'Heroes' and Characters in the Novels of Sun'allah Ibrahim

Starkey, Paul

Abstract

Tilka l-rā'ia, uncallāh Ibrāhm's short novel first published in 1966, has been widely regarded as a seminal work that heralded a major change of mood in modern Egyptian fiction. In the sequence of some six novels that have followed it, the author has developed a characteristic technique, involving the frequent use of intertextuality and the deliberate patterning of different narrative modes. The scale and complexity of the author's works have also increased dramatically since the publication of Tilka l-rā'ia. This article discusses some features of this sequence of novels, in most of which the author shows a continuing preference for first-person narration and whose protagonists (with the exception of the eponymous heroine of Warda) continue to embody many of the characteristics of the 'anti-hero'.

Citation

Starkey, P. (2006). 'Heroes' and Characters in the Novels of Sun'allah Ibrahim. Middle Eastern Literatures, 9(2), 147-157. https://doi.org/10.1080/14752620600814228

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2006-08
• Deposit Date: Mar 27, 2008
• Journal: Middle Eastern Literatures
• Print ISSN: 1475-262X
• Electronic ISSN: 1475-2638
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 147-157
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14752620600814228