There has always been disagreement on the nature of the novels produced by such Nubian novelists as Khalil Qasim, Idris Ali, Hasan Nour, Yahya Mukhtaar, and Haggag Adoul and others. Some critics characterise these novels as part of Arabic literature. This viewpoint is based on the fact that any literary work written in Arabic should be considered part and parcel of Arabic literature. Since Nubian novelists use Arabic language, their literary products should be classified as belonging to Arabic literature. However, there are also critics who provide these novels with a different label: Nubian literature. In addition, some Nubian novelists introduce their novels to the public as Nubian novels. Apparently, the latter viewpoint is mainly based on the content, rather than the language, of these novels. By content, we mean the setting, the characters, the events, the names given to the characters, and even the language used in the dialogues. It should, however, be noted that the proponents of these viewpoints have not produced any evidence in support of their respective characterizations of these novels.
I argue that the viewpoint that is based on one piece of evidence (i.e. the language of the narration) is less convincing than the viewpoint that establishes the identity of these novels as being part of the Nubian culture, even though they are written in Arabic.
