Configuring the present for the future: personal narratives of the Arab spring

Younas, A. (2023) Configuring the present for the future: personal narratives of the Arab spring. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 50(3), pp. 785-798. (doi: 10.1080/13530194.2022.2027228)

Abstract

My research highlights the complex relationship between narrative and temporality whilst exploring the narrative configuration of the Arab revolution. My paper situates the memoirs of Libyan novelist Hisham Matar’s The Return and Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif’s Cairo: My City, Our Revolution, and their first-hand experience of the revolution in Libya and Egypt within the genre of memory and writing. The stated work is investigated to emphasize how both writers configure the immediate, historical, social, and political dimensions of the revolution. By transcribing the time of revolution into narratives, both writers attempt to preserve a watershed moment of the Arab history and portray collective as well as individual memory. I argue that through their acts of witnessing/writing/remembering, not only do these writers historicize the present but also produce narrative memory by articulating collective utterances.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Younas, Ms Abida
• Authors: Younas, A.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies ; College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures
• Journal Name: British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1353-0194
• ISSN (Online): 1469-3542
• Published Online: 11 January 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 50(3):785-798
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence