Dystopia in Arabic Speculative Fiction

2023-08-29 Literary Criticism

Author : Wessam Elmeligi
Release : 2023-08-29
Genre : Literary Criticism
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 382/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Dystopia in Arabic Speculative Fiction by : Wessam Elmeligi

Download or read book Dystopia in Arabic Speculative Fiction written by Wessam Elmeligi. This book was released on 2023-08-29. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dystopia in Arabic Speculative Fiction: A Poetics of Distress unpacks the nuanced Arabic contribution to speculative fiction. Part of a larger project by Elmeligi to formulate a poetics of literary theory to read Arabic literature, this book examines Arabic dystopian fiction from the lens of social causes of psychological distress. The selected novels combine works by authors already established in studies by Western scholars and many that have not been translated before or have not received enough scholarly attention, yet. The novels represent an array of Arab countries, including Algerian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Mauritanian, Syrian, and Tunisian authors. It also highlights the contribution of women authors to Arabic speculative fiction. This book enriches the conversation about what is quite possibly a significant speculative fiction turn in the Arabic novel, as well as provides a new theoretical approach to read such complex and innovative literature.

The Queue

2016-05-24 Fiction

Author : Basma Abdel Aziz
Release : 2016-05-24
Genre : Fiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 172/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis The Queue by : Basma Abdel Aziz

Download or read book The Queue written by Basma Abdel Aziz. This book was released on 2016-05-24. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Weird and wild.” —BookRiot “An effective critique of authoritarianism.” —NPR “Equal parts dystopia, satire, and allegory. —Los Angeles Review of Books Set against the backdrop of a failed political uprising in Egypt, this chilling debut evokes Orwellian dystopia, Kafkaesque surrealism, and a very real vision of life after the Arab Spring. In a surreal, but familiar, vision of modern day Egypt, a centralized authority known as ‘the Gate’ has risen to power in the aftermath of the ‘Disgraceful Events,’ a failed popular uprising. Citizens are required to obtain permission from the Gate in order to take care of even the most basic of their daily affairs, yet the Gate never opens, and the queue in front of it grows longer. Citizens from all walks of life mix and wait in the sun: a revolutionary journalist, a sheikh, a poor woman concerned for her daughter’s health, and even the brother of a security officer killed in clashes with protestors. Among them is Yehia, a man who was shot during the Events and is waiting for permission from the Gate to remove a bullet that remains lodged in his pelvis. Yehia’s health steadily declines, yet at every turn, officials refuse to assist him, actively denying the very existence of the bullet. Ultimately it is Tarek, the principled doctor tending to Yehia’s case, who must decide whether to follow protocol as he has always done, or to disobey the law and risk his career to operate on Yehia and save his life. Written with dark, subtle humor, The Queue describes the sinister nature of authoritarianism, and illuminates the way that absolute authority manipulates information, mobilizes others in service to it, and fails to uphold the rights of even those faithful to it.

Palestine +100: Stories from a century after the Nakba

2019-07-25 Fiction

Author : Mazen Maarouf
Release : 2019-07-25
Genre : Fiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 203/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Palestine +100: Stories from a century after the Nakba by : Mazen Maarouf

Download or read book Palestine +100: Stories from a century after the Nakba written by Mazen Maarouf. This book was released on 2019-07-25. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Palestine + 100 poses a question to twelve Palestinian writers: what might your country look like in the year 2048 – a century after the tragedies and trauma of what has come to be called the Nakba? How might this event – which, in 1948, saw the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs from their homes – reach across a century of occupation, oppression, and political isolation, to shape the country and its people? Will a lasting peace finally have been reached, or will future technology only amplify the suffering and mistreatment of Palestinians? Covering a range of approaches – from SF noir, to nightmarish dystopia, to high-tech farce – these stories use the blank canvas of the future to reimagine the Palestinian experience today. Along the way, we encounter drone swarms, digital uprisings, time-bending VR, peace treaties that span parallel universes, and even a Palestinian superhero, in probably the first anthology of science fiction from Palestine ever. Translated from the Arabic by Raph Cormack, Mohamed Ghalaieny, Andrew Leber, Thoraya El-Rayyes, Yasmine Seale and Jonathan Wright. WINNER of a PEN Translates Award 2018. One of NPR's Favourite Books of 2019. 'It's necessary, of course. But above all it's bold, brilliant and inspiring: a sign of boundless imagination and fierce creation even in circumstances of oppression, denial, silencing and constriction. The voices of these writers demand to be heard - and their stories are defiantly entertaining.' - Bidisha 'This worthy collection excavates and probes, and reacquaints the west with the horrors of Palestinian existence right now.' - Middle East Eye 'Just as we do when Handmaids Tale or Black Mirror plots unfold on the screen, you are most likely to read Palestine +100 and say, this is now.' - Lithub

Frankenstein in Baghdad

2018-01-23 Fiction

Author : Ahmed Saadawi
Release : 2018-01-23
Genre : Fiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 809/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Frankenstein in Baghdad by : Ahmed Saadawi

Download or read book Frankenstein in Baghdad written by Ahmed Saadawi. This book was released on 2018-01-23. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *International Booker Prize finalist* “Brave and ingenious.” —The New York Times “Gripping, darkly humorous . . . profound.” —Phil Klay, bestselling author and National Book Award winner for Redeployment “Extraordinary . . . A devastating but essential read.” —Kevin Powers, bestselling author and National Book Award finalist for The Yellow Birds From the rubble-strewn streets of U.S.-occupied Baghdad, Hadi—a scavenger and an oddball fixture at a local café—collects human body parts and stitches them together to create a corpse. His goal, he claims, is for the government to recognize the parts as people and to give them proper burial. But when the corpse goes missing, a wave of eerie murders sweeps the city, and reports stream in of a horrendous-looking criminal who, though shot, cannot be killed. Hadi soon realizes he’s created a monster, one that needs human flesh to survive—first from the guilty, and then from anyone in its path. A prizewinning novel by “Baghdad’s new literary star” (The New York Times), Frankenstein in Baghdad captures with white-knuckle horror and black humor the surreal reality of contemporary Iraq.

Blood Feast

2022-02-08 Fiction

Author : Malika Moustadraf
Release : 2022-02-08
Genre : Fiction
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 09X/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Blood Feast by : Malika Moustadraf

Download or read book Blood Feast written by Malika Moustadraf. This book was released on 2022-02-08. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cult classic by Morocco’s foremost writer of life on the margins. Malika Moustadraf (1969–2006) is a feminist icon in contemporary Moroccan literature, celebrated for her stark interrogation of gender and sexuality in North Africa. Blood Feast is the complete collection of Moustadraf’s published short fiction: haunting, visceral stories by a master of the genre. A teenage girl suffers through a dystopian rite of passage, a man with kidney disease makes desperate attempts to secure treatment, and a mother schemes to ensure her daughter passes a virginity test. Delighting in vibrant sensory detail and rich slang, Moustadraf takes an unflinching look at the gendered body, social class, illness, double standards, and desire, as lived by a diverse cast of characters. Blood Feast is a sharp provocation to patriarchal power and a celebration of the life and genius of one of Morocco’s preeminent writers.

Popular eBooks

Dystopia in Arabic Speculative Fiction

The Queue

Palestine +100: Stories from a century after the Nakba

Frankenstein in Baghdad

Blood Feast

You may also like...