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LITERARY CODE-SWITCHING
world of whomen and fathers and crippled absentees, and himself a rarity, not
only as an Arab but as a young man.""
On another level, these elements of othering elicit (implicit) “ethnographic”
comments on the ethics of hospitality. Midhat has a deeply ingrained sense of
hospitality, which consists not only of a welcoming attitude towards others,
“that Arab impulse to encourage strangers over thresholds”,°' but also of being
a gracious guest: “The rules of guest and host were so ingrained, he knew the
shame of trespass in his bones.”*? The importance of thresholds and trespass
is underscored by the code-switch that will be discussed now.
THRESHOLDS AND TRESPASS: “HABIBI, COME WITH ME AAL-MAKTAB”
On the eve of his departure to Montpellier, Midhat is invited by his father to
his office: “Habibi, come with me, aal-maktab.”°? This sentence is marked by a
code-switch, the sentence starting in Arabic, “habibi”, switching to English
“come with me” and ending in Arabic “aal-maktab”. Depending on the context,
habibi can be translated as darling, sweetheart, dear, beloved, friend etc. Be¬
cause it is uttered here by a father addressing his son “my dear son” would be
the most suitable translation. It is one of the many Arabic addressing titles
that are inserted into the main text in English. It is not translated but can
easily be understood from the context. The last part of the sentence is aal¬
maktab, which means “to the office”. This utterance is not translated either
and can only be understood by connecting it to the next sentence: “The office
shutters pleated along their joints to disclose the remaining day [...],”°* imply¬
ing that they are entering Haj Taher’s office after he invited Midhat in.
The untranslated code-switches to Arabic slow down the reading flow and
draw the readers’ attention to the different layers of the text. Given Haj Taher’s
standoffish attitude towards Midhat it is not hard to imagine that his father’s
office is off-limits for Midhat. The fact that Midhat is kindly invited in and
receives a precious present, a golden Ottoman watch, together with the gentle
way in which he is addressed (“habibi” and “God keep you, habibi. Keep it
safe.”)*> underscores one of the rare affective moments between father and son.
5° Tbid., 90.
5! Tbid., 100.
52 Ibid., 121.
53 Ibid., 24.
54 Ibid., 24.
55 Ibid., 24. This watch is an object that entices interesting observations on the differences in
timekeeping between the Muslim Ottoman Empire and Christian Europe at the time, the
difference between the Gregorian and the Hijri calendar being one of them, but also sunset
marking the end of the day for Muslims instead of midnight. The introduction of the “Frank¬
ish clock” by the Ottoman sultan meant that Nabulsis kept switching between both ways of
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