1969 Libyan revolution – Muammar Qaddafi seizes power

Fāṭimah Sālim al-Ḥāji (?, Libya) – Ṣarākh al-Ṭābiq al-Suflī (‘Scream of the bottom floor’, 2015). This novel takes place during the 1970s and 1980s years of Qaddafi’s dictatorship. It depicts the dreams and ambitions of its main characters, who are mainly women, but also the hardships and violence of life under dictatorship, including the public executions at Libyan universities of students convicted of treason following the 1976 student revolution (reference).

Hisham Matar (1970-, Libya) – In a Country of Men (2006). In this novel, the 9-year-old Suleiman describes the political terror of the Qaddafi regime in 1970s Libya, such as seeing the father of his friend, the next-door neighbour, being publicly executed (reference). The effects of this terror are an uncertain life that is full of secrets. His own father was suspected by the Libyan regime of subversive activities during the revolution and disappeared, and his unhappy mother secretly drinks (reference). The novel describes the harrowing effects living under a dictatorial regime have on a young child (also in F: Children and Family Life: Children and Adolescents: War and devastation through children’s eyes).

Refrences:

In order of appearance