Sufism in the Contemporary Arabic Novel (Edinburgh Studies in Modern Arabic Literature)

Studies the use of Sufi ideas, language and themes in Arabic fiction from 1945 to the presentAlthough Sufi characters―saints, dervishes, wanderers―occur regularly in modern Arabic literature, a select group of novelists seeks to employ Sufism as a system of thought and language for literary ends. In the work of writers like Naguib Mahfouz, Gamal Al-Ghitany, Tahar Ouettar, Ibrahim Al-Koni, Mahmud Al-Mas’adi and Tayeb Salih we see a strong intertextual relationship with the Sufi masters of the past, including Al-Hallaj, Ibn Arabi, Al-Niffari and Al-Suhrawardi.This relationship becomes a means of interrogating the limits of the creative self, individuality, rationality and the manifold possibilities offered by literature, seeking in a dialogue with the mystical heritage a way of preserving a self under siege from the overwhelming forces of oppression and reaction that have characterized the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.Key FeaturesCovers a broad range of modern Arabic novelists including Naguib Mahfouz and Tayeb SalihFocuses on Sufism in fiction rather than in poetry (where it is most often discussed)Studies authors such as Al-Koni and Ouettar who have received little critical attention in English Read more