- Zaynab Balīl (1947-, Sudan) – al-Ikhtiyār (‘Choice’, 1984). Set in Sudan, this novel deals with issues of class, especially the ordinary working class and their daily problems and lack of rights. It also focuses on the need for women to be emancipated from the lumps of male domination as well as the role of educated women in building society, and the need to move away from outdated myths and customs (reference) (also in S: Social Issues and Social Change: Class and Social Change).
- Driss Chraïbi (1926 – 2007, Morocco) – La Civilisation, ma mère! (1972, English trans. Mother Comes of Age, 1984). Written originally in French, this novel deals with Morocco under colonialization during World War II. The novel is narrated by two brothers who tell the story of their mother, whose life has been restricted to that of the traditional mother and wife, as they help her to see the colonizer not only as barbaric occupiers but also as cultured intellectuals. This eventually leads to the mother’s education and struggle for the liberation of women from tradition and patriarchy (also in 1940 – 1945 World War II).
- Hishām al-Khashin (1963-, Egypt) – Jrāfīt (‘Graphite’, 2014). Set in Egypt in the turbulent 1920s, this novel focuses on Nawāl, a female artist who is struggling in early 20th century Egypt, a time in which both the Muslim Brothers and Egypt’s women’s movement are gaining importance. Nawāl joins this latter movement after meeting its leader, Duria, during a trip to Europe that they were sent on by the Egyptian Ministry of Education to finish their education, and finds herself becoming a fighter for women’s rights. The novel reflects on the heroine’s journey, as well as the reactions of her social environment (also in 1920: Partitioning of the Arab World into mandates: British mandate of Palestine and Transjordan and Egypt: Egypt).
- Imīlī Naṣrallah (1931 – 2018, Lebanon) – Ṭuyūr Aylūl (‘September Birds’, 1962). In her fictionalized autobiography, Imīlī Naṣrallah describes the life of women from a traditional and economically struggling village in the southern Lebanese mountains. These women go against traditional conventions by moving away to study and work, only to return in the summertime like the birds referred to in the title (reference). Its heroine is Mūna, who moves to Beirut. She narrates the story of her own migration, as well as that of several others such as her sister and her brothers who migrated to Canada (reference) (also in C: Children and Family Life: Children and Adolescents: Bildungsroman: Female Arabic Bildungsroman).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Muḥammad Ḥasn Rābiḥ al-Mujmar. 2011. “Dirāsah Naqdīyah: fī Riwayāt al-Ikhtiyār wa-Kish Malik lil-Riwāʾīyah Zaynib Balīl.” www.sudaress.com, 16 July 2011. https://www.sudaress.com/alsahafa/31039 (last accessed 28 February 2021)
- Hartmut Fähndrich. 2016. “Chapter 6: Losing Home. Out of the Coziness into the Cold: Glimpses of the Idea of Home in a Few Novels of Modern Arabic Literature,” in Representations and Visions of Homeland in Modern Arabic Literature, eds. Sebastian Günter and Stephan Milich. Georg Olms Verlag: Hildesheim, Zürich, New York. pp. 103-115, p. 105
- EAL, p. 582