Arabic Literature

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

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Kamal Baghjari 1
Yadollah Ahmadi Malayeri 2
Nasrin Ranjbaran 3

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

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, 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

Abdul Rahman Munif
Cities of Salt
Postcolonialism
polyphony
Mikhail Bakhtin
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Arabic Literature
Volume 13, Issue 3
Autumn 2021
Pages 23-44

  • Receive Date 25 July 2020
  • Revise Date 29 November 2020
  • Accept Date 21 September 2021

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