Matar's representation of cultural and political manifestations of Libya

Abstract EN

Writings by Libyans in Western countries remained dormant until recently.

Autobiography has been a most favorite genre for the Libyan writers, through which prominent figures on the Libyan scene started communicating their experiences and sufferings under Qaddafi's regime.

They found in literature the means to resist “silence and misrepresentation” (Swindells 7).

Ibrahim al-Koni, Ahmed Fagih, and Hisham Matar are some of the Libyan novelists who are familiar with history, landscape and cultural practices of the Libyans.

Hisham Matar paints a clear picture of complex and intertwined political events that may have led to the fall of Muammar Qaddafi himself.

In almost all of his writings, Matar is profoundly concerned with the Libyan political and cultural affairs.

He might have chosen exotic settings and peculiar forms for his novels, but deep inside, and at the core of all he writes, there is that feeling that his target is the Libyan locale and the Libyan citizen, politically and culturally.

Underneath the tragedy of the loss of his father, the author devoted a large part of his novels to the atrocities of the Qaddafi regime in a clear token of protest against it yet in the form of cultural rather than violent resistance.

Hisham Matar resorts to the cultural and political manifestations of Libya to shape the consciousness of his readers, making them much more aware of the dilemma of Libyan people in the postmodern age.

He succeeded to attract the attention of Western society to his father's case, and also he shows the potential of utilizing the English language in expressing the nature and stories of the Libyan community