The Muslims lives in recent Anglophone fiction since 1973 - Essay Example

Therefore, novels have a great advantage over didactic models of disseminating information. Unlike textbooks that tend to teach by preaching, novels teach the reader by showing. Georg Lukacs, a philosopher and literary critic argued that novels can depict history more fully than "factual reporting" because in novels, Historical necessity is no otherworldly fate divorced fiom man; it is the complex interaction of concrete historical circumstances in their process of transformation, in their interaction with concrete human beings, who have grown up in these circumstances, have been variously influenced by them, and who act in an individual way according to their personal passions. (qtd. in Zuckert 687) Thus, a novel has the capacity to discuss its topic in the context of human experience not in an abstract and detached form.

Moreover, it can transcend artificial boundaries that divide people of different backgrounds and civilizations by addressing every aspect of the humanity of the character. This interacts with the humanity of the reader on many levels, thereby magnifying the similarities and diminishing the differences between the reader and the character. A novel can allow an individual from a vastly different cultural background to deeply understand the cultural reality of the characters. . Like Plato's divided line, which attempts to direct us towards true knowledge and the discovery of reality, novelists take us out of the cave and put us on the path to knowledge by stimulating our imagination, hoping that at the end of the novel, the reader will reach the highest level of the divided line.

Roger Spegele, author of "Fiction and Political Theory" argued that there is no difference between political novels and political theory (114-127). Thus, one can say that novelists resemble political thinkers. They choose a distinctive medium to study social and political phenomena. Edward Said, a Palestinian-American literary theorist, said:The one place in which there's been some interesting and innovative work done in Arab intellectual life is in literary production generally, that never finds its way into studies of the Middle East.

You're dealing with the raw material of Politics.. . You can deal with a novelist as a kind of witness to something. (Middle East Report 33)Here, Said hints that Arab intellectual life has been less than innovative except in literary production where it is relatively free from external influences. As such, it is uncontaminated raw material that can be utilized to study politics. In keeping with Said's notion that literary production provides the raw material of politics, this study will use novels written by Arabs and Moslems to examine orientalism, colonialism, the search for home and the quest for identity.

More specifically, eight Arab and Moslem novels and three Occidental ones will be used to examine Edward Said's thesis on orientalism and the validity of his statement about literature and politics. They will also be used to reveal the historical impact of colonialism