See also: L: Cultural and Literary Heritage: Mythology and Legends: Greek Myths and Legends: Oedipus
- Sāmiḥ Khaḍr (1976-, Palestine / Egypt) – al-Mawta la Yantahirūn (‘The dead do not commit suicide’, 2016). This novel focusses on the effects of rape in a society in which rapists are not held accountable. Settled in Germany after fleeing Palestine, a mother recalls her memories of a sexually abusive her father-in-law who murdered her second daughter when she refused to give in to his sexual desires (reference).
- Ibrāhīm al-Kūnī (1948-, Libya) – ʿUshb al-Layl (1997, English trans. Night Grass, 1997). The main protagonist of this novel, the Tuareg Wān Tīhāy, violates the Tuareg customary law is his quest of emotional and sexual domination over his daughter and granddaughter after he learns from his slave Būbū that his old age comes from him being a son of an incestuous relationship (reference) (see for more information: L: Cultural and Literary Heritage: Pre-Islamic Literature: Ṣaʿālūk and M: Minorities: Tuareg).
- Muḥammad al-Shirkī (1958-, Morocco) – al-ʿAshāʾ al-Suflā (‘Underground dinner’, 1987). This novel is a coming-of-age story of its main character, Mughrān, who is deeply in love with Mayzān. During the novel however, it turns out that Mayzān may very well be his mother, and her fate does not end well. The novel refers to the Sufi tradition but also to the Moroccan Amazigh and Arabic, and Greek legends and myths such as Oedipus (also in L: Cultural and Literary Heritage: Mythology and Legends: Greek Myths and Legends: Oedipus).
- Fuʾād al-Tikirlī’s (1927 – 2008, Iraq) short story ‘Hams Mubham’ (‘Confused Whisper’, ?), and ‘al-Ṭannūr’ (‘The Baking Oven’).
‘Hams Mubham’ shows the love of a 16-year-old boy for his mother, who is tormented by her unhappy marriage and finally leaves with another man. ‘Al-Ṭannūr’ describes the confused words and contradictory statements of a 30-year-old policeman, who is married and the father of several children, when he tries to conceal the fact that he has killed his sister-in-law because she could have provided evidence of him having sex with his younger half-sister. He pretends that he killed her because she committed adultery in the family house, and he had to defend the family honor. The story is to be found in the collection al-Wijh al-Ākhar (‘The other face’, 1982) (reference).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Al-Muthanī al-Shaykh ʿAṭiyyah. 2019. “‘Al-Mawtā la Yantaḥirūn’ Riwāyah al- Filasṭīnī Sāmiḥ Khaḍr: Inkasārāt al-Amal fī Tarmīm Ḍaḥāyā al-Khathlān.” www.alquds.co.uk, 9 February 2019 https://www.alquds.co.uk/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%89-%D9%84%D8%A7-%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A-%D8%B3/ (last accessed 27 October 2021)
- John Joseph and Henry Rossetti. 2011. “Darkness in the Desert: Traditional and Transgression in Ibrāhīm al-Kūnī’s ‘ʿUshb al-layl’.” JAL 42: 49-66, p. 51
- ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Ḥasīb. “Safr fī Mutāhāt al-Aghwār al-Suflā: Qirāʾah fī Riwāyah ‘al-ʿAdhā al-Suflā’ li-Muḥammad al-Shirkī”, p. 1 Retrieved through http://ead-fl.uit.ac.ma/pluginfile.php/120580/mod_resource/content/1/%D8%B3%D9%81%D8%B1%20%D9%81%D9%8A%20%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AA%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%BA%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%81%D9%84%D9%89%20%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%83%D9%8A.pdf (last accessed 11 November 2023)
Wiebke Walther. 1995. “Distant Echoes of Love in the Narrative Work of Fuʾād al-Tikrilī” in Love and Sexuality in Modern Arabic Literature, eds. Roger Allen, Hilary Kilpatrick, and Ed de Moor. Saqi Books: London, 131-139, p. 135
Sabry Hafez and Catherine Cobham ed. 2011. A Reader of Modern Arabic Short Storis. Saqi Books: London, p. 104-5