Abstract
This article argues that the 1991 Gulf War had a deep transformative effect on Saudi Arabia. It aims to analyze the extent to which this war brought about major ideological changes to a society seemingly deemed unchangeable. Through the study of three Saudi novels which drew on this war as a source of creative and political inspiration, this study brings to life Saudi people's discussions, dilemmas, and reactions to the crumbling of the edifice of Arab unity and the emergence of “America” in its place as the “savior” from the evil of Saddam Hussein. We contend that despite resistance from various conservative elements of Saudi society, the winds of change brought by this war could not be resisted. The novels under study skillfully portray the events of this war not as battlefield accounts, but as accounts of a society wrestling with an irresistible wind of change.
Highlights
From Homer’s war chronicles in the Iliad and the Odyssey to the Arab war accounts in Ayyām al-ʿArab, war has generated rich subject matter for literary creativity and inspired some of the best-known works in world literature
After a period of time—ranging from a few hours to a few days—we find that things had started to change to the Americans’ way
This article has demonstrated that the winds of change brought by the Gulf War have had a powerful impact on Saudi society unmatched even by the oil boom
Summary
From Homer’s war chronicles in the Iliad and the Odyssey to the Arab war accounts in Ayyām al-ʿArab, war has generated rich subject matter for literary creativity and inspired some of the best-known works in world literature. The social transformations that resulted from the discovery of oil in the Gulf region have had life changing effects on its inhabitants bringing dramatic wide-ranging cultural, political, and economic transformations to these societies.[20] While these transformations were generally accepted as positively changing people’s lives in terms of wealth and comfort, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the ensuing Gulf Wars were seen as a force of destruction, which threatened to wipe out all these gains. Most importantly, this invasion was received as a seismic event which shook the fundamental base of Gulf societies destabilizing everything which has previously been considered as safe and unmovable. According to Hussein, even “the Saudi state ... expected some cultural backlash to result from the presence of Western troops.”[66]
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