- Mayy Khālid (?, Egypt) – Saḥr al-Turkwāz (2006, English trans. The Magic of Turquoise, 2011). The story of this novel alternates between the perspectives of a young Egyptian woman Layla and her aunt Nīrvānā. Nīrvānā is in a coma after a terrible diving accident, or was it an attempt to commit suicide through drowning? Each of the two women explore their memories and secrets to understand themselves and the complexity of their relationship (also in D: Death: Suicide).
- ʿĀliyyah Mamdūḥ (1944-, Iraq) – al-Maḥbūbāt (2003, English trans. The Loved Ones, 2007). When he learns that his mother is in a coma, Nādir, a man of Iraqi descent living in Canada, travels to Paris to sit beside her hospital bed. During visits of her friends and well-wishers, Nādir is forced to confront his difficult relationship with his mother. The novel tells of live-in exile in Canada and Paris, but also focuses on wartime in Iraq. This novel won the 2004 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Arabic Literature (also in F: Children and Family Life: Parent and Child: Mother and Child and W: Outside the Arab World: Canada).
- Wajdi Mouawad’s (1968-, Lebanon / Canada) play Seuls (‘Alone’, 2008) traces the hero Harwan’s search for self after he was forced into exile by the Lebanese Civil War (see 1975 – 1988: Lebanese Civil War) and settled in Montreal, Canada, where he became doctoral student (reference). During the play Harwan discovers that he is in a coma and everything that he built his identity around disappears. He tries speaking Arabic and starts to paint, things he did during his childhood years, through which he relives the trauma of the Lebanese Civil war and his exile, but also re-discovers his childhood passion and joy (reference) (also in W: Outside the Arab World: America: Canada).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Rachel M. Watson. 2018. “Wjadi Mouawad’s ‘Seuls’: When the body performs memory.” Arab Stages 9, p. 1, 6