FEMINIST LITERATURE BETWEEN THE NARRATIVE FUNCTION AND THE CULTURAL ROLE (MARYAM AL-HAKAYA - ALAWIYA SUBUH EXEMPLAR)
Author :
Abstract
"Alawiya Subuh" is considered one of the Arab female novelists who have a rare bravery in revealing the secrets and hidden sentiments that are buried in the depth of Arab society. I chose this novel because it tells, in an amazing narration, the stories of dozens of women in Lebanon, villagers, intellectuals and other women fighters, who participated in the front against the Israeli occupation. The dialect of the novels is that the narrative of each of them intersects with the other, each of which narrates the course of their lives with a man who enslaves her femininity under the whips of his eastern patriarchy in a way that intimidates the reader, whether it is sexual or physical violence.Therefore, this novel is considered one of the feminist narratives in the Arab world. Although I do not agree with the term and its rationale, but it represents a mural in the postmodern narrative, when it put together the criticism of backward values while rejecting them, and replacing them completely with the call for complete liberation from an ethos that govern the course of human society. It restructured the relationship between men and women according to the foundations of "Western feminism", following the standard of "sexual quarrel" by the French philosopher postmodern theorist Michel Foucault.The writer was able to present the most complex issues of woman, her sexual life (forbidden taboo), and how society handcuffed her within her own umbilical cord. Represented by "Maryam", the protagonist chose, to make up for the suppression of her freedom, an undisciplined manner with no clear path.She was guided by her sexual relations with a number of men, but she ended up with a relationship established by religion and society by marrying a traditional "religious" man whom she had rejected while she was young. A contradictory coup ending means that it is impossible to be freed from society and religion. As if, this breakdown can only be achieved by destroying all the values of society and religion, without distinguishing between the righteous, the good, and the backward.
Keywords
Abstract
"Alawiya Subuh" is considered one of the Arab female novelists who have a rare bravery in revealing the secrets and hidden sentiments that are buried in the depth of Arab society. I chose this novel because it tells, in an amazing narration, the stories of dozens of women in Lebanon, villagers, intellectuals and other women fighters, who participated in the front against the Israeli occupation. The dialect of the novels is that the narrative of each of them intersects with the other, each of which narrates the course of their lives with a man who enslaves her femininity under the whips of his eastern patriarchy in a way that intimidates the reader, whether it is sexual or physical violence.Therefore, this novel is considered one of the feminist narratives in the Arab world. Although I do not agree with the term and its rationale, but it represents a mural in the postmodern narrative, when it put together the criticism of backward values while rejecting them, and replacing them completely with the call for complete liberation from an ethos that govern the course of human society. It restructured the relationship between men and women according to the foundations of "Western feminism", following the standard of "sexual quarrel" by the French philosopher postmodern theorist Michel Foucault.The writer was able to present the most complex issues of woman, her sexual life (forbidden taboo), and how society handcuffed her within her own umbilical cord. Represented by "Maryam", the protagonist chose, to make up for the suppression of her freedom, an undisciplined manner with no clear path.She was guided by her sexual relations with a number of men, but she ended up with a relationship established by religion and society by marrying a traditional "religious" man whom she had rejected while she was young. A contradictory coup ending means that it is impossible to be freed from society and religion. As if, this breakdown can only be achieved by destroying all the values of society and religion, without distinguishing between the righteous, the good, and the backward.
