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The novel, the literary adage has it, reflects a world abandoned by God. Yet the possibilities of novelistic form and literary exegesis exceed the secularizing tendencies of contemporary criticism. Showing how the Qur¿an invites critical reading, this account of Arabophone and Francophone Maghrebi literature develops a Qur¿anic model of narratology.
List of contents
Note on Translations and Transliterations | ix
Acknowledgments | xi
Preface: The Ethics of Reading | xv
Introduction. The Qüran as (Inter)text: Embodiment, Praxis, Critique | 1
Part I: Poetics of Piety1. Existential Poiesis in Mäm¿d al-Mas¿ad¿'s Mawlid al-nisy¿n | 37
2. Carnivals of Heterodoxy in Abdelwahab Meddeb's Talismano | 58
Part II: Ethics of Embodiment3. Apocalyptic Aftershocks in al-¿¿hir Wä¿¿r's Al-zilz¿l | 83
4. The Polyphonic Hermeneutics of Assia Djebar's L'amour, la fantasia | 100
Part III: Genealogies of Transmission5. Tense Eruptions in Driss Chraïbi's Le passé simple | 119
6. Threads of Transmission in Müammad Barr¿da's Lübat al-nisy¿n | 141
Epilogue: Poetics, Politics, Piety | 159
Glossary | 167
Notes | 171
Bibliography | 213
Index | 231
About the author
Hoda El Shakry is Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago.
Summary
The novel, the literary adage has it, reflects a world abandoned by God. Yet the possibilities of novelistic form and literary exegesis exceed the secularizing tendencies of contemporary criticism. Showing how the Qur?an invites critical reading, this account of Arabophone and Francophone Maghrebi literature develops a Qur?anic model of narratology.
