Kurs: The Literatures of the Arab Spring: From Egypt to Libya (MA)

Announcments

Dear all,

Please keep checking this space before your weekly session, as I will be posting the latest announcements about the seminar here.

Please browse through the seminar outline and reader below. Please check/read/watch the readings/videos for the first session beforehand. You may find that some readings in the reader are still missing (yellow marked), and will be added at a later date.

Kindly note that you are expected to obtain a copy of the primary texts/novels. Please let me know if that is a problem, and I will look into solutions.

Looking forward to meeting you all.

Pavan Malreddy

Session 1/ 10.04

Readings:

1. Living in Arabic by Edward Said (in the reader)

2. Why Isn’t Arabia a Country? -

Session 2, 17.04

In this session we will work with two readings; one dealing with history and one with the literary contexts of Arab Anglophone literatures.

Both are trerrific readings and I hope you will enjoy. Be prepared also for some group work.

2. Arab Nationalism from a Historical Perspective: A Gradual Demise? by İsmail Kuran

3. Arab Voices in Western Writing: The Politics of the Arabic Novel in English and the Anglophone Arab Novel by Geoffrey Nash

Session 3, 24.04

Session 3

24.04.

4. Anglophone Arab Literature: An Overview by Layla Al Maleh

(Read the article except for the Australia part)

5. The Anglophone Imaginary and Agency in Contemporary Egyptian Novels by Pavan Malreddy and Stefanie Kemmerer

Session 4, 07.05

Omar Hamilton’s The City Always Wins:

Review 1:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/04/city-always-wins-omar-robert-hamilton

Review 2:
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/07/the-story-of-a-revolution-told-in-real-time/532221/

Review 3: https://jotthejournal.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/jot-monsoon-2020-3.pdf#page=42 (page 34-39)

Review 4: Good Reads.com

Session 5, 15.05

The City Always Wins, Session 2. Violence, and the Arab Spring,

-what was most surprising yet educational to you in the novel, that you never thought of before?
-what is the character in the novel that speaks to you the most?
- can you pick and read a passage that you found most striking?