Abstract
This essay examines the politics of love in the Arabic novel: how love is used to envision a more just and egalitarian society. The marriage market, courtship practices, and kinship ties—which propagate and calcify gender and class hierarchies—prove formidable obstacles to the realization of the utopian vision of social equality. Love ideology becomes a means of defying these conventions, conceived of as a powerful force breaking down the hegemony of the upper classes and male privilege, challenging their sense of propriety and entitlement, and restructuring society according to more egalitarian principles. This essay contests the dichotomization of romantic and politically committed literature in Arabic literary criticism, and likewise, corresponding assumptions about the division between the personal and political, private and public presumably coded in the novel.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.