- Layla al-Ammar (?, Kuwait) – The Pact We Made (2019). This debut novel centres the young Kuwaiti woman Dahlia, who has a steady, well earning job and enough friends to go to parties with. However, she is also almost thirty, an age at which woman are traditionally expected to be married. Aside from Dahlia balancing between modern and conservative Kuwait, she also carries a trauma that is to remain a secret; that she was abused as a child (reference). Her sexual trauma is a taboo-topic in the mostly patriarchal society, and the protagonist is left to deal with it alone. Eventually she makes the choice to leave Kuwait and find a partner to share her life with (reference).
- Imān Ḥumaydān (1956-, Lebanon) – Ḥayawāt Ukhrā (2010, English trans. Other Lives, 2014). This novel is centred on Mīryām, who after her terrifying experience of the Lebanese Civil War returns to Beirut to confront her traumatic past, including the brutal death of her brother and the disappearance of her lover during the conflict. The novel illuminates Mır̄yām’s trauma and her psychological scars as she attempts to move forward by revisiting Beirut, the centre of her tragedy, instead of running away from it (reference) (also in M: Movement: (E) migration, Refugees and Return: Return) .
- Rachid Mimouni (1945 – 1955, Algeria) – Une Peine à vivre (‘A pain to live’, 1991). This novel delves into the mind of a dictator to understand the motivating force behind his ruthless actions (reference). Hero of the novel is an orphan who, driven by revenge, opts for a military career. Through blackmailing and cheating, he climbs up to the highest ranks of the military, and eventually acquires complete power through a coup d’état. He is however, never relieved from his childhood trauma, not as he rules the country, and not as he falls in love. Eventually the nameless hero meets his destiny facing a firing peloton and disappears as he has made so many others disappear (also in G: Dysfunctional Governance: Oppression and Dictatorship).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Alice O’Keeffe. 2019. “The Pact We Made by Layla AlAmmar review- a passionate debut.” The Guardian, March 28, 2019 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/28/the-pact-we-made-layla-alammar-review (last accessed 21 March 2020)
- Shahd Alshammari. 2020. “Review: Layla Alammar’s ‘The Pact We Made’.” www.epoch-magazine.com, December 2020 https://www.epoch-magazine.com/alshammarireviewthepactwemade (last accessed 7 July 2023)
- Nadine Sinno. 2015. “Milk and Honey, Tabbūleh, and Coke: Orientalist, Local and Global Discourses in Alexandra Chreiteh’s Dāyman Coca- Cola.” MEL 18(2): 122-143, p. 123
- EAL, p. 252