxist theory as a result of changes in the former Communist bloc. But the author, as represented by the reviewer, claims that Aflaq, while believing in the metaphysical component of Islam, does not consider it as the source or authority for governing--neither Islamic law or Sharia. Aflaq still believes in the secularism of the state, emancipating it from the "law of Islam," while at the same time rejecting the secularism of nationalism that is liberated from the "tradition of Islam."

TRANSLATIONS

A Humanist Phase in Arab-Islamic Thought

Written by an Algerian scholar and intellectual who made rich theoretical contributions, "The Humanist Tendencies in Arab Thought--the Age of Muskewh and the Monotheists" (Dar Al Saqi, London & Beirut: 1997), presents the author's findings of a humanist intellectual school in Arab and Islamic political thought existing as far back as the classical age in the 10th century. The book was translated to the Arabic by Hashim Saleh.

War With Israel Unlikely Without Egypt; Peace Improbable Without Syria

Known as an academic specializing in Syrian politics and history, Moshe Maoz has added diplomacy to his curriculum vitae since he has been working as a Syrian expert in the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Maoz's latest contributions include Suriyya wa Israeel Nihayyat al-Sira# [Syria and Israel and the End of the Conflict], translated to the Arabic from Hebrew, (in which it appeared in 1996) by Iman Hamed and Umru Zakariyya and published by Dar An-Nahhar, Beirut, 1997. The author discusses the thesis that launching war is out of the question to Egypt, and at the same time, achieving peace is unlikely without the participation of Syria.

New Arabic Titles appeared in Al Jadid, Vol. 4, No. 22 (Winter 1998)