AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL IDENTITIES IN CONT

Journal Data

TypeSOURCE_BOOK
PublisherEdinburgh University Press (GB)
ISBN-139780748643400
Open LibraryOL17576981W
Total publications1
Coverage period2014 - 2014
LanguageEN

This study of Arab autobiographical discourse investigates various modes of cultural identity which have emerged in Arab societies in the last 40 years. During this period, autobiographical texts moved away from exemplary life narratives and toward more unorthodox techniques, such as erotic memoir writing, postmodernist self-fragmentation, cinematographic self-projection, and autobiographical blogosphere. The book argues that the Arabic autobiographical genre has evolved into a mobile, unrestricted category arming authors with narrative tools to articulate their selfhood. Reading works from such Arab nations as Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Syria, and Lebanon, the author connects the century's rapid political and ideological developments to increasing autobiographical experimentation in Arabic works. The scope of the study also forces a consideration of film and cyber forms of self-representation as new autobiographical sub-genres. The monograph offers a novel theoretical framework to these diverse modes of autobiographical cultural production and situates Arabic autobiographical discourse as an integral part of global identity-making cultural production.