Lebanon in the Devil’s Waters
The literary supernatural in Ghada al-Samman’s civil war trilogy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21726558 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Renée Ragin Randall (0009-0002-7964-3692, University of Michigan, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 2-3 |
| Pages | 150-167 |
| Publication date | 2022-09-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Middle Eastern Literatures (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1475-262X • E-ISSN: 1475-2638 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/1475262x.2023.2242294 |
| OpenAlex | W4385546817 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 17 |
In the early 1970s, Syrian-born author, Ghada al-Samman authored two essays on the supernatural based, in part, on her experiences in Beirut. These essays mark the beginning of what I identify as her sustained literary interest in the supernatural. While al-Samman’s political investments as a feminist and leftist writer have been the primary lenses through which critics have considered her work, this essay recenters her literary contributions. Focusing on her Lebanese civil war trilogy, I explore how she constructs and sustains a supernatural literary sensibility over the course of several decades, amalgamating Arabo-Islamic cosmologies, Euro-American psychoanalytic notions, and Shakespearean aesthetics. The result, I argue, is a supernatural hermeneutic which highlights the irreparable damage of both pre-war and wartime environs to the individual soul and the body politic
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Literature · Spanish Civil War · Trilogy · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Middle East Politics and Society · Philosophy
Feminism and Avant-Garde Aesthetics in the Levantine Novel
Beirut '75
Trauma
The Unmaking of the Arab Intellectual
Ghada Samman's Beirut Nightmares
Zahra’s Uncle, or Where Are Men in Women’s War Stories?”
Memory Remains
Magical Realism in Ghādah al-Sammān's The Square Moon
Magical Realism
Knot of the Soul
Street lives, roof lives
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |