Self-Reflective Writing- Meta-Fiction in Modern Arabic Literature: The Case of Ahlam Mosteghanemi’s “Delicious as a Separation (Published)
Meta-fiction refers to containing a critical text within a literary text, where the author introduces his personal vision of the writing process, the challenges of it, the tools, language, significations, and his relationship with reality. This study’s purpose is to explore the meta-fictional features in Ahlam Mosteghanemi “Delicious as a Separation”. Dealing with the comprehensive structure requires looking closely on three levels: Para-text, the main text, and the post text. This study will deal in: What is the role of modernism in spreading the phenomenon of meta- fiction in Arabic novels? What are the origins of meta-fiction in classical Arabic literature? What are the meta-fictional contents and significances in “Delicious as a Separation”? What are the different forms of meta-fiction in the novel, their functions and meanings? How is the meta-fictional content related to the feminist content in this work? The Results indicate that there are Meta fictional roots in classical literature, The self-conscious writing focuses on writing as a craft, as if the writer states “I write therefore I exist”.The purpose of the feminist meta-fictional is to draw attention to the issues associated with women’s writings.Meta-fiction has a therapy role for unspecified people So that the implied reader will be absent, and he tends to imagine and withdraw from reality, to confirm the adherence to this reality again.Meta-fiction reminds us that what we read is a fictional work, and confirm our reality and communicate with it.
Keywords: Arabic literature., Metafiction, Postmodernism, feminist literature
THE DEPICTION OF MASCULINITY IN NAWAL AL-SAADAWI’S FICTION (Published)
This study examines the image of man in a number of novels by Nawal Al-Saadawi, the famous Egyptian novelist, whose works have aroused a lot of controversy in the Arab world. Throughout her works, Al-Saadawi consistently portrays man in a very negative manner. No matter what his social or educational background is man is at all times the symbol of oblivious tyranny, ruthless cruelty and callous oppression. The man as a father, for example, does not escape her vehement attacks. He is held as ignorant, foolish and tyrannical and sways between absence and presence. What makes her assaults harsher is her skillful employment of irony, paradox, sarcasm and other elements of figurative language. These tools help her in creating an analytical, descriptive language, which allows her to trace the tiny features of man. However, her constant focus on attacking man as a man undermines her literary accomplishments along with her aesthetic attitudes.
Keywords: Arabic literature., The image of man, doubleness, feminism criticism, irony, the father image