AGAINST (MISUSING) TRADITION: NAWAL EL SAADAWI’S NOVEL THE FALL OF THE IMAM

In her 1987 novel Suqut al-Imam (The Fall of the Imam) Nawal El Saadawi presents and criticizes the reality in an unnamed theocratic state which has many similarities to Egypt. She deals with the problem of misusing tradition to oppress women. The sources of tradition, which usually are texts, can b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inLitteraria Copernicana no. 1(13); pp. 54 - 65
Main Author Marcin Michalski
Format Journal Article
LanguageGerman
Published Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń 01.09.2014
Subjects
feminizm muzułmański
intertekstualność
nawal as-sadawi
powieść arabska
powieść egipska
tradycja arabsko-muzułmańska
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Summary:In her 1987 novel Suqut al-Imam (The Fall of the Imam) Nawal El Saadawi presents and criticizes the reality in an unnamed theocratic state which has many similarities to Egypt. She deals with the problem of misusing tradition to oppress women. The sources of tradition, which usually are texts, can be divided into three layers: religious, secular (Arabo-Islamic) and Egyptian pre-Islamic. Intertextual references to these old texts and traditions show constant sources of women’s oppression which has various changing forms. Tradition is fixed as constant, but is challenged by at least two factors: the passage of time and Bint Allah, the novel’s main character. The opposition constant vs. changing is shown in the author’s literary technique: some events are repeated and assume various manifestations, some characters change into others, both evil and God have more than one face.
ISSN:1899-315X
2392-1617
DOI:10.12775/LC.2014.003