Trials of Arab modernity [[electronic resource] ] : literary affects and the new political / / Tarek El-Ariss

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910788209903321
• Autore: El-Ariss Tarek
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New York, : Fordham University Press, 2013
• ISBN: 0-8232-5235-3; 0-8232-5236-1; 0-8232-5280-9; 0-8232-5173-X
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (248 p.)
• Disciplina: 892.7/09006
• Soggetti: Arabic literature - 20th century - History and criticism; Arabic literature - 21st century - History and criticism; Literature, Experimental - Arab countries - History and criticism; Modernism (Literature) - Arab countries
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Translation and Transliteration -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Fantasy of the Imam -- 3. Aversion to Civilization -- 4. Staging the Colonial Encounter -- 5. Majnun Strikes Back -- 6. Hacking the Modern -- 7. Conclusion -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: Challenging prevalent conceptualizations of modernity—which treat it either as a Western ideology imposed by colonialism or as a universal narrative of progress and innovation—this study instead offers close readings of the simultaneous performances and contestations of modernity staged in works by authors such as Rifa’a al-Tahtawi, Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, Tayeb Salih, Hanan al-Shaykh, Hamdi Abu Golayyel, and Ahmad Alaidy. In dialogue with affect theory, deconstruction, and psychoanalysis, the book reveals these trials to be a violent and ongoing confrontation with and within modernity. In pointed and witty prose, El-Ariss bridges the gap between Nahda (the so-called Arab project of Enlightenment) and postcolonial and postmodern fiction.