Synopses & Reviews
Although Sufi characters - saints, dervishes, wanderers - occur regularly in modern Arabic literature, a select group of novelists seeks to interrogate Sufism as a system of thought and language. In the work of writers like Naguib Mahfouz, Gamal Al-Ghitany, Tahar Ouettar, Ibrahim Al-Koni, Mahmud Al-Mas'adi and Tayeb Salih we see a strong intertextual relationship with the Sufi masters of the past, including Al-Hallaj, Ibn Arabi, Al-Niffari and Al-Suhrawardi. This relationship becomes a means of interrogating the limits of the creative self, individuality, rationality and the manifold possibilities offered by literature, seeking in a dialogue with the mystical heritage a way of preserving a self under siege from the overwhelming forces of oppression and reaction that have characterized the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Synopsis
Ziad Elmarsafy presents close readings of the work of writers like Naguib Mahfouz, Gamal Al-Ghitany, Taher Ouettar, Ibrahim Al-Koni and Tayeb Salih, all of whom have turned to Sufism as a literary strategy to interrogate the limits of the creative self, individuality, rationality and the many possibilities offered by literature.
Synopsis
Studies the use of Sufi ideas, language and themes in Arabic fiction from 1945 to the present
Although Sufi characters--saints, dervishes, wanderers--occur regularly in modern Arabic literature, a select group of novelists seeks to employ Sufism as a system of thought and language for literary ends. In the work of writers like Naguib Mahfouz, Gamal Al-Ghitany, Tahar Ouettar, Ibrahim Al-Koni, Mahmud Al-Mas'adi and Tayeb Salih we see a strong intertextual relationship with the Sufi masters of the past, including Al-Hallaj, Ibn Arabi, Al-Niffari and Al-Suhrawardi.
This relationship becomes a means of interrogating the limits of the creative self, individuality, rationality and the manifold possibilities offered by literature, seeking in a dialogue with the mystical heritage a way of preserving a self under siege from the overwhelming forces of oppression and reaction that have characterized the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Key Features - Covers a broad range of modern Arabic novelists including Naguib Mahfouz and Tayeb Salih
- Focuses on Sufism in fiction rather than in poetry (where it is most often discussed)
- Studies authors such as Al-Koni and Ouettar who have received little critical attention in English
About the Author
Ziad Elmarsafy is Reader in the Department of English and Related Literature, University of York. He is author of 'The Enlightenment Qur'an: The Politics of Translation and the Construction of Islam' (Oneworld Publications, 2009).
Table of Contents
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Ouverture
Chapter One: Naguib Mahfouz: (En)chanting Justice
Chapter Two: Tayeb Salih: The Returns of the Saint
Chapter Three: Al-Mas?adi: Witnessing Immortality
Chapter Four: The Survival of Gamal Al-Ghitany
Chapter Five: Ibrahim Al-Koni: Writing and Sacrifice
Chapter Six: Tahar Ouettar: The Saint and the Nightmare of History
Epilogue: Bahaa Taher, Solidarity and Idealism
Bibliography