Description
In this graduate seminar we will explore the writings of a new generation of Arab authors. Students and I will trace this literary development to social and political struggles within the Arab world, the advent of Satellite TV and the Internet, and the effects of globalization, more generally. We will raise the following questions: What forms of literary consciousness arise from these new texts? What are their relations to Western cultural productions on the one hand, and to the canon of Arabic letters, on the other? What new multilingual and interactive domains shape and define this new literature? We will read works by writers such Raja Al-Sanea, Ahmad Alaidy, Khalid Khamisi, Rabih Jaber, Hamdi Abu Golayyel, and Ghada Abdel Aal. (Taught in English.)
Texts
Learning English, Rashīd Ḍaʻīf.-Shahadat, ArteEast.
Girls of Ryiadh, Rajāʼ ʻAbd Allāh Ṣāni’.
I Want to Get Married, Ghada Abdel Aaal.
Thieves in Retirement, Ḥamdī Abū Julayyil.Taxi, Khālid Khamīsī.
Being Abbas el Abd, Aḥmad ʻĀyidī.Koolaids: The Art of War, Rabih Alameddine.
Grading
Class Participation (15%).
Class Presentation (35%), 10 – 20 minutes.
Final Paper 50%.
