Anxiety of erasure : trauma, authorship, and the diaspora in Arab women's writings / Hanadi Al-Samman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Al-Samman, Hanadi, author.

Series:

Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East

Gender, culture, and politics in the Middle East

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Emigration and immigration in literature.

Liberty in literature.

Identity (Psychology) in literature.

Women in literature.

Psychic trauma in literature.

Autobiographical fiction, Arabic--History and criticism.

Autobiographical fiction, Arabic.

Arabic literature--Women authors--History and criticism.

Arabic literature.

Arabic literature--Europe--History and criticism.

Culture in literature.

Arabic literature--America--History and criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (312 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Syracuse, New York : Syracuse University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Far from offering another study that bemoans Arab women's repression and veiling, Anxiety of Erasure looks at Arab women writers living in the diaspora who have translated their experiences into a productive and creative force. In this book, Al-Samman articulates the therapeutic effects of revisiting forgotten histories and of activating two cultural tropes: that of the maw'udah (buried female infant) and that of Shahrazad in the process of revolutionary change. She asks what it means to develop a national, gendered consciousness from diasporic locals while staying committed to the homeland.Al-Samman presents close readings of the fiction of six prominent authors whose works span over half a century and define the current status of Arab diaspora studies-Ghada al-Samman, Hanan al-Shaykh, Hamida al-Na'na', Hoda Barakat, Samar Yazbek, and Salwa al-Neimi. Exploring the journeys in time and space undertaken by these women, Anxiety of Erasure shines a light on the ways in which writers remain participants in their homelands' intellectual lives, asserting both the traumatic and the triumphant aspects of diaspora. The result is a nuanced Arab women's poetic that celebrates rootlessness and rootedness, autonomy and belonging.

Contents:

Introduction: Al-Maw'udah/Shahrazad, icons of erasure and revolutionary resurrection

Arab women and the experience of diaspora

Anxiety of erasure: Arab women's authorship as trauma

Mosaic autobiography: Ghada Samman's The impossible novel and Hanan Al-Shaykh's The locust and the bird

Diasporic haunting: Ghada Samman's The square moon and A masquerade for the dead

Transforming nationhood from within the minefield: Hamida Na'na''s The homeland

Paradigms of disease and domination: Hoda Barakat's The tiller of waters, Disciples of passion, The stone of laughter, and My master and my lover

Border crossings: cultural collisions and reconciliation: Hanan Al-Shaykh's Only in London

Unearthing the archives, inscribing unspeakable secrets: Salwa Al-Neimi's The proof of the honey, The book of secrets, and poetry collections

Postscript: from trauma to triumph: Samar Yazbek's A woman in the crossfire: diaries of the Syrian Revolution.

Notes:

"Covers [Arabic] literature produced by women writers in Europe and in North and South America from 1920 to 2011"--Introduction.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780815653295

0815653298

OCLC:

929784658