Arabic Literature

Postcolonial Reading of Novel Cities of Salt Based on Polyphony Theory of Mikhail Bakhtin

Kamal Baghjari; Yadollah Ahmadi Malayeri; Nasrin Ranjbaran

Volume 13, Issue 3 , November 2021, , Pages 23-44

https://doi.org/10.22059/jalit.2020.306886.612240

Abstract

Post-colonialism and the theory of polyphony are closely related in terms of analyzing the monophonic discourse of power. While Mikhail Bakhtin considers the polyphonic novel as a labyrinthine, ... Read More Post-colonialism and the theory of polyphony are closely related in terms of analyzing the monophonic discourse of power. While Mikhail Bakhtin considers the polyphonic novel as a labyrinthine, colorful world that gives vent to heterogeneous voices, postcolonial theorists attempt to investigate aspects and factors of hegemonic tyranny and discuss the voice of the marginalized and the disadvantaged people as the topic of literary criticism. Cities of Salt by Abdul Rahman Munif (the famous Arab novelist), which is a quasi-historical account of the process of the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia and the transformation in the point of view of colonialism (from classic to modern), adopts a polyphonic and dialogic narrative in order to offer a multifarious image of the middle east during the colonial and the post-colonial periods. It sets out to show how the modern colonialist perspective of the United States substitutes the classic British one. In theoretical terms, the present study expounds upon some of the most central components of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of polyphony and dialogism so as to apply it to postcolonial studies. In applied terms, the writers have attempted, relying on assumptions of Bakhtin’s polyphonic theory –such as the narrative line, the multiplicity of discourse and the incorporated genres– to offer a postcolonial reading of the pentalogy Cities of Salt. Hence, the findings of the present article can be divided into two theoretical and applied parts: first, dialogism and the polyphonic theory of the novel by Bakhtin can open new horizons in the field of postcolonial studies, such as divulging the hegemonic aspects of the literary text and, more specifically, the narrative. Second, Abdul Rahman Munif, in Cities of Salt, offers various voices and discourses so as to push the dominant discourse of tyranny/ colonialism into a dialogic structure and nullify its made-up authority through juxtaposing it with other, equally valid, anti-discourses. Third, the writer offers incorporated genres adapted from the cultural Arabic-Islamic tradition in order to render null and void the oriental discourse of colonialism, which consists of robbing the colonized of their identity and ignoring their history and culture in an attempt to make them appear as savage barbarians.

Function of Dialogue Element in Mahmud Darwish’s Poetry of Resistance According to Bakhtin’s Dialogism Theory (Case Study of Jundy yahlam bi-alzanabiq al-bayda')

Sanaz Kondori; Alireza Nazari

Volume 13, Issue 3 , November 2021, , Pages 127-145

https://doi.org/10.22059/jalit.2021.312711.612300

Abstract

Bakhtin’s theory about dialogism of texts, polyphonic novel, intertextual relations and carnivals has inspired several literary critics and theoreticians in west. In Bakhtin’s ... Read More

A Study of the “Polyphony” Phenomenon in Modern Narrative-Dramatic Poetry According to Bakhtin’s Dialogism Theory

Mostafa Parsaeipour; Abdolali Alebooye; Razieh Sadrikhanloo

Volume 13, Issue 2 , July 2021, , Pages 93-116

https://doi.org/10.22059/jalit.2021.319852.612366

Abstract

During the period of modernity, Arabic poetry acquired a kind of objectivity that saved it from pure lyricism, drawing inspiration for its techniques from the core of dramatic and narrative ... Read More

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Keywords = polyphony

Postcolonial Reading of Novel Cities of Salt Based on Polyphony Theory of Mikhail Bakhtin

Abstract

Function of Dialogue Element in Mahmud Darwish’s Poetry of Resistance According to Bakhtin’s Dialogism Theory (Case Study of Jundy yahlam bi-alzanabiq al-bayda')

Abstract

A Study of the “Polyphony” Phenomenon in Modern Narrative-Dramatic Poetry According to Bakhtin’s Dialogism Theory

Abstract