Sufism in the Contemporary Arabic Novel Paperback / softback
by Ziad Elmarsafy
Part of the Edinburgh Studies in Modern Arabic Literature series
Paperback / softback
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Description
Close readings of nine contemporary Arab novelists who use Sufism as a literary strategy.
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 20th and early 21st centuries.
It looks at works such as Ghitany's Kitab Al-Tajalliyat [The Book of Theophanies], where the title and style imitate Ibn 'Arabi; Ouettar's Al-Waliyy Al-Taher [The Holy Saint], where the protagonist allegorizes Algerian history, and multiple works by Ibrahim Al-Koni. It traces references and allusions to the mediaeval Sufis, including Junayd, Al-Niffari, Ibn 'Arabi, Rumi and 'Attar.
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Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:256 pages
- Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
- Publication Date:31/08/2014
- Category:
- ISBN:9780748695850
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Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:256 pages
- Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
- Publication Date:31/08/2014
- Category:
- ISBN:9780748695850