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- Publisher
- Brill
- Copyright
- © 2010 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
- ISSN
- 0085-2376
- eISSN
- 1570-064X
- DOI
- 10.1163/157006410X486701
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010 DOI: 10.1163/157006410X486701 Journal of Arabic Literature 41 (2010) 9-21 brill.nl/jal Magical Realism in Libya miriam cooke Duke University Abstract This essay argues that the writings of Libyan Ibrāhīm al-Kūnī, and particularly Nazīf al-h ̣ ajar with its emphasis on animal-human juxtapositions and metamorphoses, should be considered examples of Arab magical realism. The circular narrative tells the story of a multi-generational struggle of a Touareg family with a legendary animal called a waddan. The last scion, he is taken on a trip to the border between the natural and the supernatural where he metamorphoses into the predator, the legendary animal and the history that both contain. Keywords al-Kūnī; magic realism Desert, mythological beings and people straddling the border separating human from animal and magic from reality figure prominently in the novels of Libyan Ibrāhīm al-Kūnī (b. 1948). Set in the desert of the southwest, Nazīf al-h ̣ ajar (1990, The Bleeding of the Stone ) unfolds in a place of intensity where only the enchanted feel at home. 1 In the second edition of The Arabic Novel: an Histori- cal and Critical Introduction , Roger Allen adds Nazīf al-h ̣ ajar to the
Journal
Journal of Arabic Literature – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 2010
Keywords: al-Kūnī; magic realism