Narrative and Political Polemic in the Contemporary Arabic Novel

Abstract

This study aims to examine the contours and configurations of the dialectical relationship between literary discourse—exemplified by Sinan Antoon's political novel I'jaam—and political discourse in pre-2003 Iraq" by employing a discourse analysis approach alongside literary critical frameworks defining the political novel and its features, this study reveals the contours of the problematic hero (le héros problématique). Within the narrative, he battles the oppression of his tormentor inside the cell through dreams and hallucinations, as well as through the act of writing—a practice he refuses to abandon despite it being the primary cause of his imprisonment. Ultimately, he evolves into an anti-hero who maneuvers against the regime’s ideologized discourse. He counters it with a dissident, ambiguous text whose words lack logical sequence, whose letters are unpointed, and whose script is obscure; yet, it remains a resistant discourse against marginalization and oblivion, standing as a testimonial document to the regime's authoritarianism and its suppression of opposing words and evasive script.