Tayeb Salih: Ideology and the Craft of Fiction

by Wail S. Hassan

Overview

Undertaking a sustained interpretation of Sudanese novelist Tayeb Salih's novels and short stories, this study focuses primarily on the ways in which his work depicts the clashing of Arab ideologies - that is, questions of tradition, modernity, imperialism, gender and political authority.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815630371
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	11/28/2003
Series:	Middle East Literature In Translation
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Waïl S. Hassan is an assistant professor of English at Illinois State University, teaching courses in comparative literature, postcolonial studies, and literary and cultural theory. He holds advanced degrees in English and comparative literature from the American University in Cairo and in French and comparative literature from the University of Illinois.

Editorial Reviews

Hassan situates Salih's works in historical context-both their settings and their composition-and reviews their participation in comparative literature frameworks. Written out of a Sudanese context, Salih's narratives engage the continental contest between Arab and African-and its European constructions. Much as Mustafa, one of Season's protagonists, maintains in an English dock, 'I am Arab-African' or in other words, 'I am Othello,' Salih focuses readers' attention on the controversial divides identified by the 'Horn of Africa.' And as that part of the continent enters once again into global current events, one can hope that Salih's writings will find a new place in the curriculum. Hassan's study should assist in that placement. . . . Highly recommended.

Choice

Sudanese author Tayeb Salih is one of the most celebrated writers of modern Arabic literature. In this study, Hassan examines the ways in which Salih's work depicts the clashing of diverse Arab ideologies with questions of tradition, modernity, imperialism, gender, and political authority. He uses a combination of critical methodologies, including Bakhtin's theory of the novel, postcolonial theory, psychoanalysis, and Sufism.

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