Writing Back in Modern Fiction: A Postcolonial Study

174 Pages·2020·0.934 MB·English

by  Dr Ashraf Ibrahim Zidan

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Dr Ashraf Ibrahim Zidan
Port Said University

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ISBN: 978-620-51955-7
Copyright © Ashraf Ibrahim Zidan
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Table of Contents

- Introduction 5
- Intellectual Rape: The Image of the Political Prisoner in the
Egyptian Novel 11
- Reflections of Egyptian Society in the Campus Fiction: A
Study of Radwa Ashour’s Atyaf (Specters) (1999) 43
- Assimilation/Self-discovery: A Study of Michael Ondaatje’s
The English Patient (1992) 75
- Postcolonial Feminism in Margaret Atwood's Fiction 107
- Islamic Feminism and The Concept of Hijab: A Study of Leila
Aboulela's Minaret 137

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INTRODUCTION

This book is a collection of five papers published in
miscellaneous reviews: (ARIEL: A Review of English Literature, 41.
1./Canada), (English Language and Literature Studies, 5. 1./ 4.
3./Canada), (International Journal of Linguistics and Literature
(IJLL/India), 2. 3.), and (Humanities and Social Sciences Review (HSSR),
5 (3)./Harvard University). These articles give due respect to
modern and contemporary novels, both in English and Arabic. The
following paragraphs are concerned with giving the main reasons for
choosing each topic, the methodology, and the findings. In brief,
that introduction has violated the established rules for introducing a
certain issue.
Chapter one studies how some writes are imprisoned,
oppressed and sometimes raped by despots, either within the
confines of prisons or outside them. It tackles Egyptian novelists
with quick hints to regional and global ones, for emphasizing that
those novelists are deeply subjected to humiliation, intimidation and
often enticement by their successively miscellaneous authorities all
over the world. These novels of study (Latifa Al-Zayaat’s Saheb Al-
Beit (Head of the Family, 1994), Radwa Ashur’s Atyaf (Specters, 1999)
and Farag (Relief, 2008), Hamida Qutb’s Neda'a Ela Al-Dafa Al Okhra
(A Call to the Other Bank, 2000), Nawal Al-Sa'dawy’s Al Rewaya (The
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Novel, 2004), Son'a Allah Ibrahim’s Sharaf (Honour, 1997) and Baha'a
Taher's Al-Hob Fi Al-Manfa (Love in Exile, 1995) are well-selected
for many reasons. First, those novelists represent different political
attitudes: Marxism, secularism and Muslim Brotherhood. Second,
choosing four female novelists asserts women’s strong and
permanent presence in resisting dictators; this also conveys how
these tyrants are not racists because both men and women have their
equal share of whipping and thrashing. Third, they introduce very
different perspectives of the idea of oppression, freedom and
backgrounds: Love in Exile is of a world-wide background. Finally,
they highlight both pessimistic and optimistic attitudes towards the
future. This paper comes to the following conclusions: first,
intellectual rape is a global phenomenon though it is very common
in the East; second, only few writers (regardless of their political
attitudes or sexes) are exposed to different types of torture,
disfiguration and marginalization; third, women highly estimate
resistance, pride, consistency, trustfulness, venerating and hallowing
human rights, and appreciating the value of a word and the meaning
of writing. Finally, some of those novelists are still optimistic; a
number of their protagonists could achieve victory because of their
well-established faith and steadfastly moral principles.
Chapter two studies Radwa Ashour’s Atyaf/Specters as an
Egyptian campus novel, and how far the political, social and
economical conditions have negatively affected such academic life:
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Ashour is well-known for her satirical attitudes towards political and
social issues, as well as her profession. Campus novels are set at
(provincial) universities; they are written to ridicule both the
institution and the naivety or false superiority of some
academics/students. This genre can focus on four groups: students,
teaching staff, deans, and faculties. Modern campus novels are also
involved in discussing other issues outside the walls of universities.
This study not only portrays the pitfalls of some professors, but
highlights the social and political problems that contemporary
societies encounter as well. This article concludes that readers are
shocked and disillusioned because they have regarded that academic
life as an example of high thinking, decency and justice. It also
stresses that both the political authority and the teaching staff are to
blame for that corruption and frailty. Finally, the Egyptian
universities could not compete during this period, but they may
