The experimental Arabic novel : postcolonial literary modernism in the Levant / Stefan G. Meyer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meyer, Stefan G., 1949-

Series:

SUNY series in Middle Eastern studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Arabic fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

Arabic fiction.

Modernism (Literature)--Arab countries.

Modernism (Literature).

Arab countries.

Physical Description:

xviii, 323 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

[Albany] : State University of New York Press, 2001.

Summary:

The Experimental Arabic Novel places the modern and contemporary Arabic novel in the context of the modernist-postmodern culture debate in the West. Tracing the development of experimentalism in the modern Arabic novel from the 1960s to the present, Meyer argues that it is possible to speak of distinct literary modernisms that have each evolved with a different set of characteristics, depending upon the nature of their historical antecedents. This approach to postcolonial literature offers a way to compare and contrast it meaningfully with Western literature without relying on inherently Western literary models.

Contents:

Arabic Transliteration Symbols xvi

Glossaries of Arabic Names xvii

Introduction: The Experimental Arabic Novel and Comparative Modernisms 1

Chapter 1 Modernist Ambivalence and the Beginnings of Narrative Experimentation 15

Existentialism and the Fragmentation of Narrative Voice 15

The Defamiliarization of Narrative 39

The Strategy of Ironic Distance 54

Chapter 2 Recovering the Past: The "Arabization" of the Novel 71

Cultural and Historical Counternarrative: Abdelrahman Munif 71

Magical Realism: Salim Barakat 87

Folk Narrative and Subjective Expression 97

Chapter 3 Rediscovering the Present: The Lebanese Civil War 117

Fragmented Reportage: Ghada Samman 117

The Patchwork Novel: Elias Khoury 129

The Dynamics of War and Sexuality 140

The Novel of Interior Situations 159

Chapter 4 Redefining the Future: Questions of Artistic Choice 175

The "Mirage of Language" and the "Dust of Life" 175

The Conflict between Political and Artistic Commitment 193

The Limits of Masculine Perspective 209

The Dialectical Solution 226

Mimicking Postmodernity 241

Conclusion: The Experimental Arabic Novel and Postmodern Discourse 255.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-308) and index.

ISBN:

0791447332

0791447340

OCLC:

44133027