Alienation as a literary theme in Jordanian novels

Abstract EN

Towards the end of the 1960s, and thereafter, alienation in every conceivable form started to emerge as a pivotal literary theme in a considerable number of Arabic novels in Jordan.

This research concerns itself with examining the theme of alienation as it is exposed in a wide range of contexts in two Jordanian novels: Ahmad-Al- Zi/bi’s Haris’s Sleepiness H987) and Monis Al-Razzaz’s Jumac Al-Kjffari (1990).

The reader cannot fail to be struck by the similarities between the exposition of the problem of the outsider in the Jordanian novels and modern European literary works.

Yet, our findings point out to the conclusion that the treatment of outsiderness in Jordanian novels has its own local flavour which is determined by historical circumstances, intellectual trends, and cultural factors.

The distinctive expositions of the outsider’s problems in the Jordanian novels can best be defined and illustrated by adopting a comparative approach.

In this context, special attention will be given to the writings of Dostoyevsky, Camus and Hesse, which provide classical examples of the study of the problem of the outsider.