restore their eminence very soon.
Chapter three studies Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient
(1992) as a journey for self-discovery after the characters’ passive
and failed assimilation in Europe. It tries to discuss the three
following issues: Kirpal Singh’s process of assimilation, the side
effects of assimilation, and finally the main reasons for the failure of
assimilation. This topic, “Assimilation/Self-discovery: A Study of
Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient”, is investigated within the
framework of the following: the concept of the ‘Other’, Third space,
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and Multiculturalism. This study also elucidates the main different
definitions of assimilation, and how Western societies
(European/American) have miscellaneous reactions to/applications
of such an elusive concept. The researcher has come to prefer
integration to assimilation. The former enables us to participate
without suppressing our identities. Finally, this study highlights the
dignity of the East and how Eastern people resist the spirit of
mimicry, hegemony and rigidity.
Chapter four pays more attention to some of Margaret
Atwood's novels, which are greatly concerned with bringing about
equality between man and woman. She condemns the use of
violence against and oppression of women. She draws parallel
between Canada and women, with both being colonized and
oppressed. Her clear situation, insight vision, and well-determination
enable her to be contiguous to women/Canada's wounds, defects,
and corruption. This study underscores and highlights the naturally
close relationship between feminism and post-colonialism, in
Atwood's fiction, which are classified as political, economic and
social tools for fighting oppression, patriarchy/colonization, and
injustice for restoring/keeping their identity. This paper stresses the
following issues: how women are colonized, victimized and silenced;
how they themselves can be predators; how they are sometimes
responsible for their being humiliated, downfallen and disrupted;
and finally how they could achieve survival and freedom through
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resistance. This study comes to the following conclusions. First,
women and men are two victims of the modern world, so their unity
leads to fighting ignorance. Women are not only oppressed by men,
but by underdevelopment, racial segregation, imperialism and by
women devaluing and degrading themselves as well. They cannot
live without men because their fate is always connected with them.
Second, male characters are often defamed as a kind of revenge.
Third, life is a matter of adaptation. Fourth, women are sometimes
subjugated to humiliation under the guise of religion: plague of
theocracy. Fifth, there are other victims in Atwood's novels
including animals, Indians, children, artists, women, French
Canadians, explorers, and immigrants. Sixth, the endings of
Atwood's novels denote pessimism and continued loss. Finally,
women use different weapons (language, eating, and non-eating) in
order to fight and resist suppression and oppression.
Chapter five is concerned with Leila Aboulela; she is a
Sudanese writer whose novels reflect the spirit of Islam. She always
stresses how patriarchy and colonization misinterpret religion and
the Mashriq (East) respectively. In Minaret, Aboulela endeavors to
correct some misconceptions about, and misrepresentation of,
Muslims and Africans such as: hijab (Veiling), harem, and the role of
Masjid in destroying the old binaries. This study emphasizes that
Islamic feminists have revolted against some patriarchal
interpretations of the Holy Qur'an and the Prophet's Sayings, which
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have approved the specific and turned it into received rules. They
call for a rereading of history by revaluing the social conditions in
which it was written in order to construct their cultural identity
without being limited to a certain period of time. It also illustrates
how Aboulela agrees with Islamic feminists, especially the concept
of hijab and its connotations. These issues are studied through
Aboulela’s Minaret with reference to her other works. Islamic
feminists are attacked for being selective, non-specialists, non-Arabs,
and funded by the West. This paper concludes that both
Muslims/Africans and the West are to blame for these fragmented
stereotypes. Eastern women are not oppressed or truncated as the
West stresses; they are also human being in their own right, being
free to wear hijab or not. It also emphasizes that Aboulela's heroines
are not trusted because they are weak, self-involved, and interested
in details rather than actions. Finally, religion, not fundamentalism,
could provide immigrants with belonging, security and stability.

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