East-West Encounters in Modern Arabic Literature

About this programme

It deals with the image of the West in Arabic fiction in various historical periods (pre-, colonial, post-colonial and contemporary period), the way East-West relation is experienced through gender relations, the contact with the West through migration and from the perspective of exile, among other things. These lectures are based on questions of discussion, given in advance. They cover thematic and literary aspects in the studied works, and they are also related to secondary sources on the studied topic, and to theoretical notions in literary analysis. A special attention is given to the literary devices and narrative techniques in the texts. The course also includes practical works in form of short oral presentations about studied questions given by the teacher. In addition to the lectures on English translations (for all the students in the course), a few lectures deal with original texts in Arabic and are exclusively given to students of Arabic and those who know the language and would like to attend. Beside the topic treated in Modern Arabic works, students who are interested in Classical Arabic texts are offered the opportunity to attend three extra lectures on Classical texts (in translation) in the end of this course. These lectures include an introduction to the analysis of selected key texts in Classical Arabic. Do you have questions about the courses in Middle Eastern and North Africa's Languages and Cultures? Student Councelor: exp.asien@su.se Director of Studies: Martin Säfström Phone: 08-16 29 43