Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature College of Farabi/University of Tehran

3 Ph.D. Candidate in Arabic Language and Literature College of Farabi/University of Tehran

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, 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.

Keywords

Ahmadi, B. (2007). The Text Structure and Textual Interpretation. (9 ed). Tehran: Markaz. [In Persian]
Al- Eid, Y (1986). The Narrator: Standpoint and Form, The Study of Storied Narration. Beirut: Institution of Arabic Studies. [In Arabic]
Al- Ruvaili, M., Al- Bazegi, S. (2007). The Directory of Literature Critic. (5 ed). Beirut: Arabic Cultural Center. [In Arabic]
Allen, G. (2010). Intertextuality. (3 ed). (P. Yazdanjo, Trans.). Tehran: Marcaz. [In Persian]
Al-Muhayedin, A. (1999). Narrative Techniques in Abdul Rahman Munif’s Literatur. Beirut: Arab Institution for Studies and Publishing. [In Arabic]
Al-Nablusi, SH. (1991). Desert Tropic: The Study of Munif’s Literature. Beirut: Arab Institution for Studies and Publishing [In Arabic].
Bagjari, K. (2020). The Postcolonial Reading of Trilogy Aljazayer (The Big House, The Fire, The Loom). Arabic Adab, 12 (1), [In Persian]
Bakhtin, M.M. (2018) Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics. (2 ed). (S. Solheju, Trans). Tehran: Niloofar. [In Persian]
Bakhtin, Mikhail Mikhailovich.  (1981). The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Translated by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Ebrahim, S. (2004). Crisis of Arabic Culture in Abdul Rahman Munif’s Literature. Almagreb: Arabic Cultural Center, Al – Dar Albeisa. [In Arabic]
Makaryk, I.R. (2006). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theories. (2 ed). (M. Mohajer & M. Nabavi Trans.). Tehran: Agah. [In Persian]
Meghdadi, B. (2014). Dictionary of Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present Day. Tehran: Cheshme. [In Persian]
Mills, Sara. (1997). Discours. London: Routledge.
Mills, Sara. (2003). Michel Foucault. London: Routledge.
Munif, A.R. (2005). Cities of Salt: Quandary. (11 ed) Beirut: Arab Institution for Studies and Publishing. Almagreb: Arabic Cultural Center for Publishing and Deal. [In Arabic]
ـــــ (2005). Cities of Salt: The Desert of Darkness. (11 ed). Beirut: Arab Institution for Studies and Publishing. Almagreb: Arabic Cultural Center for Publishing and Deal. [In Arabic]
ـــــ (2005). Cities of Salt: The Trench. (11 ed) Beirut: Arab Institution for Studies and Publishing. Almagreb: Arabic Cultural Center for Publishing and Deal. [In Arabic]
ـــــ (2005). Cities of Salt: The Uprooted. (11 ed). Beirut: Arab Institution for Studies and Publishing. Almagreb: Arabic Cultural Center for Publishing and Deal. [In Arabic]
ـــــ (2005). Cities of Salt: Variations on Night and Day. (11 ed). Beirut: Arab Institution for Studies and Publishing. Almagreb: Arabic Cultural Center for Publishing and Deal. [In Arabic]
ـــــ (2007a). Author and Exile. Beirut: Arab Institution for Studies and Publishing. Almagreb: Arabic Cultural Center for Publishing and Deal. [In Arabic]
ـــــ (2007b). Among Culture and Politics. (4 ed). Beirut: Arab Institution for Studies and Publishing. Almagreb: Arabic Cultural Center for Publishing and Deal. [In Arabic]
Pechey, Graham. (2007). Mikhail Bakhtin: The Word in The World. Oxford: Routledge.
Sojoodi, F. (2011). Practical Semiology. (2 ed). Tehran: Elm. [In Persian]
Tajik, M.R. (2010). Discourse anti Discourse and Politics. (2 ed). Tehran: Institution for The Studies of Development in Humanism. [In Persian]