Young Saudi Women Novelists: Protesting Clericalism, Religious Fanaticism and Patriarchal Gender Order. Issue 2 (3rd July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kanie, Mariwan
• Is Part Of: Journal of Arabian studies. Volume 7:Issue 2(2017)
• Page Start: 283
• Page End: 299
• Publication Date: 2017-07-03
• Subjects: women's novel -- Saudi Arabia -- anti-clericalism -- mutawaʿa -- protest literature -- gender; Arabian Peninsula -- Periodicals; Arabian Peninsula; Periodicals; 953.005
• DOI: 10.1080/21534764.2017.1499227
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2153-4764

Abstract

Abstract: From the early 1990s Saudi Arabia witnessed a significant surge in women's writing, especially of novels. This was not a temporary phenomenon but continued into the new millennium, at which time a new generation of young woman novelists emerged who developed a deeper critique of the Saudi state and society than their predecessors in the 1990s. Three well-known and challenging novels are examined: Raja ʾ al-Saniʿ's Banat al-Riyadh [Girls of Riyadh] (2005), Warda Abd al-Malik's Al-awba [Return] (2008), and Samar al-Muqrin's Nisaʾ al-munkar [Women of Vice] (2008). It is argued that a fundamental aspect of these works is their critique of religion, or at least of clerics and their discourse which, in the case of Saudi Arabia, is a profound act. It identifies two approaches by the authors: the individualization of religion and especially the re-articulation of the image of God as a friendly and humanistic God, in contrast to the official discourse; and the development of a strong anti-clerical discourse.