The Big Lair Tells the Truth: Exposing Taboos in Al-Gosaibi's the Amphibian Abu Shallakh
Journal Title: International Journal of English and Literature (IJEL) - Year 2018, Vol 8, Issue 2
Abstract
In analogy to the Arabic saying: ‘take wisdom from the mouths of the insane’, one can say trace truth in the words of liars. This simple study aims at tracing truth in the discourse of the big lair i.e. Abu Shallakh who is the main character in the novel The Amphibian Abu Shallakh by the Saudi novelist and poet Ghazi Al-Gosaibi. It aims, also, at exploring some social issues for the purpose of giving an opportunity to confess some erroneous practices as a step expected to reach correcting them at the end. It hypothesized that some real denied social misdeeds explored smoothly and ironically, by the novelist, on the tongue of his main character Abu Shallakh in order to reach holding the society’s attention to such denied practices. The researcher translated and discussed some Arabic references together with some selected evidence from the novel to check the credibility of this hypothesis. After discussing some selected proofs from the novel from the prospect of the study, the paper concludes that Al- Gosaibi, who belongs to a conservative society, managed to explore many hidden truths and taboos, on the tongue of his lair character, Abu Shallakh in one hand meanwhile, implicitly, he submits a reformation invitation to his society in the other hand.
Authors and Affiliations
FATIMA ALI AL-KHAMISI
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP344188
- DOI 10.24247/ijelapr20185
- Views 118
- Downloads 0
PROPOSING A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF TRANSLATION MODEL (SHORT COMMUNICATION)
The objective of this short communication is to propose a theoretical translating model (with both probabilistic and deterministic approach) to achieve the utmost degree of translatability in both human and machine trans...
MINGLING OF PEOPLE, CULTURE AND RELIGION IN WILLIAM DALRYMPLE’S WHITE MUGHALS
William Dalrymple isnot working with a gripping tale of the British-Indian politics before the onset of colonialism, but he is also giving evidence on the cultural exchanges between the White people and the Indians (espe...
Continuing Confrontation between Secular Modernity and Religious Conventions: A Reading of Orhan Pamuk’s Snow
In the Novel Snow, Orhan Pamuk has highlighted, in subtle manner, the deep cultural polarization and clash between the traditional Islamic world and the secular modern world, with its inherent conflicts and uncompromisin...
Voice, Language, and Storytelling: the Craft of Narrative Experimentation in John Edgar Wideman’s Fiction
The self-assertion of marginalized people has always been made in a conscious distantiation from the cultural values of the mainstream. Self-assertion usually finds its way in literature through cultural memory, language...
“THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON”: THOMAS VAUGHAN, POE AND THE POETICS OF ALCHEMY
The interpretive line of Poe as existentially but not necessarily philosophically Gnostic does little to explain Poe’s alchemical acumen or hermetic subtlety. That Poe was familiar with alchemical sources finds evidence...