Politics of Nostalgia in the Arabic Novel - by Wen-Chin Ouyang (Paperback)

About the Book

Uncovers the politics of nostalgia and madness inherent in the Arabic novel.

Book Synopsis

The Arabic novel has taken shape in the intercultural networks of exchange between East and West, past and present. Wen-chin Ouyang shows how this has created a politics of nostalgia which can be traced to discourses on aesthetics, ethics and politics relevant to cultural and literary transformations of the Arabic speaking world in the 19th and 20th centuries. She reveals nostalgia and madness as the tropes through which the Arabic novel writes its own story of grappling with and resisting the hegemony of both the state and cultural heritage.

From the Back Cover

Uncovers the politics of nostalgia and madness inherent in the Arabic novel The Arabic novel has taken shape in the intercultural networks of exchange between East and West, past and present. Wen-chin Ouyang shows how this has created a politics of nostalgia which can be traced to discourses on aesthetics, ethics and politics that are relevant to cultural and literary transformations of the Arabic speaking world in the 19th and 20th centuries. She reveals nostalgia and madness as the tropes through which the Arabic novel writes its own history, as a story of grappling with and resisting the hegemony of both the state and cultural heritage. Key Features * Shows madness to be an expression of the anxiety surrounding the Arabic novel's search for form, and Arab intellectuals' disappointment in the nation-state and modernisation * Explores the work of novelists including Naguib Mahfouz, 'Abd al-Khaliq al-Rikabi, Jamal al-Ghitani, Ben Salem Himmich, Ali Mubarak, Adonis, Mahmoud Darwish and Nizar Qabbani Wen-chin Ouyang is Reader in Arabic Literature at SOAS. She is author of /Poetics of Love in the Arabic Novel/ (2012), /Literary Criticism in Medieval Arabic Islamic Culture/(Edinburgh University Press, 1997), editor of /New Perspectives on the Arabian Nights/ (Routledge, 2005) and co-editor (with Stephen Hart) of /A Companion to Magical Realism/ (Tamesis, 2005).

Review Quotes

'A valuable approach to the ongoing debate on intertexuality and modernity in Arabic literature.' - Zeina G. Halabi, Journal of Arabic Literature

About the Author

Wen-chin Ouyang is Reader in Arabic Literature at the SOAS