MES 81.03 Images of the West in the Arabic Novel

This course analyzes the ways Arabic novelists have constructed the image the “West” and the socio-political function this image has served in Arab society. We will read ten representative works by writers from Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Sudan, Palestine, and Iraq. Written over more than half a century, these novels present different—sometimes contradictory—perspectives on the “West.” Some of these novels are focused primarily on East-West relations while others represent the West in the context of large-scale sociocultural transformations in the Middle East and broader global political dynamics. To anchor our discussion of the topic and to broaden our knowledge of the ways Arabic literature has depicted the “West,” we will also read a variety of critical texts that explore the image of the West in the Arab world.

Instructor

Fishere

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:INT or LIT; WCult:NW

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